STANSTED'S fine art auctioneer Sworders has transformed the inside of its Cambridge Road salesroom into the interior of an imposing 18th century manor house. The space inside the company’s headquarters has been created to look like the rooms within Debden Manor near Saffron Walden – a beautiful former rectory, which was sold in the summer.
It was the home of leading architect Bobby Chapman and his wife Virginia, who amassed an impressive collection of furniture, paintings and antiques over their 40 years at the property. Over 1,000 items have been transferred to Stansted for an auction on October 15 and 16.
Sworder’s managing director, Guy Schooling said: “We wanted to create as theatrical an experience for those attending the auction as possible. So we have partitioned our main sales area into various ‘rooms’, painted them to match the colours used in the original building, and arranged the contents accordingly. Our 250-page catalogue is presented as a wander through the manor house, and we wanted the auction room to reflect that.”
The transformation has included hanging giant, 8ft by 6ft photographs of various aspects of the house around the sales room, with the actual items depicted on them placed nearby. Rooms recreated include the drawing room complete with its marble obelisks, dining room with its 18th century portraits and library together with its collection of books - several of which are signed and first editions.
Mr Schooling added: “One problem we had to overcome was that Debden Manor is on several floors, but our salesroom is all on one level. So we have turned a room off our reception area, which replicates the entrance hall of the manor house, into the ‘cellars’ - complete with bottles of wine, bin labels and even enamel road signs! The main staircase hall was trickier still. But luckily we found an original roll of wallpaper used on the Debden Manor stairs in the attic of the house, which we have reproduced instead.”
Pieces in the gardens of the original property have been accommodated as well, and placed on the grassed areas in front of the auction room in Stansted Mountfitchet – including marble busts, benches, and a two metre tall stone urn on a plinth.
Guy Schooling added: “We are selling the contents room by room as well as we can. Obviously we have to leave space to allow people to walk around, but we have done our best to stage the sales room so that it matches the layout of the original property as closely as possible.
“We wanted to do it with a flair and attention to detail that has not been tried before – and we have certainly never heard of anything that’s been done on this scale previously.”
There are four viewing days prior to the sale – Friday, October 11, 9am-5pm; the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, October 12 and 13, 10am-1pm, as well as Monday, October 14, 9am-5pm. Viewing is also available on both auction days, 15 & 16 October, from 9am.
