Salerooms
Rainbow end
Huon Mallalieu
The West of England is about to acquire a new cultural centre, by courtesy of one of the major firms of auctioneers. Sotheby Bearne, the Torquay subsidiary of the Sotheby Parke Bernet group, has bought Rainbow, a remarkable house which crowns one of the seven hills of Torquay and stands in twenty-six acres of garden, woodland and field. It is, of course, primar ily intended for use as a saleroom, but it will also be available as a setting for concerts, exhibitions, receptions and courses and seminars on art and antiques. It will also provide an opportunity for people from the West Country to view major collections and items to be sold in London. For instance, during the opening celebrations between 21 February and 24 February, the David Daniels collection of Old Master drawings and the fourth part of the Heckett collection of portrait miniatures, both from America, were on view.
The house has many features which make it particularly suitable for both roles. It is, for a start, a very pleasant place to visit. Its four green copper domes and cupolaobservatory make it a landmark for the town, and the view over Tor Bay is magnificent. A wooden building in the garden, originally used as a chapel, has been converted into a cafe, which will be run by the local branch of the National Trust. A large L-shaped saleroom has been created by the removal of interior walls — no easy task since they were twelve inches thick and reinforced with steel including old tramlines.
Rainbow was built in 1932 by Mrs Rowcroft, a daughter of Sir Edward Payson Wills of the tobacco family, for her housekeeper. She had owned the surrounding Pilmuir estate since 1902 and was a noted benefactress of the town, her benefactions including a fund to provide a local hospital with bedpans and Pilmuir itself, which is now the Rowcroft Convalescent Home. Rainbow takes its name from an Art Deco rainbow in one of the original designs by the architect Edwin Lee, but in fact the house is largely in the style of 1900. Mrs Rowcroft's housekeeper died shortly after the completion of the house, and she moved into it herself. Her visitors included several members of the Royal Family, and it was possibly with them in mind that she ordered the construction of a vast and luxurious air raid shelter, which was dug out of the hill by fifty men working for nine months and at a cost of £28,000. One of its features was a series of local views painted on fake windows on the walls. The shelter was only used once, when she gave a tea party there to celebrate the finishing of the work. Mrs Rowcroft was confined to a wheelchair, which necessitated a lift to all floors — as well as a splendid staircase in pink marble with Art Deco oxidised brass banisters — and extra wide doors throughout. These features will obviously be of great use in moving large pieces of furniture to the saleroom and to the new reception area in what was formerly the servants' hall. In fact, comparatively little reconstruction has been necessary, and the redecoration has been done with great sensitivity, using local craftsmen and specially reprinted Art Nouveau wallpapers. One inevitable, if sad, alteration has been the removal of the pink marble sunken bath in what is now the Sotheby Bearne boardroom. This room has been decorated in an Art Deco style and papered with 'Abstract', a Graham Sutherland design of 1932, again specially reprinted. It has also not been possible to reconstruct the boating pond in front of the house, which was filled during the second world war, so as not to provide a mark for passing bombers.
The decision to buy the property was the brainchild of Roger Chubb and Brian Bearne, the directors of Bearnes, the Torquay auctioneering firm which merged with the Sotheby group in May 1976. The merger made a search for larger premises necessary, and the purchase of Rainbow, although initially a considerable gamble, should provide an ideal solution. In 1972 Mrs Rowcroft's nephew and heir, Major John Wills, sold the property to a local firm of developers — a sale of the contents was conducted by Bearnes, and this has helped them considerably in the redecoration. To great local relief, the developers, who had intended to demolish, went bankrupt, and the house has been empty for five years.
Many of the cultural activities at Rainbow will be concentrated in the month of August, when no sales take place, and this is a highly suitable arrangement, since Mrs Rowcroft was one of those who urged the town to change from a winter to a summer resort, thus restoring its waning prosperity. Nowadays the population of Torquay trebles during the summer months. It is also intended to establish regular 'Advisory Weeks' at Rainbow, at which departmental staff from Sotheby's in London will be present to advise in the fields of their specialist expertise.
For a number of years both dealers and collectors have shown an increasing willingness to make the journey to Torquay to attend the better sales held by Bearnes and later Sotheby Bearne. Rainbow will obviously provide an added attraction, especially since communications have been considerably improved recently.
It is thus to be hoped, and indeed expected, that Rainbow will prove a firran• cial success for its promoters. In any event it will be of great benefit to Torquay and the surrounding area. It is very much in line with recent developments in the major auction houses, all of whom, Christie's, Phillips and Bonham's as well as Sotheby's, have
shown themselves keen to combine their business interests with cultural and charitable activities. It is an admirable form of publicity, and one can be sure that the ghost of the formidable Mrs Rowcroft will applaud the use to which her creation is being put.
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