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David Style An English Gentleman of Taste and Discernment In the early Spring of 1978 David Style asked Charles Hindlip if Christie's would advise him over the sale of the contents of Wateringbury Place. Charlie and I drove down to Wateringbury on a beautiful spring morning when Kent was bursting into blossom. David greeted us at the door and gave us our first, and unforgettable, tour of the glories and magic of Wateringbury ~ I shall never forget it. We entered room after room of carefully and lovingly chosen examples of English and French pieces of furniture and works of art. We were bowled over by what we saw in the Drawing Room and Dining Room on the ground floor, only to be greeted by the Saloon upstairs, all filled with unusual and stunning pieces of great beauty ~ the overall standard throughout the house was equally impressive. Wateringbury Place, situated in the village of Wateringbury near Maidstone, was built for Sir Thomas Style in 1707 on land purchased by the Style family during the Sixteenth Century. It subsequently passed from the family but was repurchased by Sir Thomas's descendant, David Style, in 1945. David possessed an exceptional 'eye' for beautiful objects ~ few of us are thus blessed ~ and this combined with a deep depth of knowledge and innate and natural good taste enabled him to decorate the house with interiors of exceptional beauty and distinction. His training as an architect combined with his flair as a decorator added essential ingredients to the magic of Wateringbury. John Harris, in his foreword to this sale catalogue wrote, 'Wateringbury is the creation of one of a select band of eminent marchand amateurs who combined land owning and collecting with a flair for decorating'. Whilst discussing the house he continued, getting it exactly right, 'From the moment of acquisition onwards David Style played the great game of restoring it and filling it with a gorgeous confection of works of art and delightful knick-knackery. The compositional result is so idiosyncratic as to defy description. My memory is a kaleidoscopic effect of colour and objects, warm and rich, quirky, full of amusement and flashes of inspirational juxtapositions, and always agreeable, comfortable and eminently liveable'. The View and Sale which took place in glorious weather, during and after the Whitsun weekend, was a stunning success with for the time the very high total of £1,370,000. This bore witness to all his endeavours over the years to create this very personal collection ~ and what pleasure he gave to so many during those years. In many ways the dispersal was a fitting and much deserved memorial to this cultured, courteous and erudite gentleman of Kent, a man of great wit and humour with a deep love of beauty, whether for his garden, the surrounding countryside or works of art of a diverse but always unusual nature. However, as will become apparent, this was by no means the end of the story. David was an acquisitive and obsessive collector and his taste and interests were extremely varied and encompassed the whole gamut of collecting from objects of astonishing quality and provenance to the mundane, but almost always unusual and amusing. However the formation of his personal collections did not satisfy his passion for the chase but as a dealer, in addition to furnishing his many houses, which included a house in Tenerife and a flat in Gibraltar, he continued to find objects for friends and fellow dealers. He had started in Maidstone in the fifties and in 1963 took over Arthur H.Brown Ltd. at Stamford Bridge, in Chelsea which became a mecca for those who shared and appreciated David's infectious and rather quirky taste. Often he took the week's purchases back to Wateringbury where, after a good dinner, he showed them to whichever friends and fellow dealers where staying or dining with him and invited them to pick at their choice. I am most grateful to David's nephew, Robert White, who with his twin brother, Richard, were for many years responsible for Arthur Browns', for kindly furnishing me with details of David's earlier life. These cast much light on his growing passion for, and interest in, architecture and the fine and decorative arts. Born in 1913 he grew up at Boxley House, on the other side of Maidstone, a family estate for many years. He was educated at Hawtreys and then Radley College. He started to collect at an early age and used to sell his youthful purchases in his Aunt Maud's tea and produce shop. His three maternal aunts, who also lived at and around Boxley, were a trifle eccentric but they patently enthused David with his future interests. His Aunt Evelyn opened a dress and hat shop and David used to help her, gluing pearls and sequins with seccotine onto ball gowns only to find that the glue melted on a hot summer evening and that they gradually dropped off. His father had hoped that he would either join Style and Winch the family brewery or farm the family estates. Thus he started to study architecture with a career in the Brewery in mind but after six months decided that he had mastered the rudiments of this career ~ future events proved this to be correct. He then branched out on his own account and one of his first projects was to advise an old family friend, Olaf Hambro, on the restoration of Linton Park. This proved to be a great success and he never looked back. Incidentally after Olaf Hambro's death his executors instructed Christie's to hold a sale on this premises in 1961. However in 1939 the war interrupted his career and he served first with the Royal Artillery and later in the Navy. When he retuned from active service he bought and improved many period houses in Kent and elsewhere. He started by purchasing both Yotes Court and Wateringbury Place but, on account of the family connections, settled at the latter in 1945. Thirty three years later he instructed Christie's to mount this sale but, before doing so, he had bought and furnished Hampton Court, on the Isle of Man. He thus started all over again by decorating and furnishing this large house outside Douglas, both bringing it back to life and up to his exacting standards. Not content with this, he later purchased another house in Castletown on the Island which soon was overflowing with a melange and gallimaufry of diverse objects ~ as always the unusual and the unexpected mixed with the more mundane. Sadly David died last June and the contents of these two houses, together with those from his London house and other personal property are included in this catalogue. The sale including furniture, objects, clocks, European and Oriental ceramics, pictures and prints will fill these rooms almost to overflowing and, although not another Wateringbury, will bear witness to David Style's taste, flair and eclectic and wide ranging interests. Anthony Coleridge

David L. Style (1913-2004)

Three architectural drawings of Classical porticos

Details

David L. Style (1913-2004)
Three architectural drawings of Classical porticos
signed 'D. L. Style' (lower right)
pencil and monochrome wash
28 x 20 in. (71.1 x 50.8 cm.)
three in lot (3)

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis This lot is subject to Collection and Storage charges

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