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Marchese Piero Luigi Carlo Maria Malacrida de
Saint-August
(1889–22 April 1983) (also known as Pier or Peter Malacrida) was an Italian
aristocrat, playboy and London-based interior designer. He and his first wife,
the poet Nadja Malacrida, were prominent socialites in London in the late 1920s
and early 1930s. Piero Malacrida is best known for his interiors at Eltham
Palace. Following the death of Nadja in 1934, Malacrida withdrew from public
life, although he later remarried.
Malacrida
was a former cavalry officer who had studied Engineering at the University of
Leeds. On 6 December 1922, he married an Englishwoman, Louisa Nadia Green, at
St Bartholomew-the-Great. She was a niece of Lord Cowdray, usually known by her
pen name of Nadja. She was a prominent socialite and literary celebrity in
1920s London. Known not only for her looks, charm and intelligence; she was
also a BBC radio broadcaster, an aviatrix, racing driver, poet and set
designer. She is best known today as a World War I poet.
The couple
lived in a large and luxurious flat in Grosvenor Street and a country house at
East Molesey, where they entertained many of the leading literary and artistic
figures of the day.[6] As a result of their numerous accomplishments and
connections the couple acquired a certain glamour and were frequently mentioned
in society gossip columns and the court pages of the London newspapers. In
addition, Malacrida himself frequently wrote articles on design for
international publications such as Vogue. All this brought him to the attention
of wealthy clients and patrons.
The
marriage is reported to have been happy; when apart, they wrote each other
daily.[6] Each pursued their own hobbies independently while sharing many
common interests and collaborating on some of their written works; however,
both professed to not being natural authors.[6]
Writing in
the late 1920s, Malacrida rejected the then current concepts of interior
design; he specifically criticised what he described as the
"cottagey-inglenook-pickled oak school" and also the "walnutty
Queen-Annish style" then currently in vogue, describing them as
"locked in the past." The former style was later to be described by
the architectural historian, Osbert Lancaster, as Stockbroker Tudor. Malacrida,
though, was not beyond drawing upon medieval and Gothic motifs as was obvious
in his design for a staircase hall in Upper Brook Street, London. There, bare
stone walls were adorned with medieval wooden figures and Venetian bucentaur
lanterns while the room itself is covered by a trompe l’oeuil ceiling depicting
leaves against a sky.
Malacida's
early works mostly drew on classicism for inspiration, often designing circular
or semi-circular columned rooms in the manner of temples. Such was the bathroom
he designed in 1932 for Samuel Courtauld, in a house - now a Grade II* listed
building - at 12 North Audley Street, Westminster, which not only had columns,
but also painted feature panels by Rex Whistler.Another bathroom design,
"in the Pompeian style", with walls of red marble, commissioned in
1922 by Samuel Courtauld was for a suite, now known as the "Lady Islington
suite", in Home House, Portman Square. The Audley Street work and an
article by Malacrida in a 1928 edition of Vogue show his designs to be very
much in the style that Osbert Lancaster was to describe as Curzon Street
Baroque. The Vogue article shows the ecclesiastical niches and prie-dieux,
large feature paintings and trompe-l'œil which were the hallmarks of that
style.
By the
early 1930s, Malacrida's work had become a pared back, streamlined form of Art
Deco which never quite fully embraced Modernism. Malacrida is best known for
his interiors in the 1930s rebuilding of Eltham Palace for Stephen Courtauld
and his wife Virginia, Stephen was the brother of Malacrida's earlier client,
Samuel Courtauld.
Withdrawal
from public life
Piero
Malacrida de Saint-August has been described as mysterious. This is because he
arrived suddenly on the London high society social scene in the early 1920 and
his work and social activities, along with those of his even better known wife,
were almost instantly and incessantly reported in the press.[3] Then, almost as
suddenly as he appeared, he disappeared.
His
departure from public life was precipitated by the death of his wife in an
unexplained motor accident in 1934. Driving alone, she was returning to London
from a weekend in the country when her car left the road and plunged down an
embankment, she died instantly from a broken neck. A love of speed was a mutual
passion the couple had shared; they had owned a series of fast cars including
Hispano-Suiza, Mercedes and Isotta Fraschini.
Following
his bereavement, Malacrida immediately left London for a month, eventually
returning only to complete his work at Eltham Palace. In 1935, he published
Finale. Self-portrait of Nadja Malacrida, this included a memoir of Nadja by
Cecil Roberts, a close friend of the couple. The book was a tribute to his late
wife and contained letters the two had sent each other in the month before her
death. Following publication of the book, Malacrida retired from public life to
live in Ireland.
Today, few
of Malacrida's works survive. Those that do include Eltham Palace and the
bathrooms at North Audley Street and Home House.
Sometime in
the early 1950s Malacrida remarried. His second wife, May (née Murphy) of
Clonmel was a widow – her husband, Bernard Culhane, died on 29 December 1949 in
a Dublin nursing home. Peter and May resided at Correen, a suburban villa, at
42 Ailesbury Road, Donnybrook, Dublin.
May
Malacrida died on 11 September 1983 at 28 Shrewsbury Road, Dublin 4. The Irish
Independent of 23 April 1983 has a short death notice – ‘peacefully in a Dublin
nursing home in his 95th year. The Marchese Peter M., beloved husband of May,
Shrewsbury Road, Dublin 4.’ He is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery.
In his
will, he bequeathed a clock, once owned by Napoleon's mother, Letizia Ramolino,
to the Irish State. However, the great wealth of his younger years was gone, he
had sold his library of rare books in 1935 and his collection of fine French
and European furniture and objets d’art in 1963. His Grant of Probate proved
his wealth at Just £11,000.
Louisa, Marchesa Malacrida de Saint-August (née Louisa Nadia Green, 15 June
1895 – 3 October 1934), known by the noms de plume Nadja Malacrida and Nadja,
was an English writer, radio broadcaster, racing driver, and socialite. A
novelist, playwright, and poet, she published three books of war poetry during
the First World War. An Italian aristocrat by marriage, she was a prominent
figure of 20th-century London high society.
Malacrida,
an only child, was born on 15 June 1895 in Hampstead, London, to businessman
Charles Edward Green and his wife, Louisa Cass. She grew up at Paddockhurst in
Sussex, the country estate of her uncle and aunt, Weetman Pearson, Lord Cowdray
(later Viscount) and Annie Pearson, Lady Cowdray.
Career
Malacrida
published her first collection of poems, Evergreen, at the age of fourteen. A
second edition was published in 1912. During the War, she published three
volumes of poetry: Love and War (1915), For Empire and other poems (1916) and
The full heart (1919). Brian Murdoch finds Malacrida's war poetry "well
worth rescuing from the obscurity of the lost voices" and sees some
ambiguity in the long poem "For Empire" for which the collection For
Empire and other poems is named, with "very little of the patriotic
tonality left". She donated the proceeds of her war poetry to two First
World War charities that still exist as of 2019: St. Dunstan's, a home for
soldiers blinded in the war, now with a wider remit under the name Blind Veterans
UK, and the Star and Garter Home for Disabled Soldiers, now the Royal Star and
Garter Home, Richmond.
Malacrida
and her husband collaborated writing two lightly disguised romans à clef about
the London society scene, using the pseudonym P. N. Piermarini: Life Begins
To-Day (1923) and Footprints on the Sand (1924). She also wrote a play, Cheque
Mate, in 1932, using the masculine pen name Lewis Hope.
Malacrida
took part in an early John Logie Baird television broadcast in 1933,[8] and in
1934, the last year of her life, she frequently read mostly Victorian prose
excerpts and poetry on BBC radio, under the name Nadja Green. She also appeared
in a national newspaper advertising campaign for Vim household cleaner, where
she was quoted as explaining that it was "no use having new ideas of
decoration if you have old ideas of dirt"and contrasting the dusty
hangings and bric-à-brac of the Victorian era with the simple, spare modern
interiors, which must be kept clean because "every speck and spot is
glaringly obvious".
In June
1921, Malacrida met her future husband, Marchese Piero Malacrida de
Saint-August, an Italian journalist and former cavalry officer, at a charitable
fundraising event known as Alexandra Rose Day at The Ritz Hotel, London. They
were married on 6 December 1922, at St Bartholomew-the-Great, making her the
Marchesa Malacrida de Saint-August. Her husband's family were a noble family
from Lombardy. Shortly after their wedding, her husband expanded his activities
into writing on interior design, and designing interiors, especially luxury
bathrooms, for the upper class. The couple would buy flats at smart London
addresses, then remodel and sell them, trading under the name
"Olivotti". In 1926–1929, they lived at 4 Upper Brook Street,
Mayfair.
The
Malacridas were celebrities of their time, appearing at all the big society
functions, and much reported on in the newspapers of the day. The marriage was
reportedly very happy. They wrote to each other every day when apart, and their
correspondence during her final month was published as Finale. Self-portrait of
Nadja Malacrida. after her death in 1934, including her memoir by the
Malacridas' friend Cecil Roberts.
Her
portrait in oil was painted in 1926 by Ettore Tito. It was donated by her
husband to the Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna in 1981, two years before
his death. Another portrait, by Olive Snell, featured on the front cover of the
4 December 1929 issue of The Sketch.
Death
On 3
October 1934, Malacrida was killed in a single-vehicle crash while driving,
alone, back to London from Cecil Roberts' country cottage just outside Henley.
Her car was going uphill when it left the slippery road and plunged down over a
35-foot embankment; she died instantly from a broken neck. Her body, thrown
from the car, was discovered by the groundsman of the Henley Cricket Club while
her pet spaniel was discovered later uninjured. She was an experienced and
competent driver, who had driven a car for 20 years. The couple shared a love
of fast driving and owned several vehicles including Hispano-Suiza, Mercedes
and Isotta Fraschini, and she had previously driven at Brooklands motor racing
circuit. She is buried at Fairmile Cemetery, Henley-on-Thames.
In 1933,
millionaires Stephen and Virginia Courtauld were looking for a semi-rural
property within easy reach of central London. Eltham fitted the bill, and they
took a 99-year lease from the Crown.
They
commissioned the budding architects Seely & Paget to design a modern home on
the site of the 19th-century buildings, while retaining as much as possible of
the historic palace. After some controversy over the scheme, because of its
impact on the palace remains, it was eventually carried through with the help
of Sir Charles Peers, formerly Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments with the
Office of Works, who acted as consultant for the repairs to the great hall.
The
exterior of the new house, in a ‘Wrenaissance’ style partly inspired by Hampton
Court, is designed to complement the great hall. The interior styles (ranging
from historical to moderne) resulted both from the Courtaulds’ own tastes and
from the architects, designers and craftsmen they commissioned. As well as
Seely & Paget they included Peter Malacrida, Rolf Engströmer, Carlton
Attwood and Gilbert Ledward.
The house
was ideally suited to display the Courtaulds’ extensive collection of works of
art, which included contemporary pieces as well as Old Masters. It also
provided ample space for entertaining their broad social circle. As well as
royalty – Queen Mary visited twice – celebrity visitors included Stravinsky,
Gracie Fields, Malcolm Sargent, film producers Basil Dean and Michael Balcon,
band leader Lew Stone, and politicians such as Rab Butler and Leo Amery.
The
Courtaulds also took full advantage of new technology. There were electric
fires and in most rooms synchronous clocks which were regulated by the incoming
mains supply, and a loudspeaker system that could broadcast records to rooms on
the ground floor. Siemens installed a private internal telephone exchange.
There was a centralised vacuum cleaner in the basement. Gas was used to power
underfloor and radiant ceiling heating throughout the house. Virginia
Courtald’s pet lemur even had its own heated quarters on the first floor.
Keen
horticulturalists, the Courtaulds also created a variety of garden features
including a rock garden, formal rose gardens and a series of garden ‘rooms’,
the latter being more typical of the Edwardian period or Arts and Crafts style.
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/eltham-palace-and-gardens/history/
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