As you approach the quarried stone façade of Coleton Fishacre, it’s easy to imagine the sound of jazz, clinking champagne coupes and party hubbub drifting across the Devon cliffs. This house isn’t just a relic of its time: it’s a rare conversation between two design movements that defined a century.

In the mid 1920s, this Arts and Crafts-style home was built for the D’Oyly Carte family, by Lutyen’s apprentice Oswald Milne, upholding the high standards of craftsmanship and simple design characterised by English architecture of the time.

Swing open the front door, and you immediately step across the channel to the Art Deco interiors inspired by French style, which also celebrates its centenary this year.

Yet somehow, the quintessential essence of the interior and exterior design work. There is glamour in the interiors, but it’s pared back and easy on the eye. There is a rural charm to the exterior, but it’s on a bold scale growing out of its robust coastal landscape. The building has a unique character and balance. Behind this seamless blend of styles lies a deeply personal story: one of creativity, loss and reinvention.

The streamlined and minimalist interiors create a consistency, flow and lack ostentation. The woodwork is limed oak; the simple honeycomb ceiling lights are adorned with tassels; the ground-glass teal sink splashbacks in the bedrooms are the same as those used in the Savoy hotel.

An intriguing incorporation, is the position of the flower room, positioned right by the front door. Usually considered a working part of the house, and hidden, this small room complete with running water and shelves for vases, was used by Lady Dorothy regularly, although it also doubled as a cloakroom for coats and outdoor clothes.

The Arts and Crafts ethos often naturally, and accidentally, addressed sustainability issues. A narrow-gauge railway was used to haul stone quarried further down the hill up to the building site. The railway track was later used to support the Belfast sinks in the kitchen.

Coleton Fishacre is an intriguing glance into the lives of a family whose fortune was built on an entertainment empire in London. They needed an antidote to the frenetic and exciting life of the city, and found it in the rugged coastline of south Devon, where a fashionable, but quieter, life could be enjoyed. 

In his design, Oswald Milne has carefully layered Arts and Crafts sensibilities with Art Deco glamour, sticking to a simple elegance, which has meant that both have endured the test of a century. 

Coleton Fishacre reminds us that contrasting styles needn’t compete. When handled with care, they enhance one another. It’s a principle that still informs thoughtful interior design today.