58. House for Essex

We made our pilgrimage to ‘Julie’s House’ most commonly known as House for Essex. A jewel like chapel sitting within a green pasture with a background of the River Stour and an industrial horizon of Essex meets Suffolk. This building designed by FAT Architecture in collaboration with artist Grayson Perry is a homage to the fictional ‘Essex Gal’ character of Julie. Grayson creates the story that Julie’s second husband Rob vows that when she dies ‘he would grieve as deep as Shah Jahan and build a Taj Mahal upon the Stour’.

The building is adorned in green and white ceramic tile panels depicting important symbols from Julie’s life. The roof is clad in a bronze alloy which felt more fitting for the building than a traditional church-type green copper roof. The building takes influence from Essex barns, English house and church architecture. It steps back in scale like a Russian Doll suggesting a procession of spaces on the interior.

The internal succession of spaces within House for Essex are revealed to the user through secret doors to be unlocked. The chapel space at the end of the building is intense and vibrant both architecturally and by the art that is framed by the architecture. FAT took lead on the colours, the shapes and forms of the joinery and the finishes. Bright red panelling has fine recesses picked out in hot pink. Colours for joinery are influenced by the interiors of Adolf Loos. The chevron floor in the chapel copies a timber floor from a pub in Blackfriars. Curved mirrors normally used at corners of country lanes are used for decoration. Grayson’s artwork of vases and tapestries depicting the story of Julie’s life bring a reflective and sombre quality to the space.