Weekend Retreat Olive, Lady Baillie
The History of Leeds Castle 1150 -1925 2
Introduction to Lady Baillie’s Country House Retreat 7
The Library 9
The Dining Room 11
The Servants’ Quarters 12
The Servants’ Corridor 13
The Private Dining Room 14
The Games Room 15 The Courtyard 17
The Private Writing Room 18 The Salon 19
The Spiral Staircase 21
Lady Baillie’s Private Boudoir 23 Lady Baillie’s Bedroom 24
Lady Baillie’s Dressing Room & Bathroom 25
The Baillie Room 26
The Yellow Bedroom 27
Upper Bridge Corridor 28
The Inner Hall & Staircase 29
The Yellow Drawing Room 30
Thorpe Hall Drawing Room 31
The History of Leeds Castle 1150 -1925
Unlike Dover or Rochester, Leeds Castle has never been a heavily fortifed or military castle. Rather, it has always been seen as a country retreat, a venue for relaxation and entertainment, where important guests and favourites were permitted to stay.
Little evidence remains of the medieval period, apart from the Gatehouse, the Barbican and Gloriette. In the Castle, the foundations of the Gloriette and Courtyard date from Eleanor of Castile’s ownership. Both were partially destroyed by fre in the 17th century and rebuilt in the 19th century.
Six medieval queens owned Leeds Castle. Eleanor of Castile (circa 1241-1290), wife of Edward I (1239-1307), bought Leeds Castle and created an exotic retreat infuenced by her Spanish upbringing. In addition to the Gloriette, she built aviaries and introduced Sicilian parrots and nightingales. After Eleanor’s death in 1290, Edward I and his young and vivacious second wife, Margaret of France (1279-1318) spent their honeymoon at Leeds Castle. Edward II (1284-1327) promised Leeds Castle to his wife, Isabella of France (1295-1358), however he reneged on his promise and gave it to a male favourite. She lay siege to Leeds Castle, challenged the infuence of such male favourites and ruled England as Queen Regent after the death of her husband. As Edward’s widow she owned Leeds Castle until her death. Anne of Bohemia (1366-1394) spent the Christmas before she married Richard II (1367-1400) at Leeds Castle.
Infuenced by her cosmopolitan upbringing, Richard created a new, extravagant court modelled on the age of chivalry. Richard and Anne stayed at the Castle throughout their reign, using it as a retreat from the formalities of court. Joan of Navarre (1368-1437) married her second husband, King Henry IV (1367-1413) in 1403. After his death she initially enjoyed good relations with her stepson, Henry V (1386-1422). However, determined to acquire her considerable fortune, Henry accused Joan of being a witch and a traitor. Imprisoned at Leeds Castle on two separate occasions, she continued to live in relative comfort, as evidenced by her wardrobe book. Joan was never formally tried but the stigma of witchcraft remained. Henry married the glamorous and popular Catherine de Valois (1401-1437) but died shortly afterwards, leaving her a young widow. As mother of the future King Henry VI, she maintained her own sophisticated household. Catherine’s subsequent affairs scandalised the court, but her eventual marriage to Owen Tudor led to the creation of the Tudor dynasty. She was the last medieval queen to own Leeds Castle.
Leeds Castle remained in royal ownership until 1552. According to records held in the National Archives, Henry VIII (14911547) stayed at the Castle on at least four occasions between 1522 – 1544. He transformed Leeds from a medieval castle to a luxurious Tudor retreat for his frst wife, Katherine of Aragon (14851536). Katherine was betrothed at a young age to Prince Arthur of England, older brother of the future King Henry. Widowed as a teenager in 1502, her future was uncertain. She eventually married Henry in 1509 and was one of his closest friends and advisors in the early years of their marriage. Highly educated and mulit-lingual, she was the frst female ambassador in European history. As a symbol of their loving union, he created a set of apartments, furnished with her personal symbol, the pomegranate. This can still be seen carved into one of the freplaces in the Castle.
Henry VIII (1491-1547) stayed at the Castle on at least four occasions between 1522 – 1544. He transformed Leeds from a medieval castle to a luxurious Tudor retreat for his frst wife, Katherine of Aragon (1485-1536).
After Henry’s death, Edward VI (1537-1553), his only legitimate son by Henry’s third wife Jane Seymour (circa 1508-1537), transferred title of the Castle to Sir Anthony St. Leger in 1552. From this time on, Leeds Castle ceased to be a royal retreat and remained in private hands until 1974.
By 1925, the future of Leeds Castle was uncertain. The golden age of the English country house had come to an end with the onset of World War I and the death of hundreds of young heirs on the battlefelds of France. Post-war taxation and crippling death duties resulted in a rush to sell land and property. Hundreds of country houses were demolished, their interiors sold to architectural salvage frms. Others were shipped to America, purchased by public museums or wealthy landowners with a taste for the past. Leeds Castle, which was in serious disrepair, could well have suffered a similar fate without the timely intervention of a wealthy Anglo-American heiress.
Lady Baillie (at the time Mrs Wilson Filmer) and her second husband, Arthur, acquired the Castle from Fairfax Wykeham Martin in 1926. Despite having lavished huge sums of money on extensive repairs to the Gatehouse and Gloriette, demolishing the main Jacobean house and replacing it with one in the Tudor Style (1822), by the early years of the 20th century the Castle was dilapidated and for sale.
Over the years the fortunes of the Castle waxed and waned in line with those of her owners, such as the Culpeper and Fairfax families.
Lady Baillie preferred ‘the French style’ of decoration and employed infuential continental designers
In 1931 she divorced Arthur Wilson Filmer and married Sir Adrian William Maxwell Baillie and would henceforth be known as the Hon. Olive, Lady Baillie, a title she retained until her death in 1974. The glamorous and luxurious interiors she created in the 1930s refect a lifestyle played out against the background of the ‘Gathering Storm’ of war in Europe.
Leeds Castle is a unique survivor from the heyday of interwar country house living and entertaining. Lady Baillie was well versed in social etiquette and the role of generous hostess was written into her DNA. Her salon was always open to a wide range of acquaintances who could be relied upon for good conversation and witty repartee. Guests were expected to join her in the Games Room, playing Canasta and bridge for high stakes, whilst music and dancing took place in the Salon. Since Lady Baillie
completely rebuilt the interiors of the Castle, some in the medieval style, there is little physical evidence of any eras before 1926. For this reason, we present the Castle as it was during its 1930s house party-heyday.
With a substantial budget and a passion for the past, Lady Baillie was determined to create an elegant country house. Whilst she was beguiled by the romance of English history, and Henry VIII in particular, she also had an American love of all modern conveniences, including electricity, heating and good plumbing.
Armand-Albert Rateau and Stéphane Boudin.
We invite you to enter Leeds Castle as house guests
But be warned your hostess, Lady Baillie, is notoriously private. You may catch a glimpse of her disappearing on her secret staircase, or you may only come across her in her Boudoir watching one of her favourite flms.
Introduction
Welcome to the much-loved country retreat of the Honourable Olive, Lady Baillie (1899-1974).
Lady Baillie owned Leeds Castle for nearly 50 years, between 1926 and 1974. She was the Castle’s last private owner, and it was her family home, as well as a country retreat for leading 20th century fgures in politics, arts and culture.
Olive, Lady Baillie was a rich Anglo-American heiress who lived a cosmopolitan and extravagant lifestyle. She owned a number of properties across the world, with homes in London, the south of France and the Bahamas.
Leeds Castle was arguably her favourite, and she devoted much time, care and attention – as well as money – to its rescue and restoration from the moment it was purchased in 1926. Discover life ‘below stairs’ in an English country house, and explore the exquisite interiors created by her world-renowned French designers.
Library
This room was initially used as the schoolroom for Lady Baillie’s two daughters, Pauline and Susan. The two girls were educated at home by Lady Baillie’s former French governess, Madame Southiere.
Pauline (on the right) and Susan outside Leeds Castle, c 1930
Boudin based his design on a late 17th century engraving by European designer Daniel Marot, the bookshelves of alternating width topped with a display of Chinese porcelain and antique globes.
Lady Baillie’s love of the past informed the mid-20th century interiors at Leeds Castle and she and her designers were far from alone in looking to the 17th and 18th centuries for design inspiration. A distinct country house style was popularised by Americans during this period, who had the money to invest in expensive properties and the desire to make their mark on English society.
In 1938 the room was converted into a library according to designs drawn up by Stéphane Boudin, a fashionable Parisian interior designer who was to become a close friend of Lady Baillie’s over the coming decades.
Dining Room
Designed by StéphaneBoudin between 1938-39, the Dining Room is an innovative fusion of English, French and Chinese styles. The objects in the room were brought in by Boudin, specifcally to furnish the new interior scheme.
Over the freplace hangs an ornate wall clock topped with the fgure of Father Time, which was purchased by Lady Baillie in 1927. The case was made by Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732), a French cabinetmaker who was well known for producing objects veneered with tortoiseshell inlaid with brass, known as Boulle work.
The majority of the porcelain on display was purchased by Lady Baillie in readiness for the 1948 redecoration, and she continued to collect further pieces into the 1950s and 1960s. These displays were complimented by foral arrangements, with colours and types of fowers detailed precisely by Boudin.
The Servants’ Quarters
When Lady Baillie bought
Leeds Castle in 1926 this room was part of the 19th century Great Hall. She had it altered for use as a library.
The plaster ceiling is taken from a mould of a 17th century house in the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1938 the room was reduced to its present size and became the servants’ quarters.
The running of a country estate like Leeds Castle required the organisation and co-ordination of more than 40 members of staff, all with their own specifc duties and responsibilities.
The portraits above the wood panelling tell the story of ‘above stairs’ at Leeds Castle in the 17th and 18th centuries. They mostly depict members of the Fairfax family who inherited the Castle as a consequence of the marriage between Catherine Culpeper and Thomas, 5th Lord Fairfax, in 1690.
The Servants’ Corridor
This ‘below stairs’ space connects the Servants’ Quarters with the gloriette. The corridor was used by staff employed by Lady Baillie during the 1930s, who were expected to work discretely and respond promptly to the bell box.
On the walls are statements made by Lady Baillie’s trusted carpenter, Joe Cooper, who came to work at Leeds in 1926 and Mr Mathews, a decorative specialist, whose services were enlisted in 1927.
The major renovations underway at Leeds Castle during this period piqued the interest of the press and over the arch is an extract from a column published in The Daily Sketch in 1929.
A temporary Railway line was erected across the moat during the 1920s renovations of the Castle.
The Private Dining Room
The Private Dining Room was used by Lady Baillie for entertaining on a more intimate scale. It was serviced by an adjacent room to the right of the entrance, which will be made accessible in the future as part of the ‘Below Stairs’ story at Leeds Castle.
Private Dining Room, 1936
Lady Baillie’s dreams of a medieval country retreat, albeit with 20th century luxuries, was realised by her frst architect, Owen Little, and her designer, Armand-Albert Rateau. Over three million people were unemployed in 1929, however, skilled craftsmen were in demand at Leeds Castle. Workmen from France and Italy, as well as locally based men, were employed to install the oak beams and lay 16th century terracotta tiles.
The Games Room
Lady Baillie was a keen gambler and card player. Weekend guests at Leeds Castle were expected not only to join in but also to raise the stakes in order to satisfy their wealthy hostess.
The British actor David Niven was a house guest at Leeds Castle, he reportedly once left a dinner party in order to play a game of cards in the Servants’ Quarters.
Accompanied by close friends, Lady Baillie took regular trips to casinos abroad and especially enjoyed the world-famous gambling on offer in Monte Carlo, an ‘international byword for the extravagant display and reckless dispersal of wealth’.
— “The tables at Monte are always surrounded. So far Lady Bailey (sic), who has forsaken the beauties of Leeds Castle for the distractions of Monte, is the big noise in the gambling way. One of the very few in fact to play really high and give the onlookers something to see and talk about.”
The Tatler, Wed 16 August 1933
The semi-circular chimneypiece was installed by Lady Baillie during the renovations she oversaw between 1927 and 1928
Quick guide Canasta
Needed
252 card deck 4 jokers 4 players
Basics
7 cards for a Canasta
Black 3s block discard pile
Wildcards freeze discard pile
Jokers 2s are wild cards
ScorecardCard values
Jokers = 50 points
Aces / 2s = 20 points
Kings to 8s = 10 points
7s to 4s = 5 points
Black 3s = 5 points
Meld Points (card values)
Hand Points (neg. card values)
Natural Canasta (500)
Mixed Canasta (300)
Red 3s (100 each or 800 all) Going Out (100)
Deal
11 card / players
First Melds
Under 1,500 = 50 points
1,500 - 2,999 = 90 points
3,000+ = 120 points
The First team to 5,000 points wins
Lady Baillie’s favourite card game was canasta, which originated in Spain and which in Spanish means ‘basket’. It is a quicker game than bridge and a variant on the popular game rummy. As well as cards and backgammon, jigsaw puzzles were another very popular pastime during the 1920s and 30s.
The Courtyard
Lady Baillie’s refurbishment of the gloriette was dominated by the creation of a timber framed façade, modelled in a 16th century style. The façade overlooked the central courtyard and housed a magnifcent wooden spiral staircase.
The central courtyard of the gloriette, which dates from 1278, provides the best vantage point from which to view the 20th century façade. This outdoor space, adorned with fragrant plants and centred around the water fountain, is an ideal space to sit and relax.
The Private Writing Room
An avid collector, Lady Baillie had eclectic and expensive tastes.
Among the objects in her diverse collection is a 16th century Flemish verdure tapestry and 18th century Delftware vases, traditionally used to display tulips. Lady Baillie adored fowers, which featured in rooms throughout the Castle.
This room was used as a Private Writing Room by Lady Baillie after Armand-Albert Rateau had redesigned it specifcally for this use, installing the ceiling in 1927. The freplace was moved from Lady Baillie’s bedroom, it dates from Henry VIII’s ownership.
The Fireplace was moved here from Lady Ballie’s Bedroom by Rateau, although dates from Henry VIII’s ownership.
The Salon
This room at the heart of the gloriette was completely re-designed by Armand-Albert Rateau in 1927.
to allow electric cables to pass through them. The 16th century carved Caen stone freplace was imported by Rateau from a chateau in France.
The intricately carved beams of the ceiling and the magnifcent ebony foor with its double dovetailed joints were installed and the elaborate grilles in the foor are part of the central heating system. Many of the beams are hollow
The Salon was used by Lady Baillie’s guests for cocktails or to gather after dinner. The foor is sprung for dancing and music was also a regular feature of weekend house parties, with guests able to listen to popular entertainers like Rex Evans, one of the most popular singers of the day, ‘singing his latest songs’ according to the British newspaper ‘The Daily Mail’.
A weekend invitation to Leeds Castle was much sought after and Lady Baillie, although a famed hostess, was also notoriously elusive. The secret staircase in the Salon, partially concealed by wall hangings, enabled Lady Baillie to discreetly arrive and depart the party. It was accepted that guests may not lay eyes on Lady Baillie until mid-way through their weekend.
The Salon, c 1930s
The Spiral Staircase
The wooden spiral staircase, which provided direct access between the two foors of the gloriette, was designed by Armand-Albert Rateau as part of the 1920s renovations.
The central twisted newel post was carved from a single tree trunk and is surmounted by the fgure of a laughing crusader and his dog. The whole structure including the linen fold panelling was carved in France and transported to Leeds Castle to be installed.
During the 1930s, Lady Baillie’s second designer, Stéphane Boudin, ordered the Castle’s carpenter, Joe Cooper, to cut off the fgure of the crusader. Cooper refused and was relieved when Lady Baillie insisted that it remain.
Lady Baillie’s Private Boudoir
From 1931 this room served as a bedroom for Lady Baillie’s third husband, Sir Adrian Baillie. Following their divorce, this room was re-designed and was to be Stéphane Boudin’s last commission at Leeds Castle. It was completed in the 1960s as a private boudoir for Lady Baillie.
From here Lady Baillie supervised the running of the estate, having daily meetings with her land agent and her birdkeeper, who looked after the exotic birds in the aviaries. She would often walk in the grounds with her Great Danes, Boots and Danny, and watch the black swans in the moat. Lady Baillie loved dogs and birds, and she was such a fan of movies that she installed a cinema in the grounds.
Although Lady Baillie collected many antique pieces of furniture, she also bought modern items to furnish the Castle. The dressing table in this room was made by Frank and Co. of Paris in the 1930s and is covered with sharkskin. Two striking female portraits from Lady Baillie’s collection dominate this room: a painting of Lady Baillie’s mother, Pauline Whitney (1874-1916) and a picture of the dancer and actress Lola Montez (1821-61), mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.
Lady Baillie’s Bedroom
This room was Stéphane Boudin’s frst commission for Lady Baillie in 1936, and it is arguably his masterpiece at Leeds Castle.
The décor is in the style of the French Regency (1715-1723) and combines 18th century wood panelling with new panelling innovatively aged to match. No expense was spared in creating an intimate feminine space.
Lady Baillie and Boudin developed a very close client-designer relationship, which began in 1935 soon after they met. Boudin would send his designs from his studio in Paris for Lady Baillie’s approval. She would annotate the drawings in French before returning the designs to him. Everything was custom made to her requirements; the half-tester bed even has built in reading lights.
Among the objects owned by Lady Baillie is her bespoke dressing case, which travelled with her between her three homes, or on holidays. It has everything a society lady would need for her toilette, exquisitely crafted in silk, crocodile skin and gold. Most of the items in the case feature her initials set in tiny gemstones.
Lady Baillie’s Dressing Room & Bathroom
The glamorous dressing room was designed by Lady Baillie’s frst designer, Armand-Albert Rateau, during the late 1920s, in the style of Louis XVI (1774-1793).
The cupboards and wardrobes had the latest technology for the period, such as built-in lighting. The bathroom is the most lavish in the Castle. Its walls are lined with Russian Onyx, indicative not only of the extraordinary luxury of the Castle’s interiors, but also the extravagant bathing and dressing rituals observed by society women in the 1920s.
Lady Baillie had an enviable dress collection, which included garments from Saville Row courtiers such as Hardy Amies (1909-2003), royal dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth II. Some of Lady Baillie’s dress receipts have survived and they give an insight into the styles and colours she adopted, all designed to complement her ‘slim, thin little fgure and smokey turquoise eyes’.
Concealed in the panelling is a private spiral staircase, which leads to the Salon below. It was used by Lady Baillie, the elusive hostess, as the most direct route to her private suite.
The Baillie Room
In 1927 this room was Lady Baillie’s boudoir, as designed by Albert-Armand Rateau. He installed theatrical gilded and painted mouldings and pilasters, framing Chinese wallpaper panels, and large mirrors at each end of the room. It was later transformed into a bedroom for Lady Baillie’s only son, Gawaine. Very little survives of the earlier historic schemes and today the room is a temporary display space showcasing Lady Baillie’s love of birds and the natural world. Almost every room in the Castle contains images or representations of birds in one form or another. The cased ‘Birds of
Paradise’ is the only known example of taxidermy in Lady Baillie’s collection. It was allegedly gifted to her, however by whom and why are both at present a mystery. John Money, Lady Baillie’s land agent opined ‘“The Birds” became such an integral part of Lady Baillie’s life, and in fact a part of the whole of life at Leeds”’.
The Yellow Bedroom
From 1926 onwards, Leeds Castle was a haven for the rich and famous. All guest bedrooms had adjoining marble bathrooms, a novelty in most country houses at this time.
Weekend guests enjoyed tennis, fshing and croquet on the lawns. The stables in the Gatehouse were converted into a squash court, and an outdoor swimming pool was constructed in the garden of the Maiden’s Tower in 1937.
It was the frst private pool in England to boast a wave machine. Lady Baillie was a huge movie fan, actors and playwrights’ including David Niven and Noel Coward, were frequent weekend guests.
Upper Bridge Corridor
Weekend guests enjoying Lady Baillie’s hospitality at Leeds Castle during the 1920s & 1930s included Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill and Charlie Chaplin.
The quotation on the wall is taken from the diaries of Henry ‘Chips’ Channon (1897-1958), a frequent guest of Lady Baillie during World War II. This extract is dated August 1943, as war continued to devastate Europe.
The portraits (left to right) are British writer Daphne Du Maurier, Charlie Chaplin, British socialite Margaret Campell, Duchess of Argyll, Douglas Fairbanks Jnr and Errol Flynn.
Staircase leads to the principal reception rooms on the ground foor.
The Inner Hall & Staircase
In the 1930s the inner hall was re-designed to highlight the architectural space and reinforce the concept of a medieval castle. Photographs from the period show the hall devoid of paintings and furniture, emphasizing the pure lines of the staircase and the arches.
Today the hall showcases a number of paintings and tapestries from Lady Baillie’s collection. On the wall is the only painting in the collection featuring Lady Baillie.
Painted by the French artist, Etienne Drian, Lady Baillie is shown seated on a table, fanked by her two daugh ters Susan and Pauline. The family are framed by the window in Thorpe Hall Drawing Room, opposite the painting. A heavy smoker with a penchant for strong-smelling Turkish cigarettes, Lady Baillie is painted holding a cigarette in her left hand.
The Yellow Drawing Room
When AmandAlbert Rateau re-designed this room as the luncheon room in 1927, it was lined in grey oak panelling. Just over 10 years later the room was re-imagined by Stéphane Boudin as one of Lady Baillie’s principal reception rooms at the Castle. In 1938 Boudin installed the present Palladian-style chimney piece and covered the walls with luxurious gold silk.
He designed the tasselled hangings that run around the room just below the cornice and brackets, which support the Chinese famille-rose porcelain.
Both windows were lowered at this time to serve as doors to the small terrace that lead to the lawn. From 1945 this room was used as a drawing room.
The painting above the
freplace is one of a series of paintings inspired by the Commedia dell’Arte character Pulchinello, the inspiration for the British Mr Punch. The painting is by Venetian artist, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (16961770) and was acquired by Lady Baillie in 1955. It is alleged she kept track of this particular painting for a number of years before fnally having the opportunity to purchase it.
Thorpe Hall Drawing Room
During the 1920s, death duties and the demise of many heirs in World War I resulted in a number of country houses and their contents being sold or even demolished. Some country house owners simply called in reclamation companies to strip rooms of their original features.
The pine panelling and chimney piece in this room, dating from 1653, was originally in the great parlour at Thorpe Hall, Peterborough. When the panelling arrived in 1927 it was painted green. The paint was removed, and the panels reassembled like a huge jigsaw puzzle – thousands of pieces needed to be ftted together. To accommodate the panels the ceiling of the room had to be lowered. At the bay window end of the room a new door was cut through the wall into the yellow drawing room.
The porcelain birds on the walls and the lacquered screens are Chinese and date from the 17th century. They were purchased by Lady Baillie, who had an enduring love of Chinese decorative art.
Please exit via the Inner & Front Halls
We hope you enjoyed your visit to Leeds Castle and will return soon.