Lululaund

Lululaund
Lululaund from Melbourne Road, Bushey, UK (postcard c.1900). The south front showing main entrance.
General information
Type	Private house
Architectural style	Romanesque Revival architecture
Address	43 Melbourne Rd, Bushey, Hertfordshire, WD23 3LL
Country	England, United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°38′38.64″N 00°21′32.54″W / 51.6440667°N 0.3590389°W / 51.6440667; -0.3590389
Current tenants	Demolished 1939
Construction started	1886
Completed	1894
Client	Hubert von Herkomer
Design and construction
Architect	Henry Hobson Richardson

Coordinates: 51°38′38.64″N 0°21′32.54″W / 51.6440667°N 0.3590389°W / 51.6440667; -0.3590389

Lululaund was the Romanesque revival style house and studio of German-born British artist Hubert von Herkomer, in Melbourne Road, Bushey, Hertfordshire. It was designed in c.1886 and inhabited in 1894. It was demolished in 1939. The exterior design was developed from a sketch by the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson and was the only example of his work in Europe. It was an influence on the work of English architect Charles Harrison Townsend.

In the 1880s, von Herkomer had travelled to America twice to paint portraits and to give lectures. In early 1886, he painted the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson in exchange for a home design he could bring back to Britain. Richardson, at the peak of his career and only months before his death at age 47, sketched a single picture of a four storey Romanesque castle, explicitly allowing Herkomer to change the exterior "at will". From this sketch, von Herkomer commissioned the house.

Herkomer's father and two of his three uncles contributed to the idea, which was honoured by the artist in the triptych The Makers of my House. His uncle John, a joiner and carver, as was Herkomer's father Lorenz, came from America to assist, and his uncle Anton, a weaver, provided the draperies designed by the artist.

The house was built in white tufa from Bavaria and red sandstone. A plinth of courses of rugged stone formed the lower level, above was a wide segmental arch across most of the frontage and this was framed by two round turreted towers. At the top was a patterned gable. A tower rising above the front door was truncated during its construction when von Herkomer discovered it would obstruct light into his studio. Herkomer was solely responsible for the design of the interiors. The rooms were in German gothic style, extravagantly decorated with elaborate wood carvings executed by himself and members of his family. The principal bedroom had a copper ceiling and had wood carved walls entirely covered with gold leaf. The hall and staircase were lined with panels of redwood, three feet wide and 30 feet high. The dining room was decorated with a relief frieze of nude female figures, illustrating Human Sympathy. It was illuminated by concealed electric lights an innovation for its day. The drawing room had a vast arched chimney-piece and a music gallery . The house was, for its time, built to a very high technical standard, had for instance electricity from its own generator (in a sidehouse), as well as hot and cold water in each bedroom.