The Belvedere
A finely detailed garden building where stone carving, proportion and classical composition come together, winner of the Natural Stone Award for Craftsmanship 2020.
Project Details
Belvedere is a finely detailed garden building in Oxfordshire where stone carving, proportion and classical composition come together.
Commissioned by a private client and designed by Jonathan Lees Architects LLP, the project showcases the full range of AFJONES stonemasonry skills in design, manufacture, carving and construction.
Classical Architecture · York Stone
Arts and Crafts
Influence
The belvedere takes its name from the Italian for "beautiful view", and the architecture lives up to it. Classically inspired and influenced by Arts & Crafts and the work of Edwin Lutyens, the composition centres on three-quarter engaged, fluted and entasised Corinthian columns supporting a prominent entablature.
Raking pediment and decorated tympanum complete the composition. The result is a building that feels both formal and finely judged, sitting naturally within its landscape.
Exceptional Detail
Carved in
York Stone
Bead-and-reel mouldings, egg-and-dart dentils, bluebell and rose bosses, and voluted scroll consoles are all carved in York stone (Woodkirk). Each element carefully modelled to read clearly in shadow and light.
The variety of motifs is unified by disciplined proportion and consistent craftsmanship, every carving fabricated in AFJONES Ipsden workshops before being trialled in assembly.
AFJONES worked closely with Jonathan Lees Architects to develop the design from pencil sketches into fully detailed drawings. Stone was selected from Woodkirk quarries with great care to ensure clean, consistent blocks for every component.
Design Development
Partnership
in Detail
Trial carvings were undertaken to test proportions and refine profiles, and trial assemblies in the Ipsden workshops allowed all pieces to be checked for fit before work moved to site.
Trial carvings were undertaken to test proportions and refine profiles, and trial assemblies in the Ipsden workshops allowed all pieces to be checked for fit before work moved to site.
Gallery
The Belvedere
Award-Winning Craftsmanship
Natural Stone Awards
Craftsmanship 2020
The Belvedere was awarded the Natural Stone Award for Craftsmanship in 2020, in recognition of the exceptional standard of carving and classical stonemasonry across the project.
It stands as a demonstration of how design vision and technical mastery can combine to create work that is both beautiful and enduring, from Ipsden, Oxfordshire.
This is stonemasonry at its highest level: carving, composition and craftsmanship working as one.
AFJONES involvement from concept through installation allowed every detail to be refined, tested and perfected before the first stone was laid on site.
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