Spanning 45 acres, Estelle Manor—an estate hotel in the Cotswolds home to a traditional manor house, more than 100 custom-designed guestrooms, four restaurants, and a spa—is located on a historic site in Oxfordshire, England, established in the late 18th century. Roman and Williams executed the complete architectural and interior design of Estelle Manor, including the restoration of its historic Neo-Jacobean buildings and the development of 20 ground-up structures. Guided by a deep respect for the property’s heritage and vernacular architecture, Principals Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch’s design collapses past and present, honoring the legacy and craftsmanship of the property’s historic design while creating a manor house that feels modern and vital.
To restore Estelle Manor’s Main Hall, a designated Grade II historic building built in 1904, Roman and Williams preserved its hand-carved paneling by stripping the varnish from the millwork in order to expose the natural beauty of the original oak wood, and left its stone fireplace mantels intact. In designing the main hall’s spaces—which include 34 unique guest rooms, a library, a living room, a terrace, and three restaurants—Alesch and Standefer were inspired by the romanticism of J.M.W. Turner's landscape paintings, as well as 17th- and 18th-century Orientalist paintings. They also developed a robust art program within the Main Hall, offering a contemporary contrast to its layered décor and vernacular architecture, further accentuated by mid-century Italian furniture.
A ground-up structure, the Baths are an architectural standout of Estelle Manor. Neoclassical design was a key inspiration, from the British architect Inigo Jones — the architect who revolutionized English architecture and set its course for some 100 years in the 17th and 18th centuries — to the aquatic splendor of Roman Baths — built between 60 and 70 AD. The interiors, notably the custom-designed stone benches, were inspired by the work of Victorian painter Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, who was recognized for his realistic and textured depictions of materials, including marble—another key material used for the Baths.
However, Doric principles are expressed through a new language of scale and natural light, which flood the different moods throughout the day. Scrubbing away the dense layers of atmosphere found in the hotel’s main manor houses, the spa approaches materials with a polished eye. A flint-stone entranceway gives way to the central anchor of the space: the tepidarium, a 36-degree warm pool with high sky-lit ceilings, a central marble seating area, and submerged custom-designed stone benches around the water’s edges. The space is flanked by the smaller caldarium, two plunge pools (separated by a pair of traditional “Scotch buckets”), and a pink-marble Hammam. A wide oak staircase leads to the supersized, subterranean changing space.
Historically, the needs of a vast country estate in the Cotswolds would be sustained by their gardens and adjoining farmland. The Walled Garden continues this tradition by offering an intersection of cooking, gardening, and living at the manor, complete with a restaurant and 35 guestrooms. At its center is The Glasshouse Restaurant, home to a collection of plants and fresh herbs, as well as works of decorative art. The space embodies Roman and Williams’ naturalist approach to design, which embraces natural materials and their evolution through use.
Estelle Manor is the latest in a series of recent projects for which Roman and Williams has engaged deeply with British history and design. In 2020, Roman and Williams redesigned the British Galleries at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a project that spanned four centuries of British decorative arts. In 2021, Roman and Williams designed the Nomad Hotel in Covent Garden. In 2022, the firm first partnered with Ennismore to design Maison Estelle, a private members club in Mayfair. Roman and Williams was honored to again collaborate with Ennismore to create a country counterpart to Maison Estelle—a property that pays homage to the history of British country living, infusing it with an artistic spirit that breathes new life into a centuries-long destination.