September News

2022

I seem to have recently had a run of work creating lost buildings. In June I made a model of Rockingham Castle as it looked in the 13th Century, in July I reconstructed a large 1930s house recently destroyed by fire and this month I’ve been asked to make a lost shop.
‘Hadfield’ was a Drysalter shop; an unusual combination of chemist, wine store and agricultural supplier. This much loved family-run business operated in Macclesfield from 1826 to 1968 . In the 1960s the centre of Macclesfield was extensively rebuilt and the premises were demolished. The business still exists today but in a new location and the current owners wanted me to make a model of the shop as it stood at the corner of Mill Street during its heyday.
The owners were able to supply the images below, which show just enough detail for me to be able to create the model. Luckily the brickwork is clearly visible in one shot so I could calculate the size of the house from simply counting the brick courses. Some of the colours were hard to get completely accurate as the pictures were black and white. A small painting of the shop helped, and also I was able to take the colour scheme from the present shop as a guide.
To help me out with the window display I asked the brilliant 3D printing service at Modelu3d to make me lots of tiny bottles. I was able to get everything from Claret to Cognac to put in the shop as they could work from my drawings to create the profiles of the bottles.

After creating a detailed drawing of the shop and its window display I was able to produce a model which I believe shows the layout of the building as accurately as possible,  as well as capturing the atmosphere of this very unusual business.

The whole family miss their home more than can be put into words and hopefully the model will be a happy reminder of the best of times.

Any Building Anywhere

Please feel free to get in touch to make an appointment. Remember that it is possible to create models of any type of building, from town house to shop or country house. Without a site visit this makes the ultimate in surprise gifts! This service is not limited to the UK and commissions are welcome from anywhere in the world! Please email me a single photo of your house and I will provide you with an estimate, or give me a call for more information. The usual cost of a house portrait model in a box frame is around £2,250+vat.   (more details about ‘small projects’ here).