The Anderson Houses
Across the Victorian and Georgian streets of Northampton, England, stands a group of remarkable houses that are affectionately admired, but often walked past without knowing the stories and history behind them. For decades, I was one of those people. Designed more than a century ago by Scottish architect Alexander Ellis Anderson (1866–1935), these buildings inspire a real sense of pride and love from locals, historians and their current custodians. But broadly speaking, Anderson's unique craft and design remain largely overlooked, and The Anderson Houses project aims to recognise and document them before time passes by.
Anderson was a contemporary of the internationally recognised artist, designer and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. In 1916, Northampton model maker and engineer W. J. Bassett-Lowke bought a property in Northampton at 78 Derngate and set about transforming it into a very different kind of home, commissioning the designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh for the work. Anderson, who had already been practising as an architect in Northampton for many years, drew up the plans for the alterations.Anderson, who had already been practising as an architect in Northampton for many years, drew up the plans for the alterations. Around the same time, Bassett-Lowke brought Mackintosh into the project, and the two architects worked alongside him as the house was transformed. Mackintosh's extraordinary interiors are what have made 78 Derngate famous, but Anderson's involvement in the building is an important part of its story. It was only when I began looking more closely that I realised just how much of Anderson's own work was still here, scattered throughout the streets we walk every day.
The Anderson Houses is an ongoing project to document, photograph and celebrate these buildings of individual charm, looking beyond the architecture, to the people, their histories, and the stories that helped shape them. My passion for design that is a little less ordinary draws me to these properties.
Through photography and artistic interpretation, I am drawing attention to the details that might otherwise be overlooked, revealing the atmosphere and character of Anderson's work in a way that needs to be cherished, preserved and documented for a wider audience to discover.
Exhibition
The Anderson Houses
Opening at 78 Derngate in February 2027, the exhibition will bring together photography, original paintings, historical research and personal testimony in the first exhibition dedicated to Alexander Ellis Anderson's domestic architecture.
The exhibition will present a new body of large format architectural photographs documenting Anderson's houses across Northampton, alongside detailed studies of their architectural features and portraits and personal stories from the people who live in them today. One or two original oil paintings will offer a more interpretive response to the buildings, exploring their geometry, materials, light and atmosphere.
Presented within the house transformed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and shaped in part by Anderson himself, the exhibition creates a direct connection between Anderson's domestic work and the building where his architectural contribution can still be seen today. Historical research will provide context, while the stories of current residents will bring a personal dimension to the architecture and the continuing care of these houses.
The exhibition is intended to reach new audiences as well as those already interested in architecture, design and heritage. It will also provide a valuable resource for architectural education, with opportunities for schools, colleges and students to engage with Anderson's work, the history of the buildings and the ways architecture can be documented and interpreted through contemporary visual art.
Together, the work will offer visitors a chance to look beyond the familiar story of 78 Derngate and discover the wider body of Anderson's work across Northampton, much of it still quietly present in the streets around us. The exhibition will celebrate these remarkable buildings, the people who have cared for them, and an important part of Northampton's architectural heritage that has remained largely overlooked.
