Over the gate...

Designed in 1913 by Victorian/Edwardian/other architect Theophilus A Allen; John Lennon's house between 1964 and 1968; sunroom, attic and prisco stripe hibernice; Mellotron and caravan; Babidji and Mimi; mortar and pestle; Wubbleyoo Dubbleyoo; curios and curiosity; remnants and residue; testimonials and traces; (Cavendish Avenue, Sunny Heights and Kinfauns); Montagu Square; mock Tudor: Brown House: *KENWOOD*.

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Monday 10 May 2010

Kenwood: sunroom sofa, 1985.


Re-upholstered and sitting out on the grass, for reasons of...errr: The sunroom sofa, circa 1985.
It's currently on display at the Hard Rock Cafe, Orlando. This is a guess, but how it got there may have been roughly as follows: When John finally moved out of Kenwood in the early part of 1969, he and Yoko were without a home. Sunny Heights, vacated by Ringo at the end of 1968, was without a buyer, so John/Yoko moved in for several months, taking the sofa with them. The Ono-Lennons, of course, eventually moved to Tittenhurst; the iconic couch got left behind, and thus gifted to the Starkeys.
The familiar yellow cashmir covering, worn out from the amount of time John's arse had spent parked on it, needed seeing to; so Maureen, a dab hand at such things, gave it a new, blue covering.
When she and Ringo split, the sofa fell into her hands (not literally), and was later sold at Sotheby's, (coincidentally) to her future husband Isaac Tigrett (founder of the Hard Rock Cafe)(or else to someone who then sold it to Mr Tigrett)...and so to Florida (honey).
Many thanks to Jon Warren for the pics and information.
*UPDATE* The date on this post was originally 1988, but it turns out these pics date from around 1985, so I changed it. It also turns out that the couch was sold at Sotheby's; again, I've altered the post to reflect the new information. There has been some monkey business with the hole - I'll do a whole hole post...later.

6 comments:

  1. This is not the same chair as John had in Kenwood. The seat is a different colour! The one John had was white.

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  2. As I said in the post, it was re-upholstered.

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  3. Wondering who the female child is in that photo? I'm assuming the male child is Julian, though I've seen better likenesses of him.
    John looks particularly unenamoured of his new role as a 'hamburger dad'.

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  4. Yes, that's Julian. I believe the girl was the daughter of a neighbour.

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  5. Hmmm. There may be something "rum" about this sofa after all. I'll do a post on this when I get more information.

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  6. Julian is the one whose rum. He's probably looking forward to his Rumbaba Ice Cream, but Cynthia has bagged it. While hamburger dad lights another ciggy.

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