23rd October 2025
I spent a wonderful afternoon with Tom Newhouse. Tom and his wife Jill had just moved from the house he designed forty seven years ago to a new townhouse two miles away.
I had never been to the house, and as Tom still had the keys, he invited me over, and gave me a tour.
Over the years I had heard stories of it, but seeing it in the real was breathtaking. Although stripped of its contents, and just containing staged furniture to help sell the property, it had a warmth of a home that sat comfortably in its natural surroundings.
I asked the question, why? I could tell that it wasn’t an easy decision that they took, but he explained that it was for health reasons. He is suffering from arthritis in his neck, sometimes leaving him unable to do the necessary work on the large garden.
I don’t know if I could leave a place where I put my heart and soul into, it was not just a home, it was a personal environment built with sweat and tears, and whoever is the new owner is taking on someone else’s dream.
After the tour, he drove me to a local pub where we continued to talk, he told me stories of his experience’s with George Nelson and Charles Eames, things that only he knew about. It was filling in gaps that have never been public.
I have often urged Tom to write a book about his life in Design, I’m sure it would be an inspiration to any young student. I have even offered to write it for him, or at least document the details, whether that happens, I would like to think it could.
Another Lifetime to go 