David Roche in Fermoy House, Adelaide (2007); Photo David Mariuz, supplied
David Roche was a passionate collector, his holdings arguably the greatest decorative arts collection in Australia and, yet, he is name is rarely recognised outside of that specialist circle.
That is soon to change. In June the David Roche Foundation House Museum, located in North Adelaide, opens its doors to the public and will join the growing ranks of private museums in Australia.
What sets this museum apart is that it is steps beyond the National Trust concept of a house-as-museum, and rather presents Roche’s home as a living collection – presented in the opulent manner in which Roche spent his days – and complemented by an annexed contemporary wing in a neo-Classical style to the price tag of $5 million.
The David Roche Foundation House Museum opens in June; supplied
We walked through Fermoy House and the new museum with Curator Robert Reason, who declined to reveal how much the collection was valued, saying only that it was in the ‘tens of millions’.
The Sydney Morning Herald states that it was valued around $70 million three years ago.
Roche was of the Adelaide family dynasty behind the Adelaide Development Company, a property empire that stretch from Adelaide to Perth. The family wealth was estimated at $250 million in 2011 in the BRW Rich List.
This privilege enabled Roche the folly to collect at will, which he did with great verve.
He amounted over 3,000 objects of decorative and fine arts, spanning two centuries of European design (primarily 18th and early 19th century), from early French Rococo, through the Neo Classical period, French Empire and British Regency, to Faberge and Russian Royalty.
Where in Australia can you see a dueling pistol owned by Napoleon Bonaparte, a clock owned by Prince Ernst August of Hanover and a favoured chair of Catherine the Great rubbing shoulders?
Durs Egg Flintlock pistol, c.1800 owned by Napoleon; The David Roche Foundation, Adelaide, South Australia
The collection is incredibly intimate, exquisitely kitsch in its opulence, and overwhelming for its quality – one walks around awe-struck.
Making the private public
David Roche was described by Robert Reason as ‘an intensely private man’.
‘During his lifetime not many people knew about what he collected. He was always worried about security as well,’ Reason explained.
Roche wanted his collection to say in South Australia, and went about securing that in 1999 when he created The David Roche Foundation (TDRF); its “monogram” graces the façade of the new museum.
‘It was his wish that his entire estate would be transferred into that (Foundation) upon his death, and that the collection would then become available to the public. He was hoping it would become of national and international significance,’ Reason told ArtsHub.
There is no question in that wish. Testament was a gift of prized mahogany doors for the new museum by the globally respected dealer Carlton Hobbs.
Architecturally, the new wing is the antithesis of the cluttered Fermoy House, with its polished black concrete floor and black walls.
Curator Robert Reason (front) and David Roche Foundation House Museum (TDRF) Director Martyn Cook; supplied
It has been designed by Adelaide firm Williams Burton Leopardi Architects & Interior Design and sits on the site that was formerly Roche’s air-conditioned dog kennels.
Like many collectors, their passions and obsessions are fine tuned, and Roche bred and showed dogs with the same commitment that he collected fine objects. He was known internationally as a judge and for his high standards.
Understandably, a canine theme runs across the collection.
The building was inspired by the German neoclassical architecture of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, which was a favourite of Roche, both for its proportions and relationship to landscape – the façade taking a bow to Schinkel’s Pomona Temple.
Tournai Faience Factory, Pair of pugs, c.1775, France, painted faience, The David Roche Foundation, Adelaide, South Australia
Celebrating eccentricity and beauty
Sydney antique dealer, and friend of Roche for near 30-years, Martyn Cook is Director of the museum. He said David ‘spent his life on a quest to find the perfect object.’
Reason told ArtsHub: ‘He was the old fashion idea of a connoisseur, self-taught from a young age. He was fortunate to go overseas with his parents and they would take him to the great museums – it was instilled in him.’
Reason said that his knowledge was not necessarily developed through reading, but a more practical kind of research. He was constantly browsing through auction catalogues, going to dealers and galleries and talking to them, and then up-skilling as he went along.
Louis Moinet, the Elder, The ‘Gossip’ clock [Prince Ernst August of Hanover], 1805-10, France, bronze, ormolu; The David Roche Foundation, Adelaide, South Australia
Among the prized pieces on show are:
- A c. 1810 designed table by Charles Percier and Pierre-Francois Fontaine, likely made by Jacob-Desmalter, supplier to the Napoleonic court;
- A Louis Moinet Urn clock, c.1810, known as the ‘Gossip’ clock for Prince Ernst August of Hanover (above);
- A Durs Egg Flintlock pistol, c.1800, one of a pair presented to Napoleon in 1802 by English military commander, Colonel Thomas Thornton. It was acquired by Roche on a trip to London ten years ago (below);
- French Commode, c.1820, owned by His Grace the 1st Duke of Wellington, for his Stratfield Saye House, Hampshire, England.
- An English Secrétaire a abattant (Fall-front desk), c.1805, designed in the French Imperial manner and gifted by Prince Poniatowski to Sarah Countess of Jersey.
Cook said the strengths of Roche’s collection reflect his prerequisite for quality, notable makers, and if possible a provenance to royalty and aristocracy.
Francois Edouard Picot (1786-1868), Leda and the Swan, circa 1829, France, Oil on canvas; The David Roche Foundation, Adelaide, South Australia
‘When he was about to add something to his collection, David would know exactly where it should be placed in his home. He was meticulous on where his works should be housed,’ Cook continued. ‘All these “treasures” gave David great pleasure up until the end of his life in 2013.’
Reason told ArtsHub: ‘During his lifetime he was always very happy to buy and sell and upgrade his collection. I think as a collector there is always that driver there to hunt for the best and he wasn’t afraid to have found something better of the same example and sell off that first one.’
It was the house, however, that caught our eye. Nothing was spared the “Roche touch”.
He had carpets and wallpapers made specifically for each themed room, and yet he was ‘quite happy to whack a nail in anywhere’ to hang something, Reason explained.
The Russian Room with its faux malachite skirting boards is presided over by portraits of Empress Catherine the Great, attributed to court painter Johann Baptist Lampi, and Nicholas I, surrounded by furnishings used in the Russian imperial household.
The attention to detail and history is glorious; the scale of the room only intensifying its grandeur.
The guest bathroom still sports its orginal Chinoiserie wallpaper, while a modest kitchen is lined with hessian, dotted with a less high-brow collecting including tin money-boxes, to the opulence of a red-flocked and draped dining room, rivaled only by Roche’s bedroom décor.
Shy would not be a word used to describe Roche’s taste.
His flamboyant final gesture was a Russian-styled malachite urn standing on a pedestal, now in the museum. It holds his ashes and death mask. It seems oddly fitting.
David Roche continued to upgrade his collection until his death in 2013.
The David Roche Foundation House Museum is located at 241 Melbourne Street, North Adelaide and opens to the public 3 June. Admission will be via pre-booked guide-led tours.
