Friends of Hastings Cemetery

Ionides Family continued

From 1867 the Ionides lived at No 1 Holland Park where the house was decorated by Philip Webb, William Morris and Walter Crane.

As an art collector, his taste was for the art of the Aesthetic movement, and he was a friend and patron to Watts, Armstrong, Poynter, Rossetti etc.

After the Ionides retired to Hastings in 1875, their son Alexander presided over the family home at Holland Park.  Although it was rumoured he had lost £120,000 in a bank failure in 1864, Ionides senior continued his beneficent activities and he endowed a library, hospital and orphanage in Athens.  On his death in 1890 Ionides left his fortune to his wife and daughters, believing that 'dead men's money' was a curse, in particular for male descendants.

Number 15 High Wickham, was first purchased by Alexander and Constantine Ionides for their son-in-law / brother-in-law, Edward Dannreuther in 1880.  The second, no 14 High Wickham, was purchased in 1882.  In the early 1890's his daughter Chariclea and her husband Edward Dannreuther, settled in Hastings with Alexander Ionides senior in Windycroft, the two regency cottages , no’s 14 and 15, turned into a single house.  (Or, from another source, “The property known as Windycroft was built on the plots of 2 smaller properties overlooking the old town of Hastings. “)

Windycroft was decorated with William Morris wallpapers, and boasted a Roman hall with a marble mosaic floor, light fittings by W. A. S. Benson and pictures by Rosa Bonheur, Fantin-Latour and James Whistler Work on building Windycroft began in 1883.  In 1911 part of the house was badly damaged by fire.  Many of the documents in the collection relate to the repairs carried out at this time. (‘Windycroft’ became number 19 after renumbering)

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