Auctions
We offer a diverse and exciting calendar of over 70 specialist auctions per annum as well as single owner collections and house sales.
Valuations
Our valuation services include: free online auction valuations, virtual valuations, home visits and valuation days at our salerooms, where clients can receive advice on selling at Dreweatts from our market-leading specialists.
News & Videos
Keeping you up to date with auction news, highlights, videos and events from Dreweatts.
Highlights
Sale Announcement | Lifetimes in Design: The Collections of Christopher Smallwood, and Niall Hobhouse | 13 May 2026
The Collection of Christopher Smallwood
Christopher Smallwood founded his eponymous architectural practice in 1976, developing an approach that blended historic sensitivity with contemporary innovation. His work was defined by a thoughtful grounding in context and a nuanced understanding of how clients wish to inhabit and experience their spaces. This philosophy was exemplified in projects including Goodwood House in the UK and High Point University, North Carolina, USA, and is reflected in the auction, which features highlights that track Smallwood’s life and career.
Smallwood’s distinctive approach to design was evident in his own homes at Pembroke Studios in Kensington and Melbury Abbas in Dorset, where classic English interiors were interwoven with modern and contemporary accents drawn from his diverse career. Works by Edward William Godwin, including a standout ‘Smallhythe’ mahogany table, offer a lens through which to trace the evolution of modern design, underscoring how Smallwood’s personal taste and professional sensibilities informed the pieces he chose to live with and collect.
The Collection of Niall Hobhouse
The collection offered from author and art dealer Niall Hobhouse similarly mirrors his professional journey - from his time at the gallery Eyre and Hobhouse, which specialised in Indian company school pictures, to his later years as an art advisor focusing on Anglo-Indian art and architectural projects - in particular, his founding of Drawing Matter, established to explore the role of drawing in architectural practice, education, and exhibition.
Originating largely from The Dairy House, on the Hadspen Estate, his home and office near Bruton, the collection demonstrates a dialogue between historical and modern design, in turn marrying his passion for western and eastern art: multiple cultural conversations between objects and works of art, reflect Hobhouse’s architecturally informed approach to interiors and his nuanced integration of past and present in a cohesive interior.
Auction Details
Wednesday 13 May 2026, 10.30am BST
Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE
Auction coming soon!
Sign up to email alerts
Lifetimes In Design: The Collections of Christopher Smallwood & Niall Hobhouse
13 May 2026, 10:30 AM
Request an Online Valuation
Get a free auction valuation from our specialists. Complete our easy online form and upload photos of your items.
Start Valuation
