When a Hollywood movie star arrived to film scenes for his latest film in a stylish Harrogate apartment he said he had found his dream home. Ruth Campbell talks to the interior designers behind the look

HOLLYWOOD actor Harvey Keitel was blown away when he arrived in Harrogate to film scenes for his latest movie. The Oscar nominee, who has appeared in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, confessed that the stunning apartment in a grand villa with tall elegant windows overlooking the town’s Stray parkland was just the sort of place he aspired to live in as a young boy growing up in Brooklyn.

Mitu Misra, director of the Lies We Tell, a new movie about a trusted driver dealing with the dark past of his dead boss’s mistress, had been searching for a building that looked just like a chic French chateau hotel while filming at the nearby Moor Park Estate. The home of Jane Lay, who, with business partner Barry Dennison, runs an antiques and interiors business which often sources and supplies items for the TV and film industry, turned out to be perfect.

Former Harley Street medic Jane moved here with her sister Angela Bottomley eight years ago and the pair transformed what was already a stunningly grand apartment into something else altogether – an opulent yet chic home oozing with individuality and charm.

The appropriately dramatic grand entrance hall, complete with travertine marble floor, stone statues and high ceilings with decorative archways and ornate cornicing, sets the scene for what is to come at this sought-after address. Every door from this impressive lobby opens into rooms dripping with cut glass chandeliers, gilt-edged mirrors, quirky paintings, unusual antiques and creatively painted and distressed reproduction pieces, a look that perfectly reflects the character of the business Jane runs with Barry.

Called English Eccentrics, the pair have recently opened a shop round the corner to showcase their stunning finds, including original paintings, antique and reproduction crystal chandeliers and rich Persian rugs. “All our stock tends to have a slightly eccentric edge, with a touch of decadent, faded grandeur. We’re a bit wacky and tend to be braver than most,” says Barry. “It’s a reflection of our taste and personality. We don’t do subtle,” adds Jane.

Jane adored the original period features of her two-bedroom apartment when she first saw it, but had to redecorate it to her taste, which included adding a new kitchen and bathrooms. She also replaced the existing fireplace with a much larger version. Jane and Angela enjoyed going to auctions and salerooms to seek out new pieces which would fit with the lofty proportions of the house. “You have to think big in rooms this size,” says Jane.

The completed look was just what Mitu Misra was after. “He wanted something that looked like the interior of a French hotel and found us. They barely had to change a thing, just moved a few bits around.” The road was blocked for days for filming: “It was very exciting. They were charming, with a crew of 200, including bodyguards, and we dined with them in the catering unit.”

The film, also starring Sibylla Deen, Gabriel Byrne and Mark Addy, is due out this autumn. “Harvey looked smart and artistic, with a shock of white hair. Before he left, he thanked us for allowing him into our home. He said the apartment and its interior was everything he ever dreamed of when he was a young actor,” says Jane, who is originally from Halifax.

Her love of period properties goes back to when she lived in a particularly grand apartment, which came with her Harley Street job, in London’s exclusive Upper Wimpole Street. Having moved to Knaresborough and then Harrogate after marrying, she became interested in refurbishing period buildings after her husband died 14 years ago. “I busied myself buying places and doing them up, it became an absolute fascination.”

She and her sister enjoyed going to auctions. “We couldn’t resist buying and acquired so many things.” That was when she came across Barry. “We often went to bid against each other at auctions, we had such similar tastes,” she says.

She and Angela and Barry and his wife, Hayley, soon got to know each other. “We had an affinity and started to source things together and exchange ideas,” says Jane. “We always said we should work together.”

After studying interior architecture at Leeds University, he had always wanted to renovate old houses. “In the Eighties, we lived in a Thirties semi and painted the living room black, way before anyone did anything like that. We had lot of mirrors and chrome, it was a real art deco, Hollywood glamour type look. People thought we were really weird,” says Barry.

Having worked in interiors and soft furnishings, he and Hayley moved to Harrogate to work in property development full-time. “Harrogate is such a beautiful northern town. I do one property, usually Victorian or Georgian, at a time. It’s restoration rather than renovation, not squeezing every last penny out of it, more like giving something back.”

He relishes the challenge of taking on unassuming flats and transforming them into stunning apartments, fitted with his own period style mouldings and grand, ornate reproduction fireplaces, often doubling their value. “We’ve bought absolute hovels with no kitchen or heating and leaking roofs,” he says.

It was while sourcing antiques and reproduction pieces for clients to dress up the properties he was selling that Barry got into the interior design business with Jane. “Film crews would approach us, looking for unusual Chinese tables or opulent lighting for various productions,” he says. “Often, because of our style, people would ask for larger-than-life things, huge chandeliers, grand pieces of furniture that had seen better days and once, even, an aeroplane propeller. It was being asked to source things that led to the shop. We were collecting so much we needed to get either a warehouse or a retail outlet.”

Having taken over the premises in January, they planned to open in March. “But as we were filling the shop, trying to get it ready, people were banging on the door asking to buy things. We couldn’t keep them out and thought we might as well open straight away,” says Barry. They source items from Belgium, France and Italy as well as in the UK. “And we work with other dealers, there’s a nice network in the Harrogate area.”

Buyers come from all over the region. “They’re looking for quirky things. We get a lot of affluent customers, who will spend four figure sums without batting an eyelid.”

Barry feels Harrogate is the perfect location for their business. “It used to be seen a place to retire to, but it’s a different town today with a much broader dynamic, quite funky , with lots of trendy bars and restaurants.”

Jane and Angela’s apartment is for sale with Verity Frearson Estate Agents Harrogate. Offers over £675,00

English Eccentrics 34C Leeds Road, Harrogate HG2 8BQ T: 01423 202893 W: english-eccentrics.com