The Ancient & Sacred Space

For the purchase of The Monastery or stock, I use the same philosophy; if it is rare and mesmerisingly beautiful, whether it’s salable or needs tons of restoration, I have to have it.

Steven and Alex in The Monastery in Rye, 1 Conduit Hill, TN31 7LE

Alex, can you tell me about the journey that brought you to Rye and The Monastery?

Alex. So, with an ex-partner, a very skilled Italian artisan who studied in Florence, we started doing museum-quality furniture restoration. While working together for nearly eight years, I learned the serious side of the business. I was working with fine furniture with an intrinsic value, which probably affected my eye more than I give it credit for because I understand serious furniture. We had talked about maybe buying and selling but it didn’t appeal to me at that time. Years later, when my son was young and after working in a series of various antique shops, I had a part-time job at a fabulous shop on Camden Passage in Islington. There, I suddenly understood that you could buy and sell what you loved and that was an “aha” moment that inspired me. Because I suddenly recognised that I could express myself through what I bought, I could put new looks together, expressing my taste as it evolved and that’s what was exciting and appealed to me. So I focused on getting some stock together and started doing antique fairs; I did about 24 fairs a year, selling all over England. Then I got a shop in Camden Passage, followed by Alfies Antique Market in Marylebone and later the Battersea Decorative Fair in London.

I sold my place in London to move down to Brighton, where I had a shop in Kemptown from 2006 to 2012. At the time, I was the only antique shop in the village, but later on, it became part of the antique trail. Also, I had purchased a fabulous Regency flat with high ceilings in the same area so I used to take clients back to look at more significant pieces. A few years later, I bought the flat downstairs and knocked it through to make it into a whole house. By this time, I had become more nationally and internationally known so it felt like a waste of time sitting in the shop, plus a waste of space having a five-bedroom, four-floor Regency house with just me, my daughter, and the dogs living there. So I decided to make it into my showrooms with a quarterly open house, showing local artist’s work, with a preview soirée. And I went back into doing Battersea Fair again; buying the flat downstairs and knocking through meant that I had to raise the bar; I had no option.

“I’m not actually that commercially minded but if something has got meaning and purpose, then it inspires and motivates me.”

Customers loved the concept, and through that setup, I got worldwide exposure through various magazine articles. But I knew that the house only had a certain lifespan because everything had to go through the front door and up the stairs, and I like big stuff.

Steven interjects with a grin. Well, you are not scared of buying anything significant; we have a one-ton marble bath outside at the moment. It will have to come in through a window, which was a last-minute purchase recently in Parma, Italy.

Alex. It was full-on, doing the Battersea Fair three times a year from my home. So I would be gutting the whole house to fill three sequential stands worth of stock at the fair. So it was like moving home three times a year and then setting up the open house four times a year. I had quite a big team of people working for me. It was constant drilling and taking things down and apart, in and out; it was pretty hectic.

So yeah, I love big stuff and challenges, that is why I bought this building, The Monastery. I had my eye out for a live workspace; I have a bit of a building fetish, I love transforming spaces. So I know about buildings and how much they cost because I had been looking obsessively for about 12 years. I’d been looking at churches because I wanted something that kind of volume. I also have a bit of a twisted religious taste and I like ecclesiastical buildings.

So, the story is a true story. One day this guy came to visit me at the place in Brighton; he said to me, Alex, would you ever sell your amazing house? He wasn’t interested in buying it. I said, well, I might, but under a couple of circumstances. He said, oh, what are those? I now owned the building to the ground floor, but not the basement; I had been waiting for the lady to move out, to try and buy it. It was causing a lot of stress because we had open houses. We had a Great Dane living above her bedroom, lorries driving up outside and stopping to load up, so yes, it was causing a lot of stress. So I said, if I can’t buy the basement, which was plan A, then I might move, or if I find my ‘perfect’ building and he asked “Isn’t this your perfect building and what is your ‘perfect’ building then? He said, I’m going to play your fairy godmother but the rule of the game is that you have to compromise! I replied I’m not too fond of that word compromise, how about an ecclesiastical building? He replied, try harder. So I spontaneously listed for him everything I wanted in my ‘perfect’ building; okay, an industrial building would do, if it was an architecturally interesting landmark, with lateral space, good access points, a walled garden for the dogs, and in East Sussex! He asked, anything else? I said, no, I think that’s it. Two days later, the lady who owned the basement flat came upstairs and offered it to me so I tried every single way I could think of to buy it but nothing was working. And she found someone else. Two weeks later, we met up with family for lunch at The George in Rye; I hadn’t been here for five years and just thought - oh, I wonderwhat is going on with the property in Rye, so I took a look at Rightmove. The Monastery was listed; I remember saying, oh my God, how have I missed this? It’s been on for three weeks! I realised it was because I had been chasing after the basement and hadn’t had a chance to look. So I booked an appointment to come and see it, and when I did,I had butterflies, I had never imagined that I would find both ecclesiastical and brutal industrial architecture in one building - it had everything on my list! I had a strong feeling the first time I visited The Monastery that I would buy it; it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I eventually bought the building in January 2015. It was massively high risk, especially as the red tape started exposing itself and the issues started coming up. The complications, the amount of work, and the money needed to spend on the building were absolutely petrifying. But I still felt like I had to follow my heart and do it. I knew that I was following my dream while at the same time facing my demons and fears; and had no idea then how many dreams would be fulfilled.

The most amazing miraculous thing that’s happened since I’ve been here is Steven landing on me with a big bang. It was at the time when I was getting approached by events people. I always wanted to do events at The Monastery, like when I was in Brighton doing my quarterly events. Still, those weren’t anything like the level of events Steven is doing.

I knew that I couldn’t manage the events and the building as well as my thing. So I had an open mind about an event person turning up. A couple of people had approached me, but I didn’t click with them.

“We are planning, curated content, art content, it’s going to become quite an inspiring hub with new ideas and innovative, inspiring thinking that will open people’s hearts. That’s the plan.”

How did you two first meet?

Alex. Steven called and said, can I come and see the building? I didn’t even know why he wanted to see it? When Steven first came to The Monastery, I was already with clients; he was standing on the walkway, and all I heard him saying was in his bellowing voice, it’s absolutely fabulous, darling!

Steven. The first time I’d ever come to Rye, I wandered around and couldn’t quite believe that there was this quaint chocolate box town that I hadn’t seen before. I was thinking of making a significant move out of London, a real change in life. I walked down Conduit Hill and saw this fantastic gold eight-pointed star on the front of The Monastery, which I found out later represents new beginnings and redemption; I thought, my gosh, that looks amazing. It lodged itself in my mind as a building that I would like to see the inside. Fast forward a couple of months, and I moved down here with my mother to Winchelsea.

I had been involved in events for a long time and done some really large projects, with people including Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton. I’m still producing corporate events; I stick my toe in now and then; I’ve just finished a job for Disney. But the corporate event world is very transient. So whilst I thoroughly enjoy working on those projects, there is a significant buildup, the event happens, and then it disappears.

Meeting Alex and hearing Alex’s vision for the building, for the space and events, it seemed that there was an opportunity to do something a little more meaningful. We have a shared vision, which is exciting.

So I moved down; I phoned one day and asked could I come and see the space and meet Alex. It was amazing; I think I was here for hours just chatting and we both got on really well.

What kind of events are you planning or have planned for the space?

Steven. The opportunity that The Monastery represents is to fulfil a joint vision and create something exciting for the town. Alex and I want to develop more than an event space, we want to respect the building’s sacred history with meaningful content. We want the space and the building to house amazing things and experiences that shift people’s perception of where they are in the world. So whether it’s a supper club where you are seated next to a marble statue with an opera singer or whether it’s a tailored meditation experience, we want to take the spirituality that the building has and play with that a bit and create inspiring experiences that are enlightening and enjoyable.

In the coming years, the art shown here will range in terms of A - price and B - accessibility. In terms of the artists we will be showing in the space, we’re looking at expanding the promotion of those artists in terms of having talks, workshops, and experiences linked to an opening or a particular exhibition or a theme, so that is exciting.

We don’t want the space to only be a wedding venue, but we would like to do a few weddings. We wouldn’t want to be seen as just a venue as The Monastery is too personal to Alex. The events that we have here are tailored with lots of meaning, passion, and emotion. For example, at a recent wedding event hosted here, we removed most of the stock. Some items stayed in the space, we consulted with the couple that was getting married, and we kept the spectacular Jensen brass palm tree light and other various elements that added to the building’s fabulousness.

Inside The Monastery.

How are you both making your mark on The Monastery?

Steven. From a brand point of view, whilst Alex MacArthur Interiors is incredibly well-established as an interiors business, one of the brave steps that Alex has taken is to brand the building. So we have created The Monastery brand, which we are currently promoting. I think giving the venue its own identity is essential. It positions The Monastery as the landmark in Rye that we would like it to be and allows us to create exciting content that will make people enjoy coming here.

I think accessibility is essential, but from a business point of view, a little exclusivity goes a long way, especially in terms of creating that aura of excitement and intrigue. If The Monastery had its doors open 24/7, it would take that intrigue away; I think it’s always exciting to want to get in, which makes getting in even more desirable and special. Having said that, in terms of the event activity plan that we are developing, a lot of events will be open and accessible. It is essential for the local people who live in Rye to see and enjoy the space. Through Historic England, we are committed to being open on a certain number of days, and that is something we want to do. As the building is a scheduled monument, it is looked after by Historic England, and they are incredibly supportive of our plans.

We want to open people’s minds with events that we put on. Alex is transitioning; from that point of view, you know, it is a gay-friendly space, and we want to promote the principles of love, tolerance, acceptance, and awareness. We believe that everyone has the ability to grow and expand, so the experiences that we want to create here will have a thematic running through them of spreading love and acceptance. I think that the town already loves and accepts the building. I think that can only grow as the building delivers back to the town.

Alex, do you have anything you want to say about your transition?

Alex. I would like to be called He from now on, so please use He / Him pronouns to refer to me. I’ve gone past the line now; that is how people who don’t know me perceive me. I’ve been out as transgendered for twenty-five years. So I’ve always felt the way I do now. I’ve often been misgendered in the past by people because I wasn’t physically transitioning. So I’ve decided to do that; I’ve been transitioning since January this year. It’s a journey that I’d been on before 25 years ago, but I stopped because of the children. Now my children are 30 and 33 and very supportive. I want to actualise myself and enjoy the physicality of who I am. It’s come to a point now where I can see people who are consciously aware, trying not to use pronouns or not sure which pronoun to use. I will become more and more masculine, and I don’t want people to feel uncomfortable; that’s important. With my experience being transgendered, my whole story has helped me find an identity much deeper than and beyond gender and sexuality. So I relate to people on a deeply human level; when a person calls me, he or she or what their perception of me is, it doesn’t really matter because I know myself and what I am about.

So navigating gender has been my story for a long time, and I’ve found a peaceful place with it. I took four years out of my antique business and trained as a transpersonal psychotherapist; a lot of that search was about understanding identity on a soul level.

When I think about what kind of contribution I’d like to make to the world, other than celebrating beauty and expressing myself through my decorative installations, I feel like I’d like to raise awareness, acceptance and tolerance of differently gendered people. I felt like I wanted to come out at some point officially so I could feel at ease, and so could other people. So the fact that it is in RyeZine makes me go, phew, you know, it’s out there now, and I don’t have to explain myself to everyone because I am here, in alignment, and now out.

RyeZine. We can’t thank Alex and Steven enough for inviting us into The Monastery, it truly is a welcoming and sacred space. Alex, we appreciate your openness in sharing your personal journey with RyeZine and our reader.

The Monastery in Rye, 1 Conduit Hill TN31 7LE
themonasteryinrye.co.uk
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