Journal of Building Survey, Appraisal & Valuation Volume 4 Number 3

Historic wallpaper

Allyson McDermott Received (in revised form): 5th November, 2015 E-mail: [email protected]

Allyson McDermott served on the Board of vided the inspiration for sustainable Trustees of the Institute of Conservation and re-use. Trinity House, was Chair of the Historic Interiors As well as being used forensically to iden- Group Icon, lectures extensively on wallpaper tify and date structural additions or alter­ and the conservation of the historic interior and ations, surviving wallpaper can also reveal the has written many articles on the subject. She is a social history of the house by highlighting past adviser to Sotheby’s and The National Trust the taste, status and aspirations of a succession and has undertaken research into the use of of occupants. In a wider national context, it Chinese Papers in the English Country House as also provides evidence for the development part of the V&A/RCA Conservation Programme. of style and fashion, the availability of materi- She runs Allyson McDermott Historic Interiors. als and the march of technology from the simple block printing and stencilling of the Abstract late 17th century to the digital revolution of Wallpapers can provide a wealth of information to the present day.1 help understanding the development and use of an With each new discovery we are learning historic building, but they are also valuable and more about this intriguing and multi-faceted often beautiful objects in their own right and as material, expanding our knowledge and such need both appreciation and care. increasing our understanding of its develop- ment and use over four centuries. Keywords: wallpaper, conservation, his- tory, development, flocking, hand blocking HISTORY AND CONSERVATION Although wallpaper is often dismissed as being merely a cheap imitation of the finer INTRODUCTION stuffs of textile and tapestry, it does have sig- Wallpaper may seem quirky, mildly inter- nificant advantages over both: it is relatively esting but essentially peripheral to the main durable, easy to acquire, fast to apply and is business of conservation within the historic instantly replaceable to accommodate house, but nothing could be further from changes in fashion or function. the truth. In common with research into The earliest English ‘wallpapers’ date from architectural paint, it has been proven to be the 17th century and were simple, multipur- a powerful tool in understanding the devel- pose designs that have also been found lining opment, archaeology and use of historic deed boxes, furniture, cupboards and case buildings. Research and identification of instruments. Usually imitating black Irish or original wallpaper ‘finds’ has informed Spanish embroideries, wallpaper sheets were Journal of Building Survey, Appraisal & Valuation many conservation and refurbishment proj- small, the scale limited by the size of the single Vol. 4, No. 3, 2015, pp. 151–161 © Henry Stewart Publications, ects and exciting discoveries have even pro- sheets of paper used as the substrate. Most 2046-9594

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were printed in carbon black ink from a hand- Many shamelessly imitated textiles, such as carved wooden block. Any colour was usually large-scale silk damasks or cut velvets using applied by hand or through a leather stencil. block printing, sumptuously enhanced by During the early 18th century wallpaper sprinkled woollen flock and varnished to was perceived as a desirable modern alterna- give the lustre of silk. As some of these grand tive. Stylish flock wallpapers were considered designs are over a metre high, an innovative, clean, hygienic and brilliant alternatives to but anonymous manufacturer joined several heavy textile hangings, particularly when smaller paper sheets together before applying used in dining rooms where smells could the ground colour and printing, thus invent- accumulate. Chinese (or ‘India Papers’)2 pro- ing the ‘roll’ of wallpaper. vided a delightful alternative to dour Jacobean Large-scale flock papers were popular in panelling, bringing lightness, fem­ininity and the extravagant ‘show rooms’ of both town exoticism to the decoration of many 18th and country houses, such as in the Prince century private apartments. The fashion con- Regent’s bedroom at Clandon Park, Surrey, scious aristocracy used large-scale, expensive and the Long Gallery at Temple Newsam papers extensively, while smaller, patterned House, Leeds. Few major houses can have flocks and distemper papers were popular been without at least one example and among the growing middle classes — not just Clandon had at least six, all dating from circa for reasons of cost, but also because they pro- 1730 when the house was built by Leoni. vided instant impact and could enliven and Smaller-scale flock wallpapers have been enrich even the most unpretentious of discovered in the formal rooms of many mid- houses. Robert Dossie in ‘The Handmaid to dle-class homes and the townhouses of the the Arts’ (2nd edition, 1764) wrote: burgeoning merchant classes, such as Gunsgreen House, Eyemouth or the Ancient The paper manufactured for hangings is of High House, Stafford. These aspirational several kinds, some being made in repre- wallpapers reflect the fashion for flocks in the sentation of stucco work for the covering more aristocratic households, but are scaled of ceilings or the sides of halls, staircases, down to suit interiors with more modest passages etc and others in imitation of vel- proportions. Crimson reds, rich greens and vet, damask, brocades, chintz and other dramatic blue backgrounds with darker blue such stuffs as are employed for hanging or black flock were the colours of choice. rooms. The principal difference in the The popularity of flock wallpapers proved manufacture lies however in the grounds, enduring and they continued to be used some of which are laid in varnish and oth- throughout the 19th century and until the ers in the common vehicles of waterco- pared down modernism of the mid 20th cen- lours and the raising of a sort of coloured tury. Today, with the current trend towards embossement of chopped cloth. This ever more flamboyant interiors they are embossed cloth is called flock paper, the enjoying something of a revival. Unsur­ art of making which is a very late inven- prisingly, given the quality of materials and tion and is a great improvement on the printing, flock wallpapers survive almost manufacture of paperhangings both with intact in many rooms throughout the country, regard for its beauty and its durability. a testament to the work of both generations of anonymous block carvers and known designers such as Thomas Willament or A. W. N. Pugin FLOCK WALLPAPERS who delighted in rich, embossed gold leaf By the end of the 17th and early 18th cen- grounds and multicoloured flock for buildings tury designs were becoming more ambitious. such as Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk, Charlcote

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Figure 1: The Long Gallery at Temple Newsam House, Leeds

Park, Warwick, Taymouth Castle, Perth and the country became more wealthy the mar- Kinross, and the Palace of Westminster. ket for wallpapers grew and technological developments in paper-making and machine printing circa 1830/40 enabled a mass pro- DISTEMPER PAPERS duction which embraced bright synthetic Throughout the 18th century, block-printed colours and large and small-scale floral distemper papers were used extensively for designs on a staggering scale. A few iconic less formal rooms, such as bedrooms and pri- designers, such as William Morris, E. W. vate apartments. These were printed using a Godwin and Walter Crane, tried to stem the water-based mixture of animal glue, whiting tide of vulgar mediocrity with exquisite art and/or pigments such as yellow, brown, red wallpapers and a revival of traditional craft- and green ochres, blue and green verditers, printing skills, but these were expensive and carbon blacks and chalk white. Organic pig- appealed mostly to a small audience of the ments, such as indigo, crimson and madder artistic and educated middle and upper had a high tinting strength, giving a showy classes. and theatrical effect best enjoyed by candle- Today, there are very few skilled expo- light. Unfortunately these colours had little nents of the block-printing tradition. These resistance to light and most of the fragments talented specialists recreate wallpapers discovered today give a poor impression of mostly for historic conservation or recon- their original brilliance. For this reason, any struction projects and the effect is strikingly attempt to recreate an original wallpaper different from modern screen-printed or should begin with a thorough analysis of the machine-printed reproductions of the same materials and techniques used to ensure a designs. The pigment for both grounding well-informed reconstruction. and printing is bound in water-based animal Block printing was time consuming and, glue rather than varnish or oil. It is thick, by the 19th century, relatively expensive. As opaque and has a dense and chalky surface

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During the rage for Chinoiserie during the 18th century there was hardly a house of any significance that did not have at least one room of ‘India Paper’, although it was more usual to have several of these hung en suite in private first-floor apartments, such as bed- rooms and boudoirs. One can only imagine the delight of waking in a room filled with an oriental spring of gorgeous and fantastical birds, flowers and trees painted, jewel-like, in the finest and rarest of pigments, such as azurite blue, malachite green and carmine crimson. A delicious alternative to dour wainscot or dusty tapestries on a bleak November morning. Designs fell into two main categories, birds and flowers, such as those at Fellbrigg, Norfolk, and Dalemain, Cumbria, or scenes from life, showing detailed vignettes of Chinese life and leisure, including tea-­ growing and harvesting, porcelain and fire- work manufacture, gold-beating, fishing, theatre-going, celebrating and drinking, all delicately hand-painted on either paper or silk. Examples of this genre survive at Saltram, Devon, Harewood House, Yorkshire and in Figure 2: Flocked and gold paper from the the boardroom at Coutts Bank in the Strand. Palace of Westminster, designed by A. W. N. The latter was brought back by the first British Pugin ambassador to China, Lord George Macartney (1737–1806). This magnificent set of hand- painted, non-repeating panels may perhaps and wonderful textural quality. The numerous have been either a gift or commissioned as a imperfections inherent in the hand-printing momento of what proved an unsuccessful process only add to its character. mission to formalise trading links between Britain and China. On his return in 1894, Macartney gave the wallpaper­ to his friend, CHINESE WALLPAPER the banker Thomas Coutts, who hung it in As with flock wallpaper, a surprising number his private rooms at 59 the Strand. The paper of rooms of original, hand-painted Chinese was taken down and installed at 440 the Strand wallpaper have survived the vagaries of time, in 1904, then moved again to the new Coutts neglect or what is perhaps worse, over- boardroom in the 1970s. This last move, enthusiastic attempts at restoration. These proved the most problematic, as the paper had wallpapers, originally described as ‘India become very fragile, probably due to the Papers’, are not part of any indigenous effects of London pollution as much as age, Chinese tradition but were made on com- and was well attached to the wall. After such mission and shipped as private trade by offi- an unusually active life it has recently been cers of the British East India Company. carefully dismantled, conserved and success-

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Figure 3: Hand-blocking

Figure 4: Detail of a block-printed design

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Figure 6: Detail from Chinese wallpaper Figure 5: Conserving the Chinese wallpaper from the Royal Pavilion, Brighton revival. Style and technique had changed to accommodate commercial demands and fully reinstalled, thus ensuring that it survives pander to western taste, but it remained as a significant reminder of our history as a remarkably beautiful. The owners of trading nation. Chatsworth, Longleat and Belvoir Castle Just as the fashion began to wane in the filled their rooms with fantastical flower- early 19th century, the Prince Regent’s ing trees, peacocks, pheasants, birdcages bizarre and eclectic interiors at the Royal and butterflies. Blue, yellow, green and Pavilion, Brighton, created a revival of inter- even pink backgrounds became fashion- est. This interest was fuelled by the invention able, often using synthesised European of an eclectic orientalism devised and created pigments such as chrome green and yellow. by his decorators, the skilled family firm of The Cowtan order books, now held at the Crace who dominated interior design and Victoria and Albert Museum show the decoration in the late 18th and 19th centu- range and proliferation of these oriental ries. Frederick Crace (1779–1859) and his papers, which seem to have remained pop- son John Gregory (1809–1889) were also ular until the late 19th century when responsible for the remarkable ‘Chinese’ Chinoiserie was superseded by a rage for interiors at Buckingham Palace, but the firm all things Japanese. could equally turn its hand to French or Italian styles and played a significant role in realising Pugin’s robust Gothic designs for CONSERVATION OF CHINESE the Houses of Parliament. WALLPAPER Hand-painted Chinese wallpaper pro- Chinese papers have always been perceived vided an important backdrop to this as both important and valuable and as such

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Figure 7: The Chinese Room at temple Newsam House, Leeds have frequently been subjected to misguided based conservation paints, pastels and attempts at restoration, sometimes by local pencils. decorators or estate workers employed to carry out annual maintenance and to ‘touch up’ water damage and general wear and tear. PRINT ROOMS Cleaning using bread or onions was a regular Print rooms were to be found in many fash- practice, as was over-painting staining and ionable interiors following their introduction damage using commercial oil-based house by Lord Cardigan in 1750 and they comprised paint. a painted distemper paper, usually blue or Although remedial work, such as surface green verditer, yellow ochre or pink, deco- cleaning and emergency repairs can be car- rated with original engravings often collected ried out on site, most examples of Chinese while on a grand tour of Europe. These prints wall­paper require comprehensive and pro- would be glued to the painted paper and fessional conservation treatment. This embellished with borders, swags, masks and would normally involve complete removal bows in imitation of a picture gallery. They and treatment in a conservation studio to are both attractive and effective and served to reduce acidity, remove harmful glues and display the taste and connoisseurship of the linings and to repair and support using con- owners. Surviving examples can be found at servation-quality oriental materials in prep- Uppark, West Sussex, Woodhall Park, aration for re-hanging onto a prepared wall Hertfordshire and Stratfield Saye, Hampshire; surface. Sensitive retouching can be carried this last boasts at least eight, most of them fea- out using high quality, reversible water- turing the Duke of Wellington. Contemporary

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Figure 8: The Print Room at Uppark, West Sussex

Figure 9: Les Monuments de Paris (early 19th century)

sources suggest that this was a very popular ‘PAYSAGE’ FRENCH SCENIC treatment and while there have been re-­ WALLPAPERS installations at Calke Abbey, Derbyshire, Like flock and Chinese wallpapers, French Blickling Park, Norfolk, and the Vyne, Scenic papers were highly sought after and a Hampshire, there is both archeological and significant financial investment. As such they archive evidence for many more. have often survived and been preserved,

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more as moveable heritage than fixed asset, 19TH CENTURY ENGLISH PAPERS in line with furniture and other possessions. Burgeoning demand and advances in tech- By the end of the 18th century and the nology inevitably led to mechanisation of early part of the 19th century, French wall­ the manufacturing process and mass produc- paper manufacturers, such as Reveillon, tion. By the mid century multi-colour print- started to dominate the ‘quality’ wallpaper ing could be carried out using a series of market. These exotic imports also included rollers adapted from the textile industry and the stunning, epic ‘panoramique’ or ‘paysage’ many new pigments and dyes were being papers made by firms such as Zuber, Deltil synthesised. The development of the paper- and Dufour Leroy. Non-repeating and printed making machine increased volume and from up to 4,000 sequential blocks all requir- reduced costs, but the raw materials of linen ing individual registration, the subject matter and cotton were soon running short as was both educational and informative. Topics demand for paper outstripped supply. Hand- included Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt, made linen papers were replaced by machine- Captain Cook’s voyages and the tale of ‘Paul made, continuous-roll papers with a high et Virginie’. These papers were particularly proportion of processed cotton fibres. By the popular in America, but English examples mid century wood pulp fibres were intro- include papers at Wrest Park, Bedfordshire, duced as a cheaper and more readily available Compton Verney, Oxfordshire, and alternative to rag, which was gradually Wateringbury, Kent. They offered the scope superseded in all but the highest quality and grandeur of a mural instantly, with neither­ papers. Although an effective paper-making the fuss nor the inconvenience. The quality is material, this has an inbuilt mechanism for such that only close inspection shows them to deterioration, becoming highly acidic and be printed rather than hand-painted. discoloured in a very short time. Generally, increasing demand led to a Conservation of ‘Paysage’ wallpapers proliferation of designs and ever more The remarkable surface quality of these sophisticated techniques of manufacture, papers is achieved using thick layers of such as double flocking, highlights of gold printed impasto distemper, to give the effect and silver dust and satin effect grounds. of a chalky wall painting or fresco. To achieve Despite the idealism of William Morris who this, considerable amounts of binding ma­terial supported the traditional craft techniques of are required to hold the heavy layers of paint hand-printing, it was this very mechanisa- on the vertical wall face. This organic binder tion that made wallpapers widely accessible is susceptible to mould attack in damp con- to a growing market. This culminated in the ditions, which will also cause the binding embossed and gilded ‘Japanese leather paper’, mechanism to break down causing severe Lincrusta, Anaglypta and the multifarious flaking of the pigment film. Changes in Tynecastle ‘tapestries’ made from paper, can- environmental conditions will exacerbate vas or indeed virtually any material that this, the most dramatic being the introduc- would give a good effect. Every middle-class tion of central heating. Like Chinese papers, home could become a Jacobean manor and misguided attempts at stabilisation and every newly built Scottish castle a venerable retouching will cause further deterioration. baronial hall. Few consolidants work effectively and those used in the late 19th and 20th centuries have been proven to cross-link, discolour and 20TH CENTURY PAPER occasionally become impermeable to water, The fashion for embossed wallpapers contin- thus causing further distortion and losses. ued well into the 20th century. These were

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Figure 10: 19th century wallpapers

long-lasting and robust and still survive in style: comfortingly traditional, particularly many locations such as Kinlochmoidart House after the terror of the First and Second World in Scotland, and the gilded art deco paper at Wars, starkly modernist during the 30s and Quadrant 3, Piccadilly, London. Indeed, there with space age spikiness after the 1951 Festival are stories of Lincrusta paper holding up walls of Britain. Comparatively little survives in situ after the bombing of the Blitz. Used mostly and that which does is usually in poor condi- for ornate friezes or below dados, these were tion due to neglect, poor decorating practice usually supplied in ‘builders finish’ and painted and the use of wood pulp paper. in situ to match the surrounding scheme. Recent investigation of a factory workers’ Stencilled wallpapers remained popular, as tenement at New Lanark, South Lanarkshire, did the designs of William Morris, although has revealed fragments of hundreds of wall- these tended to go in and out of fashion papers dating from 1890 to the 1970s. These throughout the century. The Morris com- are the previously unconsidered papers of pany eventually closed but the designs were the working classes, but together they tell a taken over by Sandersons in the 1950s. fascinating story of almost a century of Generally, with the advent of cheap paper design, innovation and aspiration. This story and the proliferation of mass production, will be told by recreating these interiors as a wallpaper became ever more ephemeral, virtual tour, using the latest technology to reflecting the transient nature of 20th century inform and inspire a new generation.

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Figure 11: Wallpapers at New Lanark ‘Museum Stair’

CONCLUSION Hoskins, L. (ed.) (1994) ‘The papered wall’, Viewed in isolation, wallpapers can be London: Thames and Hudson. admired as works of art or at the very least, Oman, C. and Hamilton, J. (1982) ‘Wallpapers’, London: Sotheby’s. the product of great craftsmanship and worthy Prosser, L. (2004) ‘Conserving and presenting of preservation, but they are also valuable the interiors at Kew Palace’, Conservation examples of contemporary design, style, and News, Vol. 93, November, pp. 20–22. the availability and use of both materials and Rowell, C. and Robinson, J. M. (1996) technology. Perhaps, most importantly in the ‘Uppark restored’, London: The National context of an historic interior, they play a Trust. ­significant role in understanding the taste, Saunders, G. (2002) ‘Wallpaper in interior aspirations and status of the owners and the decoration’, London: V & A Publications. development and use of the building. Whether it be an entire suite of Chinese rooms, or a tiny fragment discovered behind a skirting Notes board, each has an important part to play in (1) Wallpaper collections can be found at the any successful historic building project. V & A Museum, London; Temple Newsam House, Leeds; The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; and the Public Record Office, Kew. Further Reading (2) Chinese Export Papers were usually Books described as ‘India Papers’ because of Dossie, R. (1764) ‘The handmaid to the arts’, their association with the East India 2nd edition, London. Company.

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