Sally Johnson opens the cover of an archive folder to reveal a piece of wallpaper, torn at the edges but mounted on cardboard like a work of art. The repeating pattern of pagoda-like structures and Turkish-inspired figures dates to between 1690 and 1700 and was hand-printed in black on a background that the collection’s conservator said was likely lighter before it absorbed years of “dirt.”
The design may not be factually accurate, says Dickon Whitewood, curator of collections and interiors for the eastern region at English Heritage. But he says the wallpaper, recovered from a late 17th-century terraced house in south London in the 1960s, was a “small window” into the then-growing global cultural exchange. “It’s interesting that even in the 16th century people show a heightened awareness of other parts of the world and try to show everyone who comes to their home that they know their way around,” he says.
The fragment is the earliest piece of wallpaper in English Heritage’s Architectural Study Collection (ASC), a curious mix of more than 7,000 items taken from buildings in London, from door knockers to dado railings, fire surrounds and balustrades. Everything is stored at the Archaeological Collections Store in Wrest Park, Bedfordshire, which also houses artefacts from the charity’s historic sites in the East of England and the Midlands and is open for public tours on selected dates until October.
The ASC has its origins in the early 20th century, when architects and surveyors working for the then London County Council became concerned about “the loss of history and architectural detail”. [and] social history,” says Whitewood. “That’s how people started when buildings were torn down [or refurbished]to collect a selection of the lost functions.”
The first objects recovered were woodwork from 17th and 18th century buildings in Aldwych in 1902, he says. From then on the range grew to include objects from simple houses to royal residences to non-residential buildings, with active collecting continuing into the 1990s.
Today, the ASC ranges from Roman sculpture to 1980s tools, but is particularly focused on 18th and 19th century interiors. For wallpaper alone, there are more than 1,200 records, in addition to nearly 6,000 other items, including a playful late 19th-century Noah’s Ark design that likely came from a child’s room. A piece of red floral flock wallpaper, created by sprinkling fibers over glue to create a textile effect, was collected from the front room of a listed Soho Square townhouse renovated in 1985. Research revealed that carpenter Thomas Chippendale delivered the newspaper in 1760.
The Blitzkrieg of World War II and the subsequent evacuation led to significant expansions of the ASC. Brooke House in Hackney, east London, once owned by King Henry VIII, was demolished in the 1950s due to bomb damage. Among the items rescued was a fragment of the Tudor ceiling in the long gallery.
In 1940, German firebombs largely destroyed the 17th-century Holland House in Kensington, the remains of which are listed. 19th-century terracotta tiles from a garden wall recovered from the Jacobean mansion in 1955 feature decorative details, including a cherub riding a mythical sea creature. An even stranger piece believed to have been rescued from the ruins is an undated heart-shaped tin air freshener that housed dried rose petals and hung on a wall, according to Johnson, collection curator for the East of England at English Heritage .
The piece shows the “fun nature” of the ASC, Whitewood adds. “It is a collection of objects that people found interesting and wanted to keep. People didn’t bother to collect a specific type of object or a specific period of history.” It wasn’t until the 1980s that the ASC got its first curator, Treve Rosoman.
Whitewood says exploring the collection, most of which is stored floor-to-ceiling on pallets, can be a “bit of an odd feeling.” It’s definitely distracting: my eyes are drawn from one seemingly random object to the next. As I look at the dado railings, I spot three interior columns from the late 17th century Hampton Court Palace leaning against the wall. In another hallway, a balustrade to which part of the staircase is still attached lies on its side as if it had been felled there.
Particularly striking are the six almost 8-foot-tall Bell Jacks that once stood in the former covered Columbia Market in east London. These 19th-century wooden figures are a regular feature on the paid public tours of the Archaeological Collections Store, which this year also include wallpaper.
Johnson is responsible for overseeing the ASC. “It’s not one particular type of object that’s particularly problematic, it’s the fact that we have such a mix of objects in one room,” she says.
Green asbestos warning signs hanging on some doors mounted on a shelf on a wall highlight one of the dangers Johnson and her colleagues need to watch out for. “Anthrax is another topic that surprised me,” Whitewood says. “I thought anthrax was a weapon, but it is natural and lives in horsehair” – a component of some plaster work. Johnson wears gloves to handle the wallpaper: Arsenic was used in the 19th century to increase the brightness and durability of green.
On the way out of the store we pass a lead faun that Johnson says has “fused to itself” – it may have been damaged by a shock or because its internal fittings were removed or failed. The 18th-century English sculptor John Cheere’s piece Dancing Faun (based on antiquity) once stood in the grounds of Mount Clare, a listed house in Roehampton, south-west London.
“I forget he’s there because he used to be in a different aisle,” Johnson said. “I come around the corner and every time I see it I am shocked.” When and why this sculpture ended up in the collection is unclear.
As for the people who collected objects for the ASC and why, Whitewood says only the “bare bones” are currently known, although this is something that could be researched in the future. The current focus is on digitizing the ASC’s paper files in hopes of learning more about the items. Whitewood says there is a “longer-term goal” to get the collection online.
But what does the ASC tell us about decoration in the British capital over the centuries? “So many of the objects show a real skill from the craftsmen that you don’t see anymore.” . . No matter who you were, there was a real appreciation for the decoration of buildings that we are probably losing, especially in London,” he says. The collection is “a real testimony to the lost London”.
Information about occasional tours for the public and visits by appointment can be found at english-heritage.org.uk
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