Wall Panelling Corporation

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Many such craftsmen did quite often carry on their own family tradition, regardless of the changing shape of things around them, and there are many isolated examples of fine workmanship in the 18th century style to be found half buried in the `fuss' of the 19th. We also find a few attractive examples where the craftsman is more interested i doing something different and individual than following the accepted formula of his time.

 

An interesting example of the desire to be `different' is that of the fireplace ­window at Rougemont House in Exeter.
This house, built in 1820, retains little detail in its original form, although from the outside it presents an imposing facade with Trafalgar Balcony and long bowed sash windows. The hall is supported with Roman Doric columns and there are one or two plain marble fireplaces with little or no ornament.

 

It is difficult to imagine how it was originally decorated but the rooms are finely proportioned and well lit, and there is nothing Gothic about them.

 

The fireplace in this particular room is made from a grey-blue marble, and its `mantelshelf', which is also the window-sill has shutters running on a little bowed 'railway-line' to meet in the middle.

 

There are two chimneys, running up either side of the window and, ap­parently, fires can still be lit and enjoyed without undue smoke.

 

The fireplace itself is vaguely classic for it uses forms of acanthus leaf designs, but the whole shape is something entirely original and unexpected as it is bowed and the two sides face outward at an unusual angle.

The hearth follows this curious line and the original fender must have been especially constructed. As a whole it is both original and solidly constructional, but at the same time we can see the `shape of things to come'. Within a very few years the same or similar shapes, less well balanced, were being produced in cast-iron by the factories and the handmade varieties became scarcer and scarcer.

 

This little Gothic house at Sidmouth with its bow windows and coloured glass still retains a certain quality and charm reminiscent of Jane Austin and Mary Russell Mitford. The desire to carry out the true Gothic style had not, so far, penetrated to the `decorated' stage and apart from the use of the Tudor arch and Early English columns, there is little indication of the ponderous and depressing influence that eventually became part and parcel of the Gothic Revival. It can be seen in the illustration that the curve of the ceiling in the window alcove gave shape to the outside form, which so often enhanced the houses on the sea fronts and at the same time carried out the curious `tent' or `pavilion' shapes, so particularly fashionable during the Regency. The whole house is constructionally as it must have been 130 years ago. The narrow entrance hall has Gothic doors opening from it and cluster columns at the bottom of the staircase; coloured glass has been used in most of the windows, and iron railings and balconies decorate the front of the house. The walls are devoid of stucco design, so that in all probability wallpapers were originally included. The paint has unfortunately been too heavily applied and some of the finer work, such as the mouldings on the columns, is partially obliterated. Panelling only appears in the window alcove, its use as a practical covering for an outside wall being obvious rather than ornamental. This example of interior decoration virtually brings to an end the period under review for we have come to a stage in our history when craftsmanship ceased to play an individual part in any scheme of decoration.

 

The hand-painted wallpaper was rare and a limited variety of machine-printed papers had already come onto the market. The designs of such papers displayed an interest in the immediate contemporary occurrences, such as the Battle of the Nile and the `Empire' styles of Napoleonic France. `Egyptian' wallpaper was so much used during the first few years after its original printing that by 1812 it was only to be found in hotels and boardinghouses.

 

With the coming of the machine-age the whole pace of life had been speeded up. Ideas no longer filtered gently through the country to be absorbed ten or twenty years later in the smaller country towns.
Communication and better roads made the whole of England more easily accessible and there was no reason why a style seen in London, Bristol or Birmingham should not be copied within a very few weeks of its origin in the more remote towns and villages.

 

Everything seen and admired could now with very little trouble and expense be reproduced. Eighteenth century taste with its overwhelming passion for imi­tation had developed into the perfect market for the nineteenth century manu­facturer. The stage was now set for the entrance of the professional Interior De­corator and he made his debut appropriately, in an avalanche of fringed draperies, gorgeous lighting effects and a mass of oriental `Props'. As this gentleman's livelihood was dependant on his ability to make yesterday's fashion an unforgivable offence to the Man of Taste, the mere walls of a room became the background for the paperhanger's repertoire and the setting for the rapidly changing scene.

 

BEACH HOUSE, SIDMOUTH