Victorian interiors - Miles Lewis

702675 Australian Building Analysis 

Victorian interiors

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 

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general principles 

hall – dark, rich, masonry/timber theme, baronial 

overtones 

dining room – similar, but some rich colours, dark 

chimneypiece, dado 

drawing room – lighter, more feminine, dado rare, light 

chimneypiece 

breakfast room – east side, light colouration, dado, often 

trompe l’oeil 

bedrooms – as for drawing room but less formal 

billiards/music room – similar to ding room, masculine, 

raised platform, monitor rooflight

a Victorian 

interior: 

schematic 

sketch 

Miles Lewis

chimneypieces & grates

'Barwon Park', Winchelsea by Davidson & Henderson, 

completed 1869: chimneypiece in drawing room 


'Barwon Park', Winchelsea by Davidson & Henderson, 

completed 1869: chimneypiece & grate in nw bedroom 


square tiled grates advertised in Melbourne, 1886 

Australasian Ironmonger, I, 7 (1 October 1886), p xvii

floorcoverings

linoleum mats 

Suzanne Forge, 

Victorian Splendour: 

Australian Interior 

Decoration 1837-1901 

(Melbourne 1981), p 135

‘Barwon Park’, Winchelsea: inlaid lino in rear hall 


conservative lushness

advertisement by W H Rocke & Co, 1880 

? Melbourne International Exhibition 1880, Official Record (Melbourne 1882), p 79

R E N Twopeny, Town Life in Australia (London 1883), 

pp 40-41 

On entering the drawing-room [you find] the regulation white 

marble mantelpiece, more or less carved, and a gilt mirror ... 

you sit down on one of the chairs. There are nine in the room 

besides the sofa - perhaps an ottoman - and you can take your 

choice between the 'gent's' armchair, the lady's low-chair, and 

the six high ones ... Occasional chairs have only lately been 

introduced, and the whole suite is in unison ... The wood of 

which the chairs are made is mahogany, walnut or cedar. The 

large round or oval table which stands in the middle of the room 

is of the same wood, and so are the card-table, the Davenport, 

the chiffonier, and that Jacob's-ladder-like what-not in the 

corner ... On the chimney-piece is a Louis XVI. clock and a 

pair of ornaments to match.

'Bedervale', near 

Braidwood, NSW, 1836 

and later: detail of the 

drawing room 

Forge, Victorian Splendour, p 30

'Wardlow', 114 Park Drive, Parkville, 1886. 


‘Wardlow’: front door from 

inside, view down hall 


'Wardlow', detail of hall ceiling 


'Wardlow', drawing room 


'Wardlow’ drawing room: 

window bay & door 


'Wardlow', ceiling of drawing room 


'Wardlow', view of dining room 


'Wardlow' dining 

room: celing & 

cornice detail 


'Wardlow' dining room, 

wall & detail of filler 


'Wardlow', dado of dining room 


Clowance

'Clowance', 518 Barkly St, Ballarat 

Lorraine Huddle

'Clowance', 518 Barkly St, Ballarat: hall 

Lorraine Huddle

'Clowance', hall wall & dado detail 

Lorraine Huddle

'Clowance‘ 

a ceiling 

hearth tiling 

Lorraine Huddle

the grander conservatism

Government House, Sydney: ballroom ceiling design by John Lyon, 1879 

Don Ellsmore, '19th Century Decorators' in Maisy Stapleton, Historic Interiors: a Collection of Papers 

(Glebe [New South Wales] 1983), p 41

‘Drawing room Ceiling’, Woollahra House, gouache by Lyon, Cottier & Co, 1896: Mitchell Library 

Lane & Serle, Australians at Home, p 206

Mintaro

'Mintaro', Monegeetta, Victoria, by James Gall, 1882 


Mintaro 

column of hall 

arch 


‘Mintaro’ 

hall wall 


'Mintaro', dining room, view under restoration 


'Mintaro', dining room dado 


'Mintaro', dining room wall surface 


'Mintaro’ 

decoration of 

south-east 

bedroom 


'Mintaro', 

south-east 

bedroom 

filler & dado 

band 


'Mintaro', south-east bedroom dado 


'Mintaro‘ 

north-east 

bedroom 

filler & dado 

band 


'Mintaro', north-east bedroom dado 


'Mintaro‘ 

bell push 


Villa Alba 

44 Walmer St, Kew 

[1853/5] 1882-3 

hall ceiling 


Villa Alba, entry hall, frieze detail with photographic putti 

offprint from the Australian Antique Collector

Villa Alba, entry hall, 

frieze detail with 

signature of W. Carey 

9/9 1883 


Villa Alba, dining room ceiling 


Villa Alba 

dining room frieze 

with scenes from 

Walter Scott, Rob 

Roy 

offprint from the Australian 

Antique Collector 


Villa Alba, drawing room 


Villa Alba, drawing room cornice & ceiling detail 


Villa Alba, drawing room fireplace 


Villa Alba, room 9 ceiling 


Villa Alba, detail of room 9 ceiling 

Andrew Montana, The Art Movement in Australia (Carlton South [Victoria] 2000), np

Villa Alba, monogram 

in room 9 ceiling 

Andrew Montana, The Art 

Movement in Australia (Carlton 

South [Victoria] 2000), np

Villa Alba, rom 9 centre flower 


Villa Alba, room 9 door 


Villa Alba, transverse gallery: Sydney Harbour 


enlightened design

horse chestnut 

leaves by Owen 

Jones 

Owen Jones, The Grammar of 

Ornament, illustrated by 

examples from various styles 

of ornament (London 1856 pl 

XCI 'Leaves from Nature No.1'

Horse chestnut paper by Bruce Talbert or an associate, from a set of 

fourteen specimen panels by Bruce Talbert, Andrew Brophy, Brightwen 

Binyon & possibly others, produced by Jeffrey & Co, c 1877-80 

Oman & Hamilton, Wallpapers, p 250

Mandeville Hall', 

Toorak, front by 

Charles Webb, 

1878-9: horse 

cghestnut stencil 

in the hall 

Montana, The Art 

Movement, np

horse chestnut leaves by Owen 

Jones 

a tile from the hall fireplace, 

Abercrombie House, Bathurst, 

NSW, by G A Mansfield, 1870-8 

Jones, The Grammar of Ornament, pl XCI; Miles 

Lewis

hall fireplace, Abercrombie House, Bathurst 


the Traveller's Tree, 

by Christopher 

Dresser 

Christopher Dresser, The Art 

of Decorative Design (London 

1862 [facsimile, Watkins Glen 

(New York) 1977]), p 76

specimens of ornament, by Christopher Dresser 

Dresser, Art of Decorative Design, pl VI.

plant ornament with repetition, by Christopher Dresser 

Dresser, Art of Decorative Design, pl VIII.

ornamental device & hobgoblin by Christopher Dresser 

Dresser, Art of Decorative Design, pls XXVI, XVII.

'Woodlands', 

Wimmera, by 

Crouch & 

Wilson, 1868: 

frieze in upstairs 

vestibule: view 

& detail 


‘Woodlands’: the library 


‘Woodlands’: detail of the library ceiling 


decorative scheme for the 

billiard room of James 

Gurney, Regent's Park, by 

Owen Jones, 1870 

Brenda Greysmith, Wallpaper (New 

York 1976), p 130

The 'Peacock Room' of F R Leyland's house, designed by Thomas Jekyll and 

painted by J M Whistler, 1877 [now in the Freer Gallery, Washington] 

Elizabeth Aslin, The Aesthetic Movement: Prelude to Art Nouveau (London 1969), pl 59

'Solanum' wallpaper, 

by C L Eastlake, 

produced by Jeffrey 

& Co, 1869 

Greysmith, Wallpaper, p 123

'Mandeville Hall', Toorak, front by Charles Webb, 1878-9 


‘Mandeville Hall’, detail of front door glazing 


‘Mandeville Hall’: the drawing room in 1904 

Melbourne Punch, 7 January 1904

‘Mandeville Hall’: the 

drawing room doors to the 

conservatory 


'Mandeville Hall', 

drawing room 

ceiling and cornice 

in the window bay 

Irvine Green 


'Mandeville Hall', 

drawing room 

chimneypiece 


'Mandeville Hall', detail 

of bathroom wall 


Bruce Talbert wallpapers: original design for 'Sunflower' wallpaper 

[manufactured by Jeffery & Co, 1878]; sets of dado, filler & frieze, 1877 

Aslin, The Aesthetic Movement, pls 9, 13, 12

Japanese influence 

paper from the Price collection, post-?1880; frieze and filler by Leissner & Louis, New 

York, in Japanesque style paper by Christopher Dresser, possibly for Wilson & 

Fennimores, Philadelphia, showing Japanese influence 

Miles Lewis; Greysmith, Wallpaper, p 145; Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Smithsonian 

Institution, New York

An unused oriental [?Japanese] paper intended for use at 'Mynda', 5 

Molesworth St, Kew, designed by Lloyd Tayler, 1885 & detail 

Jessie Serle

William Morris papers: honeysuckle design, 1876, 

'Blackthorn', printed by Jeffrey & Co, 1892 

Aslin, The Aesthetic Movement, pl 26; Greysmith, Wallpaper, p 131

hand printed papers by Lewis F Day 

'Apple Blossom', printed by Jeffrey & Co, 1878 

'Trellis Dado', printed by W B Simpson & Sons, c 1877 

Asplin, The Aesthetic Movement, pl 10, 11

cabinet with 

painted panels, 

made in ebonised 

wood, designed by 

T E Collcutt, 

attributed to 

Colbourn & Cook, 

1871 

Asplin, The Aesthetic 

Movement, pl 54

W H Rocke & Co, 1880 

'Art Furniture and Carpets', advertisement; 'Dining Room and Decoration' from W H 

Rocke & Co stand, 1880 Exhibition 

Melbourne Bulletin, 15 October 1880; Illustrated Australian News, 31 December 1880.

NATIONALISM

Pediment for Natural History Museum, by Lucien Henry 

Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, p 3325

Lucien Henry: stenocarpus column, four types of capital; waratah column 

Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, p 3005-1; R T Baker, Australian Flora in Applied Art. Part I. 

The Waratah in Applied Art and Literature (Sydney 1915), fig 11

waratah wallpapers (the second with waratahs of NSW, 

Victoria and Tasmania) 

Baker, Australian Flora in Applied Art, figs 58, 56

'Rio Vista', Cureton Avenue, Mildura, 1891 


‘Rio Vista’: stair hall 


‘Rio Vista’: hall wallpaper 


'Rio Vista‘ 

hall window 


'Rio Vista', library/smoking room, view & detail 


'Pastoria', near Kyneton, extended 1892-4: view from the north-west 


'Pastoria', south 

gable 


'Pastoria', old photo 

of the dining room, 

and modern view 

from the dining room, 

into the drawing room 


Pastoria papers compared with (right) unused papers from 

the Price collection of wallpaper, same as at Pastoria. 


‘Pastoria’ hall 


'Pastoria‘: embossed paper in the upper hall 


5 Harkness Street, 

Bendigo, by W C 

Vahland, 1898 

old photo on site 

modern view from the 

north 


5 Harkness St, 

detail of 

weatherboards 


5 Harkness St, hallway: old photo on site; modern view 


5 Harkness St: Union Jack ceiling in the bedroom 


'Boisdale' homestead, 

Maffra, by Guyon Purchas, 

1892: woven dado in the 

?smoking room 


art nouveau

'Purrumbete', near Camperdown, extended by Guyon Purchas, 1901 


'Purrumbete', drawing room 


'Purrumbete', hall 


'Purrumbete', painted 

panels by Walter 

Withers on the west 

side of the hall and 

detail of one panel 


'Purrumbete' hall 

carving beside 

the stair 


'Purrumbete', repoussé metal grille windows 


the 

Federation 

interior

Federation interior, 

showing a combined 

living space 'hall and 

living room' 

Maisy Stapleton, 'Federation 

Interiors, p 51

'A cosy arrangement for a sitting room 

Building, II, 8 (16 April 1908), p 62

'Eryldene', Gordon, NSW, by W Hardy Wilson, 1913-14: sitting room 

Howard Tanner, 'Interior Design in the 20th Century', p 57

'A suggestion for a "Green Bedroom"' 

Building, II, 8 (16 April 1908), p 61

Victorian interiors - Miles Lewis

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