Housing

A new wind was sweeping through middle-class houses. The Arts and Crafts movement was blowing away some of the darker, more oppressive elements of Victorian style, and – though still a bit gloomy to our eyes – a lighter, brighter taste in architecture and décor was becoming fashionable.

One of the prime movers was the architect Charles Voysey, who first published a design for a cottage in The Architect in 1888 and much of his later work was based on a free interpretation of this one single concept.

His ideas centred around long, low buildings with small, ‘countrified’ windows and tiled or slate roofs in grey or green. Frequently the owners of such houses bought wallpapers designed by William Morris and fabrics and housewares from Liberty’s.

Soon, too, they would be able to buy from Heal’s. This had for decades been a bedding shop, but in the 1890s the owner’s son Ambrose started to produce the plain oak furniture that made the shop a destination for Arts and Crafts worshippers.

Another source was the Guild and School of Handicraft, which opened in 1888, with four work- men directed by Charles Ashbee, an architect and reformer. The Guild created furniture and decorations in the spirit of William Morris. In 1891 the workshop moved to Mile End Road and within 10 years had expanded to employ 40 men. It was a co-operative, with decisions made by committee and profits shared among members.

Judith Flanders