Transforming Holmwood with Alexander Thomson’s designs

In a way, the key to the parlour lay in realising that the main walls had originally been papered and not stencilled all over, as in other rooms in the house. All of a sudden, we were not looking for a missing stencil design on the wall but for an authentic reproduction wallpaper that would coordinate well with the rest of the room.

Where to begin for a house as distinctive as Holmwood? By the late 1850s, when Holmwood was first decorated, wallpaper was already being mass-produced. Pattern books from some producers are available to view in historical archives, and some papers are reproduced for the modern market. With the interiors at Holmwood having such a distinct style, however, run-of-the-mill wallpaper designs have never seemed quite right. Even wallpapers designed by Alexander Thomson’s contemporaries such as Owen Jones, whose Grammar of Ornament was such a rich inspiration for Thomson, are often too floral or have a Gothic feel.

A key source of historical information for Holmwood is Villa & Cottage Architecture, in which Thomson’s original architectural and interior designs were published. Although the drawings lack some detail, the design for the parlour walls does appear to show a small, close repeat pattern, and it was this aesthetic that we wanted to reproduce. After talking to various specialist wallpaper producers, and many wallpaper samples later, we decided that a paper from the American company Bradbury & Bradbury was just what we were looking for. We can never know for certain what was on the walls originally, but have come as near to the effect published in Villa & Cottage Architecture as we can hope to do, and have stayed true to the spirit of the decoration found elsewhere in the house.

While the parlour has been challenging through lack of original evidence, the drawing room, which has also just been completed, has been the biggest challenge of our decorators’ skill. With good areas of the original design and colours to work from, creating new stencils and colour mixing to replicate the original design around the room was not too difficult. What was challenging was the extent of free-hand painting on the cornice elements to build up the delicate layers of design, and the search for an accurate technique to apply the narrow, stencilled wall borders.

Re-creating the highly decorative, gilded wall borders involved a degree of trial and error, working out the most efficient sequence in which the colours and gilding should be applied. The close fit of the red and blue ‘teeth’ border against the woodwork proved very awkward to work with and led our decorator, Ian Howie, to speculate about whether the wooden columns that divide up the walls between the gilded borders were fitted after the walls were first decorated rather than before. It is one of many new ideas we have considered about the house as a result of knowledge gained in the decoration process. There’s even a little bit of magic left behind in the drawing room from the 1850s – some decorator’s gold leaf papers that were found tucked behind the wooden frieze.

Our approach to the woodwork in the hall and stair is an example of how research has underpinned our decision-making at Holmwood. The woodwork was one aspect of the interiors that was particularly hard to come to grips with, with a range of different treatments having been taken over the years by successive owners, resulting in a patchwork of finishes throughout the house. It has always been thought that the woodwork at Holmwood was left unpainted by Thomson to allow the character of the wood to show through. However, since the approach of the project has always been to base actions on sound and methodical research, we decided to test this theory, carrying out technical examination of the woodwork to confirm what we thought we knew.

It turned out to be one of the biggest surprises and made us view the hall in particular in a whole new light. With the combination of new scrapes and analysis and the technical know-how of our decorator Ian Howie, we have come to understand that, while many skirtings were once treated with a mid brown varnish, the doors and elements of the stair bannister were originally given a wash of green oil paint, which is still faintly discernible. Mahogany elements on the bannister were picked out with a red stain. It shows you can go back to the same sources again and again, but one new grain of knowledge can cause you to re-evaluate what you think you know. Throughout this project, we have kept an open mind, been guided by what the physical evidence tells us and have not been afraid to re-assess or challenge previously held assumptions. The time spent on research and discussion has been such an essential part of the project.

With so much of the redecoration work now complete, take a tour through the house for yourself and see how far we have come in re-creating Alexander Thomson’s unique designs and uplifting the Holmwood visitor experience.

Holmwood will reopen for pre-booked tours at weekends from 26 June.

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It will cost the Trust £120,000 to conserve, protect and research these interiors and we couldn’t do it without the generous support we have already received. But we still need your help continue this vital project and complete our work. Please donate today.