Since posting about our wall roses I’ve been researching the Arts and Crafts movement with reference to our house (built circa 1895). The house has original features that I hadn’t previously realised were characteristically Arts and Crafts. These include the ceilings in the living room and dining room. So I have now taken photos of the living room ceiling to share with you.
I’ve not found pictures of any other Arts and Crafts ceilings featuring this particular plasterwork scheme, but have learned of some plasterwork specialists in the Arts and Crafts movement. These include William Millar whose seminal book titled ‘Plastering, Plain and Decorative’ was first published in 1897. It is still regarded as ‘the plasterer’s bible’. Another Arts and Crafts plastering specialist, George Bankart, wrote a book called ‘The Art of The Plasterer’ that was first published in 1908. I’ve found pictures of charming Arts and Crafts plasterwork designed by Ernest Gimson. More importantly from my point of view, the Northern Arts and Crafts architect Edgar Wood also designed stunningly innovative ceilings for the houses he created, one of which I used to work in when it was a home for severely learning disabled adults. The fairytale ceiling in the drawing room at Briarcourt is a wondrous work of art.
The mouldings on the ceilings of our reception rooms are picked out in appropriate colours. Though they were already picked out in colour when we bought the house, the scheme was more muted than it is now. Dave painted the ceiling in stronger colours soon after we moved here, laying on his back on a scaffolding tower to do so. I called him Michelangelo!
The ceiling scheme was cleverly recessed into the alcoves at each side of the chimney breast. I’ve learned that was a development in this period. Previously it would have been fully square or rectangular, ignoring the recesses.
The square flower medallions include roses, thistles and lilies with appropriate foliage. We interpreted the fourth medallion as cornflowers, but knew the foliage is wrong for those. After I posted pictures of the ceiling on Facebook my friend Renata identified it as honeysuckle and I immediately knew she was right. So Dave is now repainting that medallion in more appropriate colours. The photo below is after the first coat of this re-do.
From a hefty bit of research involving census data, and the British Newspaper Archive, I’ve established that our house was built sometime between 1896 and 1898. From the house deeds we know that the property developer bought the land in December 1895. Then I‘ve found a local newspaper record from July 1898 about the musical talent of a young lady called Miss Boyd of ‘Highroyd, Brighouse’. Highroyd is the name of our row of four houses, and in the 1901 census Miss Wilhelmina Boyd is listed in the house next to ours.
