London Interiors: Style and Taste in Interior Design 1660-1940

London, the centre of British society, has always had the newest, best and most fashionable of everything. For three centuries it was the focus of High Society. So, fine houses with fashionably decorated interiors were needed. This course describes the evolution of style and design in London houses over almost three centuries, relating the interiors to the society that created them.

Day 1

1. The Baroque Generation 1660-1720. The Restoration saw a distinctive new approach to interior design in which fine joinery, plasterwork, decorative painting, tapestries, textiles and furniture played important parts.

2. Early Georgian, 1720-1780. A new Italian-inspired style of interior design was developed, encompassing the idea of a grand interior as an integrated work of art embracing walls, ceiling, furniture and artworks.

Day 2

1. Late Georgian, 1780-1830. The Regent’s love for rich and elaborate effects saw upholsterers and cabinet makers begin to supplant architects in driving developments in interior design.

2. Victorian, 1830-1880. Variations of Gothic, Tudor and Jacobean styles reflected the Victorians’ love of variety and historic association. In the 1860s and 70s the Arts and Crafts and Aesthetic movements refreshed architecture and interior design.

Day 3

1. Late Victorian and Edwardian, 1880-1920. As newly-rich plutocrats joined the aristocracy and the established elite, Classical styles returned to the fore, although Arts and Crafts aesthetic values continued as the chief alternative.

2. Inter-War. The inter-war years were arguably the high point of interior design as an art form, when it was brought to new heights of variety, sophistication and invention.