Home Help: 1 March
Back in the 1960s and 1970s, Victorian plaster decorations became undesirable – cornices and ceiling roses were smashed and taken away. Nowadays, the words ‘original features’ can add value to a house but, despite this, the fashion for the modern and the minimal means that such features are still being removed.
A reader of The Lady wrote to say that she had seen a perfect Victorian house but didn’t feel that the spare, contemporary decor was to her taste. She wants to restore the cornices and plasterwork and reinstate the two rooms that had been knocked through to create a large sitting room.
There are two companies that could help: Stevensons of Norwich and Locker & Riley. Both firms’ websites show the incredible work they have done for clients such as the National Trust, Kensington Palace, the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel and the London Palladium. They also take on modest projects.
Locker & Riley’s historic collection of 19th-century, handcarved wood blocks forms the basis of its large library of cornice, ceiling rose and pediment moulds. ‘A lot of work entails faithfully replicating lost and damaged cornicing where rooms have been knocked through,’ says Locker & Riley’s Simon Willcox.
For an exact match he will need a sample of the existing cornice, but, if this is not possible, he can visit the house. There, a rubber imprint will be taken for a replacement cornice to be made out of fibrous plaster. ‘One would never know which piece is old or which is new,’ Willcox claims.
Stevensons of Norwich offers the same service. It has teamed up with the National Trust to reproduce cornices from some of the organisation’s most beautiful houses. Some of its ornate designs adorn new and restored hotels, as well as Georgian rectories that have been stripped of period fittings. The company will also replace exterior decorations, using a hard-wearing gypsum and resin composite called Jesmonite.
Looking out of my window, I can see a mid-19th century terrace that is missing its original decorative features. And I know exactly who should be called on to restore its former grandeur.
1 A neoclassical cornice in the National Trust’s Berrington Hall moulded by Stevensons of Norwich: 01603-400824, www.stevensons-of-norwich.co.uk (main image above)
2 The ceiling of the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel restored by Locker & Riley: 01245-322022, www.lockerandriley.com
Email design enquiries to Hugh St Clair at homehelp@lady.co.uk
A reader of The Lady wrote to say that she had seen a perfect Victorian house but didn’t feel that the spare, contemporary decor was to her taste. She wants to restore the cornices and plasterwork and reinstate the two rooms that had been knocked through to create a large sitting room.
There are two companies that could help: Stevensons of Norwich and Locker & Riley. Both firms’ websites show the incredible work they have done for clients such as the National Trust, Kensington Palace, the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel and the London Palladium. They also take on modest projects.
Locker & Riley’s historic collection of 19th-century, handcarved wood blocks forms the basis of its large library of cornice, ceiling rose and pediment moulds. ‘A lot of work entails faithfully replicating lost and damaged cornicing where rooms have been knocked through,’ says Locker & Riley’s Simon Willcox.
For an exact match he will need a sample of the existing cornice, but, if this is not possible, he can visit the house. There, a rubber imprint will be taken for a replacement cornice to be made out of fibrous plaster. ‘One would never know which piece is old or which is new,’ Willcox claims.
Stevensons of Norwich offers the same service. It has teamed up with the National Trust to reproduce cornices from some of the organisation’s most beautiful houses. Some of its ornate designs adorn new and restored hotels, as well as Georgian rectories that have been stripped of period fittings. The company will also replace exterior decorations, using a hard-wearing gypsum and resin composite called Jesmonite.
Looking out of my window, I can see a mid-19th century terrace that is missing its original decorative features. And I know exactly who should be called on to restore its former grandeur.
1 A neoclassical cornice in the National Trust’s Berrington Hall moulded by Stevensons of Norwich: 01603-400824, www.stevensons-of-norwich.co.uk (main image above)
2 The ceiling of the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel restored by Locker & Riley: 01245-322022, www.lockerandriley.com
Email design enquiries to Hugh St Clair at homehelp@lady.co.uk