THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE VICTORIAN INTERIOR with Miles Lewis

This lecture will review the lesser-known aspects of Victorian decoration – handblocked papers and hessian linings, papier mâché, Rottman Strome embossed wallpapers, Keene’s cement and other imitation marbles, early fibrous plaster, and some enigmatic examples of stained glass.

Miles Lewis is an architectural historian, emeritus professor in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Melbourne; a UNESCO World Heritage Counsellor, editor and principal author of Architectura (London and New York 2008); author of Victorian Primitive, Don John of Balaclava, The Essential Maldon, Two Hundred Years of Concrete in Australia, Victorian Churches, Melbourne the City’s History, Suburban Backlash, and numerous articles and papers on architectural and building history.

‘a room finished in Rottman Strome & Co’s Japanese papers’, from The Journal of Decorative Art 1884, unpaginated plate.