BCD 2019

156 T H E B U I L D I N G C O N S E R VAT I O N D I R E C T O R Y 2 0 1 9 C AT H E D R A L C O MM U N I C AT I O N S Co between 1882–1896. It is a hand-moulded compound of canvas and paste utilised to create texture, most notably that of leather. Lignomur is an American wood-fibre pulp wall and ceiling decoration, impressed and coloured with wood blocks. Invented in 1880 and introduced in England in 1886, the recipe changed to a production that used rag pulp. The company was purchased in 1896 by Allan, Cockshut & Co, before transferring ownership to the Wallpaper Manufacturing Company (WPM) in 1899. Anaglypta was patented by Thomas J Palmer the former London manager of Lincrusta-Walton. Manufactured using paper pulp which was embossed before drying, the name Anaglypta is derived from the Greek ‘ana’ meaning raised and ‘glypta’ which means carving. Manufacture was initially undertaken by Storey Brothers in Lancaster in 1888. The business passed through ownership by C & J G Potter & Company before being acquired by the WPM in 1899. Caméoid , adapted from the word ‘cameo’, is a hollow-backed, lightweight pressed white paper in bas relief. The product was invented in 1888 by the Lincrusta-Walton manager, D M Sutherland, but it was not marketed by the directors at Lincrusta-Walton until 1898. Calcorian was invented in 1892 and sold by the Calcorian Wall & Ceiling Decoration Manufacturers. Made from a composition of cork dust and rubber, it was spread on to paper before passing through a calendering machine which utilised hard-pressure rollers. Salamander is a wall and ceiling decoration invented in c1895 and marketed by The United Asbestos Co Ltd. The high- relief material was made from wet asbestos pulp using flat pattern plates and the low- relief material was made from asbestos paper embossed using hydraulic pressure. Cordelova was initially produced in the late 19th century by the Edinburgh firm Brown, which manufactured this high-relief paper by hand. Softened white paper was beaten into the recesses of cast iron moulds using suitable brushes, with a corresponding roller slowly revolved over the surface to press out the design. Two layers of paper were used, a front paper and a back, which formed a lightweight duplex material that could be formed into very high-relief designs. Raised relief wallcoverings were at their zenith during the latter 19th and early 20th century, however their popularity has declined in more recent decades. Changing fashion, budgets and taste has seen the loss of thousands of designs created by some of the world’s most renowned designers, but there are still a few surviving examples. Considerable care and attention is now being given by conservators to protect those that remain before they are lost. THE RESTORATION OF LINCRUSTA- WALTON PANELS AT THE DAVID PARR HOUSE Lincoln Conservation was recently invited to restore the original Lincrusta-Walton panels at the David Parr House in Cambridge, a small, three-bedroomed house bought in 1886 by David Parr, an artisan painter and decorator who replicated within his own home the Gothic Revival and Arts and Crafts decorative work he undertook for F R Leach & Sons. According to the David Parr House website, this firm of master decorators and craftsmen was employed on some of the city’s most significant architectural projects, including Queens’ College and Jesus College, working with such distinguished figures as the architect George Frederick Bodley, and the designer William Morris. David Parr kept a diary of all his decorative work in the house and the entry for the Lincrusta-Walton hallway panels can be found on page 20: Entrance Hallway ‘ A portion of the dado canvas cut away where rotted near front door. The plaster knocked off & splines let into brick joints and the match boards fixed after three times painting the sides next the wall & once painted the outer side with red lead & varnish. Then ordinary scrim canvas tacked on & coated with glue size & plaster then the Lincrusta- Walton panels stuck on with thick paste & stopped up with putty. & finished off December 1904. The Lincrusta panels were taken off a room dado in 1898 Mr Foxwells House. ’ It is believed the hallway design was created by David Parr from many small offcuts pieced together from an original 19th-century Lincrusta-Walton design, no.1128 Hampton Court. The panels were originally 18 inches wide and could be purchased for 2s 9d from wholesalers, with the earliest reference within catalogues found in 1898, where it was described as sold in ‘cedar’ or ‘B’, a chocolate or warm brown colour. Student conservators from the University of Lincoln, working with the guidance of the current manufacturers, Heritage Wallcoverings Ltd, restored two of the six small panels to the left of the front door below dado height, which had over the past century begun to curl and break away from the wall. The replication process involved making a reinforced silicone mould taken from one of the intact panels. From this mould, very thin casts of the relief were made in a composite of gypsum suspended in an acrylic resin. Once partially cured, the replicated panels were cut to size and attached to the wall using a strong adhesive, then filled and colour-matched to the rich dark chocolate brown of the original Lincrusta-Walton. THE RESTORATION OF CORDELOVA CEILING PANELS AT THE CRESCENT, BUXTON Another recent undertaking by Lincoln Conservation, is the reproduction of raised relief decorative papers, Cordelova, at The Crescent in Buxton. An example of damage to an original panel before treatment Moulding material being pasted onto an original panel A replacement panel being prepared in a mould A replacement panel being fitted and painted (All photos: Lincoln Conservation)

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