The Red House (London Museum #20)

This was the home of William Morris from 1860 -1865
William Morris (1834-1896) was an English textile designer, artist, writer and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement. This is the Red House designed by Morris and Philip Webb. Webb went on to be one of the major architects of the Gothic Revival movement in England.







You enter the house through a large wooden door with beautiful stained glass windows. They are designed by Anthony Holloway and represent the four seasons.



       


                 


Also in the hallway is this piece of furniture painted by Morris, based on Mallory's Morte d'Arthur.

From the hall you go into the dining room  with the original dining room table still in place as well as the fireplace with its decorative tiles.

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Also in the dining room is this  an embroidery of Aphrodite designed by Morris and thought to have been worked by his sister-in-law, Bessie Burden. It returned to the Red House in Feb 2009 after an absence of 143 years. It was bought at auction in Edinburgh in 2007 and has recently been conserved and put into a frame so that it could go on display. The original plan by Morris was to have 12 embroideries of female figures from Geoffrey Chaucer's poem The Legend of Good Women.

Morris, his wife Jane, Webb and the painter Edward Burne Jones all worked together to design everything in the house from the wallpaper to the furniture as well as the stained glass windows.

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Some of Morris's wallpaper designs that have been found in the house and reproduced to give you an idea of what the house would have looked like.


           

The ceiling above the hall

Detail of the ceiling's design.

In one of the bedroom's is this settle. On top of the settle is known as the  minstrel's gallery and was used to perform plays at Christmas time. The wall paintings are by Edward Burne Jones and were a wedding present to William and Jane.
                         

When the National Trust took over the property in 2003 they began to remove the modern paint and have discovered many of the original pieces of artwork beneath.

This room was used as a studio. It had excellent natural light

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This is the design on the ceiling. Whilst the one below is the wallpaper design.

The gardens are much smaller than you would normally find in a  National Trust property but this is a house in the middle of a suburban area in Bexleyheath SE London.