William Morris - V & A Museum restaurant and Kelmscott Manor

When a new home for the Museum of Manufactures and the Government School of Design had to be found in South Kensington, they used the estate bought by the 1851 Great Exhib­ition's commissioners. The Museum, later the Victoria & Albert, was established in 1852 with 3 founding principles i.e to make works of art available to all; to educate working people; and to inspire British designers and manufacturers. All plans had to be approved by Prince Albert, including approval for Sir Henry Cole (1808–82) to become first V & A Director. The financial surplus from the Great Exhibition went to the V & A!

The western­ most dining room in the V & A, originally called the Green Dining Room and now the Morris Room, was designed by William Morris him­self. The subdued colours of the scheme show that at the time he was still under the influence of the Gothic Re­vival. He dec­or­ated the walls with panelling below the green plaster, and a low relief of olive branches. William Morris had been Pre-Raphaelite friends with Philip Webb, Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and in 1861, they all became partners in the interior decorating and furnishing business. Thus the stained-glass windows bore female figures painted by Edward Burne-Jones and Philip Webb.

Towering stain glass windows, lavish dark teal-stained wood and gold painted panelling adorned the Morris Room walls. Crisp linens covered the circular tables with matching green British Burleigh crockery.

The Museum bought some stained glass from Morris, Marshall & Faulkner Co. and, along with the ceiling and panelled dados, the work was finished in 1868–9. Burne Jones' figure-panels in the dado, which were completed soon after, were based on the signs of the zodiac, and his windows designs showed medieval domestic tasks. The rest of the decoration was by Morris' friend, architect Philip Webb. 

Kelmscott Manor

"The Building News" in 1870 found the rooms cheerful, like the gaily-adorned cafés of Paris. But after Cole's retirement in 1873, his planned building programme stopped. It was only in 1889 that public opinion demanded that the building of the Museum be com­p­leted. The facades of the Victoria and Albert Mus­eum built in 1899-1909 displayed the museum as a treasure house of priceless objects in marble halls. The lavishly decorated, historic refreshment rooms that stunned and delighted visitors in the Victorian era were way beyond my personal taste. But as works of Victorian art in their own right, they are well worth visiting.

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Now to Kelmscott Manor in Gloucestershire which was a C17th, Grade 1 listed Manor house on the River Thames. Having discovered it when writ­er, designer and scholar William Morris (1834–96) rowed from London to Oxfordshire, Kelmscott became Morris’ summer country home from 1871 on, just a couple of years after his V & A restaurant was completed. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the Pre-Raphaelite artist and Jane Morris’ lover, was a co-tenant for the first 3 years.

The evocative loveliness of the countryside released a new creative talent in both men. Just as Jane's face inspired Rossetti's most pow­erful art, Morris found his inspiration in the architecture, beautiful native wildflowers, barns, dovecote, meadows, fauna and stream of Kelmscott had a profound effect on the develop­ment of Morris’ art-ideology. The unspoiled nature of the house's archit­ecture and its natural relation­ship with the garden was important, as was the house’s close harmony with the village and the surr­ound­ing country­side. The Manor was in the painting Water Willow (1871), a portrait of Jane Morris that painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti at the very beginning of Morris ownership. Local willows translated into his famous Willow Pattern whilst the movement of the river and vines led to the flowing patterns of his carpets & fabric designs.

Daughter May Morris died in 1938 and bequeathed the house to Oxford Uni, on condition that the contents were preserved and visitors were granted access. The University could not, so the estate was passed to the Society of Antiquaries in 1962. Both generations of the family, William and Jane Morris, and Jenny and May, were buried in the grounds of nearby St George's church. 

 Kelmscott Manor gardens

Internal furniture and textiles

Water Willow, a portrait of Jane Morris 

painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1871 

Note Kelmscott Manor in the background

The internal decor today is still largely that of Morris, and includes many of his textile patterns, furniture, carpets, ceramics and metalwork. There is a display of his textile designs in the converted loft, originally used by farm labourers. The main bedroom still has many of William’s original books, and a collection of medieval prints. There is also a fine collection of the works of Morris’ associates including William Benson, Edward Burne-Jones, DG Rossetti and Phillip Webb. 

The property is normally open to the public during the summer. But recently The Society of Antiquaries of London received a £4.7 mil grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund for substantial renovations.