Detail of window hoods on front of William Morris's Red-House by Philip Speakman Webb

West front, the Red House designed by Philip Speakman Webb for William and Jane Morris. Designed 1859; completed 1860. Bexleyheath, Greater London. Photograph, caption, and commentary by Jacqueline Banerjee, 2009. With special thanks to Sally Roberson of the National Trust at Red House. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL.]

The most noteworthy detail on the west front is the oriel window with the stepped brickwork beneath it. This was the window for the first-floor drawing-room, the main living-room on that floor, with its ceiling going right up into the roof, its tall red-brick fireplace, and its great settle with ladder and canopy overhead, creating a small minstrels' gallery which opens into the loft: "a typical mixture of the playful and the practical" (Red House 19). The fireplace in this room has a text over it, "Ars Longa Vita Brevis," such texts being another feature that A. W. N. Pugin had been fond of, and that proliferated in Victorian homes.

Other Views

Discussions

Reference and Further Reading

Red House: Bexleyheath. Swindon: The National Trust, 2003.

Jordan, Robert Furneaux. Victorian Architecture. Harmondsworth: Pelican Books, 1966.

Morris and Company. London: The Fine Art Society, 1979.

William Morris. Ed. Linda Parry. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996.


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Last modified 8 March 2009