Our guest lecturer for the 2025 Attingham alumni reunion on 31 March (hosted by the Society of Antiquaries of London) was Steven Brindle.
Steven is well known to many Attingham alumni from his inspirational lecturing at Windsor Castle on Royal Collection Studies but his recent research is rather different. Covering the years 1880-1950 and drawing on over 600 images from Historic England’s archives, his new book illustrates the extraordinary range and wealth of Victorian and Edwardian interior design, from aristocratic mansions to previously little-known plutocratic residences and upper middle-class homes.
Unfortunately, interior design and decoration are some of the most fragile and vulnerable art forms. In the 19th and early 20th centuries London was the capital centre of a vast empire and the richest city in the world. It had the finest and most fashionable interiors anywhere, created as settings for social and cultural life as well as expressions of their owners’ personalities, taste and place in society. However, a very high proportion of these have been lost, through demolition, economic and social change, and the turn of fashion. Using some of this wonderful photographic archive, much of it previously unpublished, Steven will endeavour to bring back to life for us some of the most exciting of these interiors.
You can watch the recording here.