The furnishing of Standen: A taxonomy of middle-class taste

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the middle classes were offered new choices in furniture and decoration for their country homes. Firms such as Morris & Co and Heals were producing furniture with simple lines and solid construction to combine with textiles and wallpaper inspired by nature. William Morris and his fellow designers took their guiding principles from medieval craft, expounded by Ruskin and expressed in art, architecture and garden design, as well as interiors. Yet, fashionable middle-class taste turned to eighteenth-century forms in furniture, buying antique as well as reproduction pieces, and giving prominence to family heirlooms. The catalogues of Morris & Co promoted their ‘Chippendale’ and Saville armchairs alongside their iconic Sussex chairs, while cabinetmakers Collinson & Lock were producing elaborate marquetry furniture, and A & R Garrett were designing distinctive Queen Anne pieces. This article explores the philosophically incongruous yet aesthetically harmonious use of eighteenth-century design in nineteenth-century interiors, focussing on the collection of the Beales of Standen as a surviving example. Standen in West Sussex was built for James and Margaret Beale by Philip Webb in 1891-4 and was decorated with Morris & Co wallpapers on Webb’s advice. The Beales’ purchase and arrangement of furniture is recorded in surviving bills and in Margaret Beale’s handwritten inventory, her ‘furnishing book’, offering insights into their taste and patronage, as well as how their furniture was used and valued. The Beales’ preference for eighteenth-century design suggests that progressive liberal ideals and a sympathy with the tenets of the arts and crafts were not at odds with the aesthetic choices of the previous century. By examining the Beales' choices and the societal and artistic context in which Standen was created, this article analyses the appeal of eighteenth-century design to nineteenth-century consumers.