Scotland Stories: behind the scenes at Kelvin Hall

One of many highlights from the Scotland tour was a ‘behind the scenes’ visit to Kelvin Hall in Glasgow. Kelvin Hall is a unique facility, housed in a vast 1920s building that was once used for

national and international exhibitions. Refurbished in the 1980s and again in 2014, it re-opened in 2016 as a partnership between Glasgow Life, the University of Glasgow and the National Libraries of

Scotland. The venue was transformed into a multi-purpose space that now combines the display and storage of social history, art and design,  film and photography,  and book collections alongside a state-of-the-art city sports and fitness centre.

The visit was facilitated by Alison Brown, Curator of European Decorative Art and Design at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum who generously gave up an afternoon to show us some examples of the wallpapers in their collection. This collection mainly consists of papers recovered from domestic and commercial buildings, as well as pattern books and ephemera related to notable Glasgow manufacturers, dating from the end of the 19th century.  The fact that it is relatively little known or documented made it all the more fascinating and provided an opportunity for lots of discussion about possible dates and types of production.

Our first group of patterns had been retrieved from apartments in Inglefield Street in the Govanhill district and dated from the 1890s to the 1930s. Many of the papers had been pasted on top of one another which enabled us to see how fashions had changed over a period of 30-40 years.  The earliest layers featured the exuberant poppies and swirling leaves typical of Scottish Art Nouveau. 

Later papers included faux tile and masonry patterns intended for dado spaces as well as vertical arrangements of Mackintosh-style roses. The uppermost layers included examples of the leaf and berry patterns that were almost ubiquitous all over Britain in inter-war, middle- and lower-income homes.

Alison then showed us an intriguing album filled with samples of what she assumed were highly detailed wallpaper borders.  After much discussion, however, our group’s view was that they were more likely to have been wrappers for luxury gift boxes, perhaps for cigars or bon-bons.  Readers may have other suggestions.

Our final treat was an examination of a 1935 wallpaper pattern book produced by Wylie and Lockhead, one of Glasgow’s best-known furnishing and decorating firms and pioneers of avant-garde as well as traditional styles.

Comprising over 100 pages this pattern book was a treasure trove of patterns and effects from the inter-war period. Confusingly the front page described them as for 'Nursery Rooms' but the designs with their accompanying  borders and corners were clearly intended for reception rooms rather than for children’s bedrooms.

The range was not only extremely impressive but also very up to date and included lots of modernist effects like quasi-cubist and Art Deco chevron designs. Most of the decorations also featured embossed plain and semi-plain fillings accompanied by sunburst, geometric, and floral corners and borders. Pattern books like these provide invaluable records of popular, middle-range designs for a particular year or period. It would be wonderful if there was a chance to display them to a larger audience sometime soon.

Jo Banham

Photos by Lucy Ellis