Time Travel in the Octagon Bedroom
In 2017, the fabulous Bo visited the Cross House and one of our many adventures was finding a wealth of wall papers behind a huge radiator. We manfully dragged the stupendously heavy radiator away from the wall, its weigh no match for two men fueled with…historical curiously. Could anything withstand such a force? I think not.
The top layer was a dreadfully dull paper installed in every friggin’ room during, presumably, the 1950 motel conversion. Under that is a blue-ish paper. 1940s? NOTE: I misted the papers so all are darker than they would normally be.
The next layer. 1930s?
The next layer. Teal designs on a mottled mauve background. Very…unusual.
The next layer. A mottled pink ground with some kind of yellow/blue cluster.
The bottom two layers. The top layer is a simple mauve stripe. Under is a highly unexpected dark brown paper. I have no idea if there is any design on it. Is this the original wall paper??????????
The radiator has been reinstalled, and these layers of history are preserved as Bo and I found them.
Such discoveries fascinate me.
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I agree. It’s a real factual glimpse into the past. They are a real treasure.
No stripping wallpaper for these folks, just layer it on. It’s such interesting fun seeing what was there and guessing what decade they’re from. I like the light blue paper with small flowers and white ostrich feathers in the 2nd picture.
When we stripped wallpaper from two rooms in our 1866 home, it was a solid color paper. It looked like raw white plaster under the paper, like it had never been painted. I was thinking the paint back then wasn’t very good and they didn’t have rollers, so it was easier to wallpaper, but there were no layers of wallpaper. Maybe they just put a skim coat of plaster over the original papers? Who knows?
I remember you making this wallpaper discovery back in 2016! I loved it so much that I took a screenshot of the 1894 paper!
Another Wallpaper Discovery!
November 21, 2016
Still in love with it!
And this….
https://restoringross.com/a-wallpaper-discovery/
Does this inspire?
Bo is the BEST!! He found the original catalog advertisement for my entry way wallpaper from a photo. It was a pattern called “The Caliph” by Pittsburg Wallpaper Co., and produced in 1901. I am still ridiculously excited about this discovery!
It’s true, Allison! Bo IS the best!
Wowie!! Id sooo luv to see that in person! Sooo fun!!! Its like archeology!! Luv it!!
The second picture down, I swore there was a photograph of a woman on the left had side. I wondered what she was doing there. I see a face dead center on the third pic as well. Maybe time for new glasses…I before I saw the tear marks, I really thought there was maybe a wallpaper with pics on it!
It’s a pity that many wallpapers change so much as they age! They fade fade, yellow or brown quite considerably, so it might be almost impossible to tell what they originally looked like. I once stripped bits of a very weird paper, probably from the 1950s or 60s, a pale grey background with thin dark grey lines (slightly reminded me of a chain link fence) and random blue, green and red spots about an inch in diametre. In some spots, especially where two pieces overalapped on a seam, the colours were still quite vibrant but everything else was faded to a dull grey. A paper from the 20s or 30s hidden around a boarded-up window was even worse.
I would urge you to have a closer look at the mauve stripe. To my eye, it is not so simple. A gently undulating stem with a multitude of tiny leaves overlays the darker stripes. The shape of these leaves are reminiscent of foliage patterns found in William Morris papers, the popularity of which dominated the “Artistic” wallpapering industry in the late 19th century, and is exactly what a decorative art historian would anticipate finding in an Aesthetic Movement interior. Compare, for instance, the delicate leaves seen here with those employed in the background of Morris and Co’s Chrysanthemum pattern. I do not believe this is a paper produced by that great firm, but one influenced by them. As this paper was fashionable and entirely in keeping with this house when it was new, I would argue it is the final paper layer, and that the brown material resembling an acidic card stock is likely a part of the paper’s construction.
Was the radiator relocated after all these layers were installed, or was the paper carefully slipped behind the radiator while it was there the whole time?
Good questions, Seth!
I never thought about the radiator but, as it doesn’t match all my other radiators, I’m gonna guess that it’s not original!
Otherwise, the room has but a single radiator, a low one under the center octagon tower window. That isn’t enough, so maybe the second radiator IS original?
Interesting indeed.
I have a similar puzzlement in our house. The second-largest bedroom has but one radiator, and it is a much narrower, and unique style compared to all the rest. All the floors are original, piping feed from the basement appears untouched, and there is no evidence of floor patching. My best determination is that the original owners had a very specific bed they wanted in this location, and needed a few more inches, so they had the heating contractor install a unique one here.
Sadly, it is not quite adequate to heat the room uniformly with the rest of the house.