Close Search

Toggle navigation

Type: Wallpaper

Blanchard Ashlar

By

One mark of a successful block printed pattern is when multiple design characteristics are rendered with just a few blocks. In the case of this ashlar (originally installed in the Medford, Massachusetts home of Andrew Blanchard) not only are the tools of dimensionality – bright highlights and accompanying shadows – depicted, but the nearly geologically accurate marbling is … Continued

Geranium Trellis

By

Chinese trellis designs seem to be the inspiration for this British pattern.  Although there was not a complete repeat of this pattern, which was discovered lining a trunk, there was sufficient information for a successful reconstruction. With its rambling vines, strict trellis structure and subtly shifting hexagonal lozenge shapes, this pattern illustrates a fine and … Continued

Ghost Blossom

By

Little is known about this fanciful vine pattern, aside from it being found in a cupboard in western North Carolina. The unexpectedly graphic depiction of transparency, plus the dramatic color choices (in the original) would be equally at home in designs of the early 20th century. This pattern is licensed to Adelphi Paper Hangings by the Colonial … Continued

Old Manse Vine

By

The delicately undulating vine design which still lines a bedchamber closet at The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, was installed between 1790 and 1800. The house was built by Reverend William Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s grandfather, and his wife Phoebe who chose this wallpaper for the upstairs bedchamber. Later, when writer Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife Sophia … Continued

Lear’s Folly

By

Unlike other French wallpapers of this period, ones which receive accolades for the many colors printed with steady handed precision, this pattern – found in New Hampshire – was destined for a different market. The paints were thin. The printing registration was somewhat casual. Even the paper stock had been repurposed – the wallpaper was printed on the … Continued

Kennebunk Foliate

By

Remnants of this machine printed pattern were discovered in a front room of the Samuel Simpson House in Kennebunk, Maine. Though the Federal style house was built circa 1820, this wallpaper was not installed until the mid-century. Unlike similar designs which combine pin dots and foliage, this one places the dots on the foliage, rather than on the … Continued

Trophies

By

This pattern is replete with juxtapositions. Not only do groupings of the tools of war – a shield, sword, flag and a quiver with arrows alternate with gatherings of flowers and foliage but the two muscular scaled and barbed stripes have to contend with a delicate shifting line of bell shapes. It is this last motif which frames … Continued

Quarter Sawn Oak

By

From the archives of Historic New England, Boston. Although the original wallpaper was machine printed, the precise design structure allowed for an easy translation to block printing. This type of pattern may have been designed to be used as a wainscot decoration.

Berrien House Knotted Drapery

By

Construction of the Savannah house of Revolutionary veteran John Berrien was started in 1791; within a decade of its completion this decidedly graphic pattern was installed in a staircase. Like several other patterns from the Berrien House, this one shares both motif and structural aspects with papers from Philadelphia and therefore a similar attribute seems plausible. This first … Continued

Tumbling Blocks

By

While the fragment used to reproduce this geometric pattern is in the Adelphi archives, it would be useful to site Richard Nylander’s book, Wallpaper in New England where he discusses similar patterns in the collection of Historic New England. “The design’s similarity to late-19th century patchwork is obvious. Less obvious is its relationship to architectural design. A … Continued