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The Strawberry Room
Wyatt, James, born 1746 - died 1813 - Enlarge image
The Strawberry Room
- Object:
Panelled room
- Place of origin:
Kent, England (made)
- Date:
1783-1794 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Wyatt, James, born 1746 - died 1813 (designer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Pine, carved, painted and gilded; cupboards inset with coloured glass panes
- Credit Line:
Given by Thomas Oakley and G. Jackson & Sons Ltd
- Museum number:
W.48:1 to 3-1953
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, Lee Priory Room, room 120
Object Type
This small room was located on the first floor of Lee Priory, a house originally built in the 17th century and decorated between 1783 and about 1790 when it was remodelled. This is a rare example of a room decorated in the Gothic Revival style of the 18th century. It was called the Strawberry Room. The house was altered again in the 19th century and the architectural parts of the room were given to the Museum when the house was demolished in 1953.
People
Horace Walpole influenced the style of the room as he was a friend of the owner, Thomas Barrett. Walpole had already altered his own house at Strawberry Hill near London in the Gothic style and he wrote about Lee Priory, 'You will see a child of Strawberry prettier than the parent...There is a delicious closet, too, so flattering to me'.
Design & Designing
The room's architect, James Wyatt, was adventurous and eccentric and excelled at the Gothic style so admired during this period. Wyatt designed the ceiling with applied wooden tracery in imitation of stone fan-vaulting seen in Medieval churches, and shaped the mantelpiece like a Gothic arch. The woodwork was painted a pale stone colour. Originally, there was a window at the end opposite the cupboards.
