State Room from the 'Old Palace', Bromley-by-Bow, wood panelled, 1606

Description taken from London 1914:
The paneling is divided at intervals by six Doric pilasters with plain moulded bases, pedestals, and capitals, the shafts being decorated with a netted arrangement of interlacing straps, known as strap ornament, elaborately worked in low relief. At the ceiling level is a richly ornamented oak freize with strapwork panels of similar relief but of different design, separated by brackets, with a dentil moulding above, the whole being surmounted by an ogee cornice. The brackets dividing the panels and supporting the cornice are formed each of a combination of triglyph and console. They occur over every stile of the paneling and are repeated twice over the pilasters.

The oak overmantel has in the centre the royal arms of James I carved in very high relief. The shield is: Quaterly, 1st and 4th the arms of England and France quartered, 2nd Scotland, 3rd Ireland, encircled by the garter with the motto HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE, and supported by the lion and unicorn with elaborate mantling. Below is a shaped label with the motto DIEU ET MON DROIT, and above the shield, a crowned helmet surmounted by a lion passant gardant. The arms rest on a ledge, supported by modillions, and having in the centre a bracket in the form of a grotesque mask with an oblong pane, of scrollwork on either side. On each side of the arms is a niche carved and grooved inside and surrounded with nail-head ornament, containing figures of Peace and Plenty respectively, carved in elm and formerly gilded. Each is set in an architectural frame with base and entablature supported by carved and fluted columns. These are surmounted on the inner ends by tapering obelisks, resting on four balls, upon bases pierced with four round-headed arches. (cf Croscombe Church, Somerset; St Johns church, Leeds). On each of the inner ends of the entablature is a pair of terminal figures of grotesque female form supporting a cornice carved with three consoles and forming a framework to the coat of arms. Rising above this is a curved pediment of open strapwork and below, in the angles at either end and resting on the entablature, is a similar ornament of bracket shape. The whole ovemantel rests on a long shelf, of which the front, of quarter-round section, is carved with strapwork ornament and grotesques, and with four bosses in the form of terminal figures, male and female one below the base of each of the columns. This is supported by oak pilasters or caryatides, one of which flanks the opening of the fireplace on either end. These, in conjunction with the mantel-shelf, form a framework to the stone lining; that on the left being surmounted by a small finely-carved male bust, and that on the right by a female; while the terminal-shaped shaft of each, carved with a festoon of drapery and split baluster ornament, rests on a pedestal in the form of masonry with a moulded base. On arrival at the Museum, the fireplace was thickly covered with successive coats of paint, the removal of which revealed the richness and quality of the carving.

The plaster ceiling (museum no. 51-1894), original to the room, is planned on a pattern of intersecting squares, quatrefoils, and shaped panels, with eight enriched pendants hanging from the point of intersection of the strapwork ribs; the ribs being moulded with a trailing pattern of fruit and flowers. The centres of sixe of the quatrefoils are occupied by circular medallions surmounted by wreaths and winged cherub heads, and containing full-faced bearded busts representing three of the Nine Worthies, inscribed 'IOSUE.DUX', 'HECTOR.TRO', ALEXANDER', each head being repeated twice. The remaining quatrefoil in the centre of the ceiling contains the shield of James I bearing the royal arms, as on the overmantel, but without the supporters, and surmounted with a crown on the side of which are the letters I.R. each of the shaped panels contains a conventional floral pattern of sprigs, sprays and fruit.

The oak floor boards displayed with the panelling since 2001 are not original to it; they are salvaged floorboards acquired c.2000 as 'dressing' for the room.

Panelling bought for £75 from Mr J. Binns, 186 Brompton Road, London SW7 (RP 31061/1894 on nominal file Bromley by Bow; fireplace bought for £150 from the School Board for London, Victoria Embankment, London WC RP 36441/1894.

The obelisks, and figures of Peace and Plenty on the fireplace, which had previously been taken from the room, were given to the Museum in 1901 by Miss A. Papineau, who lived in the Palace until 1869. Clifford Smith (1914) suggests that the stone chimney-piece (21-1894) from the adjoining NW room on the ground floor is probably by the same hand as the stonework of that in the State Room.

From London 1914 (Clifford Smith)
For about a century after being divided in about 1750, the house was occupied as a boarding school, and was known as Palace House School. From 1874 until its destruction, part of the building was used as a club and part finally as a lodging house , the remainder being occupied by a firm of colour-workers, who used the 'State Room' as a store. In 1893 the School Board for London acquired the property for the purpose of erecting a school. They repurchased the mantelpiece of the 'State Room' which had been sold with the rest of the house to a firm of house-breakers, and afterwards transferred their purchase to the Museum, for which the paneling and ceiling, a stone chimney-piece from an adjoining room and an archway from the hall had already been acquired. A few plaster details from ceilings and freizes in other rooms (not specified), parts of the original oak mullioned windows, some leaded glass and some painted panels (nos. 1282-1282x-1900), were afterwards presented in 1900 by the Committee for the Survey of the Memorials of Greater London, who were influential in securing the paneled room for the Museum.

At the time of demolition, the room, which was situated on the ground loor at the back of the house, was fitted with a partition, two pinewood doorways, one on either side of the fireplace, three sash-windows, and an inner marble mantel-piece (added in the 18th century). As first set up in the Museum the paneling was slightly rearranged and parts renewed. Paneling from the fourth wall between the sash windows was used to fill the space occupied by the pinewood doorways.

Panelled room and ceiling from ‘Old Palace’ Bromley-by-Bow, 1606 [Information Sheet (2001)]

The House
The house was known in the 19th century as the Old Palace in Bromley-by-Bow. It was built in 1606, possibly by John Thorpe (active about 1570-1610). Bromley-by-Bow was at that time a countryside village outside London, within easy reach of the city. The house was a substantial, rectangular, four-storey house in red brick with two projecting towers at the front, and about 24 rooms.

There is no evidence for the popular idea that it was built or used as a hunting lodge by James I. This notion was probably based on the carving of his arms in the overmantel. It is more convincing to imagine the house as a suburban retreat of, say, a wealthy London citizen, a merchant or courtier, someone with means and pretension. The use of royal arms in the chimneypiece and ceiling do not mean that it was a royal property. They may have been used to express loyalty or even to obscure the fact that the owner did not possess a coat of arms himself. By courtier standards it was not a large house.

The house was re-fitted in 1660-1670 and, more substantially, in about 1750, when it was divided into two dwellings, then used variously as a school, as business premises and as a lodging house. The house was demolished in 1894. The architect C.R. Ashbee argued for the ‘saving’ of this room (an early example of preservation activism) and it was bought by the South Kensington Museum (the fore-runner of the V&A). The panelling and chimneypiece were stripped at that time of later paint layers.

The Room
This was the largest and grandest ground floor room, probably a parlour, although it is unusual to find a parlour so richly decorated with panelling and a plastered ceiling, and unusual to find such elements surviving after nearly five centuries. Another room in the house - the principal chamber on the first floor - would have been the highest status room, used for entertaining important guests. This had the best plaster ceiling in the house (partially dismantled long before 1894). For a house of 1606 we cannot speak of an architect acting as he would have done in the 18th or 19th centuries; its more realistic to think of the design of a house being drawn up by the patron with the help of a surveyor or mason. Likewise the elements of decoration in a room like this would have been agreed not by an interior designer but by the client with the various craftsmen – joiners, masons and plasterers

The Panelling
The panelling on the walls is of plain oak. It is divided by six Doric pilasters with low-relief strap ornament, with a carved oak frieze. These exuberant elements of classical ornament are typical of the period and very similar panelled rooms exist at Hardwick House, Whitchurch, Oxfordshire and Mapledurham House, Oxfordshire. Originally the room had two windows overlooking a garden (on your right if you look at the chimneypiece) and a doorway opposite the chimneypiece, which led into a passage. The panelling was rearranged when it was first displayed in the museum, so that the two replacement sash windows and two replacement door-frames either side of the chimney piece, (which had been added later to the room), were removed. The panelling has been moved at least once subsequently.

The Chimneypiece
The chimneypiece is the dominant feature of the room. It is carved in oak with the royal arms of James I, flanked by elm figures (originally gilded) representing Peace and Plenty; the whole set within an architectural framework of fluted columns. A limestone fireplace is carved in high-relief with birds and monsters.

The Plaster Ceiling
This is original, with enriched geometrical designs and pendants. It represents the peak of Elizabethan and Jacobean plasterwork, with a small-scale design of the type that was popular between 1560 and 1620. It includes 6 medallions representing 3 of the Nine Worthies (Joshua, Hector and Alexander) and the royal arms of James I. The Nine Worthies (traditionally 3 pagans, 3 Jews and 3 Christians) were a popular Renaissance idea for emblematic decoration.

Ceilings of this type were white-washed, rather than coloured. Many other houses in and around London would have had similar ceilings, some with identical elements. Wooden moulds may have been re-used by teams of itinerant plasterers, though it is also likely that the carvers of different wooden moulds based their designs on the same print sources. Ceilings with matching motifs survive from or at a number of houses in England and Scotland (Sir Paul Pindar’s House, Bishopsgate; London; Canonbury House; Mapledurham House, Oxfordshire; Bramshill, Hampshire; Craigievar Castle, Aberdeenshire; Merchison Castle, Edinburgh; Glamis Castle, Forfarshire,1620; Balcarres House, Fife; Muchalls, 1624).

What is new?
Because there is no evidence, either written or visual, for the appearance of the window wall, no attempt has been made to re-create this. Instead, the ‘wall’ has been treated in an abstract manner and will be used to show an embroidered table carpet of the kind that would have formed part of the furnishings of the room. From a bench alongside the wall visitors, if they wish, will be able to listen to a short programme of music that was composed in the years when the room was first built and decorated. A new oak floor has been added, using old, salvaged boards of exceptional width. The hearth and base has been reconstructed of salvaged Tudor bricks. The room is dressed with 17th century furniture along one wall, including a tapestry, indicating the importance of textiles in interiors of this period.

Object Type
This was the parlour of the house and its exuberant classical ornament is typical of the period. Originally the room had two windows overlooking a garden, to the right of the chimney-piece, and a doorway opposite the chimney-piece, which led into a passage.

Design
The panelling is divided by six Doric pilasters, or rectangular columns. These and the frieze that encircles the room at ceiling height are decorated with strapwork ornament. The elaborate overmantel contains a variety of carved decoration. The four caryatids (pillars in the form of women) derive from a series of engravings entitled Caryatidae by the Netherlandish designer Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527-?1606). Below them, two figures in niches represent Peace and Plenty. At the base, a panel of strapwork ornament surmounts two pilasters.

The stone chimney-piece features a frieze of carved birds and monsters, which were probably originally picked out in gold and colours.

Historical Associations
By 1750 the house was no longer a private dwelling but the 'Old Palace School'. In 1894 it was demolished. This destruction caused an outcry, led by the artist and designer C.R. Ashbee, which inaugurated the organised preservation of London's architectural history.

248-1894