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Design

circa 1900 (made)
Artist/Maker
Mewès & Davis (designers)
Place of origin
France (designed)
Britain (designed)

The architectural partnership was founded in 1900 by Charles Frédéric Mewès (1860- 1914) and Arthur Joseph Davis (1878-1951). Both studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and became famous for their skillful reinterpretation of 18th-century styles.

They built a large practice working for rich financiers and industrialists both in France and Britain. They remodelled Luton Hoo for the diamond magnate Julius Wernher, and one of their most celebrated commission was the Ritz Hotel (1903-6) in London, the first steel-framed building in the city designed with a Parisian exterior and mansard roof, and interiors in the Louis XVI style.

Object details

Categories
Designs
Drawings
Gardens & Gardening
Interiors
Object type
Design
Materials and techniques
pencil and wash
Paper
Drawing
Brief description
Elevation design for a room in the Louis XV style, by Mewès and Davis, c. 1900.
Physical description
Elevation design for a room in the Louis XV style furnished with a pink sofa and two gilt consoles. Carved wall panelling with painted trumeaux. Large painted panel in the middle of the elevation.
Dimensions
  • Height: 311mm
  • Width: 211mm
Style
Rococo
Gallery label
Mewès and Davis
(worked 1900-1914)
Volume of designs for interiors in the
Régence, Louis XV and XVI styles.
French, c.1910

The firm of Mewès and Davis, architects
and interior decorators, was founded in
1900 by Charles Edouard Mewès (1858-
1914) and Arthur Joseph Davis RA FRIBA
(1878-1951). They had offices in London
and Paris, the latter being the source of
these drawings. The firm was best known
for its design for hotels, the impetus for
which came from Mewès, who designed the
Ritz hotels in Paris and London and was
described in an English obituary as 'the
creator of the modern luxury hotel'.

E.867-1975
Summary
The architectural partnership was founded in 1900 by Charles Frédéric Mewès (1860- 1914) and Arthur Joseph Davis (1878-1951). Both studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and became famous for their skillful reinterpretation of 18th-century styles.

They built a large practice working for rich financiers and industrialists both in France and Britain. They remodelled Luton Hoo for the diamond magnate Julius Wernher, and one of their most celebrated commission was the Ritz Hotel (1903-6) in London, the first steel-framed building in the city designed with a Parisian exterior and mansard roof, and interiors in the Louis XVI style.
Bibliographic reference
Cat. 14 Edwardian Opulence. British Art at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century Yale venter for British Art, 2013. ISBN: 978-0-300-19025-0.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.867:38-1975

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Record createdFebruary 28, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O193220/design/
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