Pine wood shop front from No.32 Petty France, Westminster. English, 1780-1800.

Pine wood shop front from No.32 Petty France, Westminster (now demolished), with plaster mouldings and iron brackets. At the top is a cornice with egg-and-tongue moulding and a plain fringe with a band of leaf ornament below. The slightly bowed window is divided into fifteen panes with plain bars, and is supported on two iron brackets cast with scrolls.
On the left of the window is a panelled door with a glass panel above and a pilaster at each side. The upper front of the door is hinged above and forms a shutter secured by an iron bar. The outer pilasters have iron grooves for blinds which were fixed onto iron rings in the cornice. The whole surface was originally covered with paint.

Given by The Army Council

Given by The Army Council. RP 78/2043. All paint was been removed and the skirting restored upon it's acquisition in 1923.

Letter from A.J. Hardingham in 1972, enclosing a photograph of the shop: 'I enclose a photograph of my late Grandfather's Antique ship at the beginning of the [20th] century. You have the shop front in your possession 'Petite France' (York Street)....as a matter of interest my family still possess the coffer shown in the picture and we also have a facsimile miniature of the front of the shop.'

Other parts of the shop were purchased by others:
From departmental catalogue, information received from the family after the Museum acquired the shop-front: 'We were told by old Mr Hardingham who owned the house and shop that Milton lived there at one time, and also George Moreland, when Mother heard that the house was to be pulled down, she purchased the stair-case and all the fireplaces and we stored them until we built [a] little house..the handrail and the balustrading [of the staircase] are in beautiful condition.'

On loan to the Geffrye Museum, London, 1978 to 1993.

W.88-1923