Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Stair D

Hat Stand

ca. 1879-1881 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The stand was designed by the distinguished architect George Edmund Street (1824-1881) for the Royal Courts of Justice, which he had been commissioned to design in 1868. They opened in 1882 in the Strand, London, a fitting climax both to Street's prolific career and 19th century gothic architecture. The donor, an articled clerk in the 1960s, remembered seeing a hat stand of this type in the refreshment room of the Law Courts.

George Edmund Street provided in depth designs for both the exterior and interior of the Royal Courts of Justice, which were then executed by a number of contracted firms. This stand was made by the London based firm Thomas Potter and Sons, of South Moulton Street, London. In 1881 Thomas Potter and Sons were awarded the contract to make ornanmental ironwork for the Royal Courts of Justice. They had previously installed the majority of the piping equipment for the gas lighting system in the building.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Iron, cast and wrought
Brief description
Ironwork hat stand, designed by George Edmund Street and made by Thomas Potter and Sons for the Royal Courts of Justice, England, ca.1882
Physical description
Central vertical shaft from which four branches radiate at each of the four fixed points. The four feet to which the shaft has been attached are joined by a circle of iron. The knop at the top of the shaft is in the shape of a pine cone while each branch of the the hat stand emerges from a stylised foliate stem on a stepped architectural detail and twists to end in a rounded finial.

Tooled decoration on the shaft consists of spaced circular depressions. The four legs of the base are ornamented above by an incised arrow tooling and below by sprandrels terminating in quatrefoils.
Dimensions
  • Height: 186cm
  • Width: 46cm
Style
Gallery label
HAT STAND Cast and wrought iron England; c. 1879-1881 The stand was designed by the distinguished architect George Edmund Street (1824-1881) for the Royal Courts of Justice, which he had been commissioned to design in 1868. They opened in 1882 in the Strand, London, a fitting climax both to Street's prolific career and 19th century gothic architecture. The donor, an articled clerk in the 1960s, remembered seeing a hat stand of this type in the refreshment room of the Law Courts. Gift of J.S.M. Scott Esq. Museum No. M.62-1997(07/1994)
Credit line
Given by John S.M. Scott
Summary
The stand was designed by the distinguished architect George Edmund Street (1824-1881) for the Royal Courts of Justice, which he had been commissioned to design in 1868. They opened in 1882 in the Strand, London, a fitting climax both to Street's prolific career and 19th century gothic architecture. The donor, an articled clerk in the 1960s, remembered seeing a hat stand of this type in the refreshment room of the Law Courts.

George Edmund Street provided in depth designs for both the exterior and interior of the Royal Courts of Justice, which were then executed by a number of contracted firms. This stand was made by the London based firm Thomas Potter and Sons, of South Moulton Street, London. In 1881 Thomas Potter and Sons were awarded the contract to make ornanmental ironwork for the Royal Courts of Justice. They had previously installed the majority of the piping equipment for the gas lighting system in the building.
Bibliographic references
  • Jervis, Simon. The Penguin Dictionary of Design and Designers. London : Allen Lane, 1984. 533 p. ISBN 0713912324
  • Brownlee, David Bruce. The Law Court: the Architecture of George Edmund Street. New York : Architectural History Foundation; Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1984. 430 p. : ill. ISBN 0262021994
  • Magazine of Art. London. 1882, vol. 5. p.41.
Collection
Accession number
M.62-1997

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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