Emery Walker's House Reopens to Visitors

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Tours of 7 Hammersmith Terrace focus on wallpaper and new planting scheme

Emery Walker’s House reopens on March 5th after its winter hibernation with a series of new tours focussing on its unique collection of hand-blocked wallpapers.

7 Hammersmith Terrace, a 'memory museum' of three generations of inhabitants intimately connected with leading creatives of their day, showcases the work of key members of the Arts and Crafts movement, including one of the largest in situ collections of original Morris & Co hand-blocked wallpapers in the world.

The new tours will explore the history of wallpaper with a particular emphasis on William Morris’ designs, such as Daisy, pictured above, designed in 1864, and give visitors an opportunity to see items, rarely on show to the public, close up at both The William Society’s premises, which is a ten minute walk away and at Emery Walker’s House.

At first Morris was unwilling to compromise the principles which came to embody the Arts & Crafts Movement later on – handcrafted items, made from good quality materials by skilled craftsmen and women - and preferred embroidered hangings, tapestries and frescoes to cover walls. However, he quickly came to appreciate the huge expense of making such items and realised that something less expensive was called for, so started to design wallpapers.

He rejected the idea of roller printing which had been increasingly used since the 1840s, and insisted on hand-cut wallpaper blocks and hand-printing. These complex, detailed designs, inspired by nature and Medieval art can be seen in nearly every room of the house, and include extremely rare designs and colourways.

Visitors to the general tours will also be able to enjoy the riverside garden’s new planting scheme, inspired by Emery Walker’s daughter Dorothy’s garden diaries.

The Trust's expert volunteers run one hour guided tours at 11am, 1pm and 3pm on Thursdays and Saturdays from March until the end of November.

Tours are limited to eight visitors due to the size and fragile nature of the house and its many contents. Tours last one hour and must be pre-booked through TicketSource.

Private group tours can also be booked at other times. You can find more information about visiting Emery Walker's House here.

March 6, 2020