Conservationand restorationof Pug in tilesat the Houseof Commons Leslie Durbin describes the painstaking work necessary to ensure that the tiling of the former Strangers' Smoking Room at the House of Commons was restored to its original glory. On 13 November 1996 the Terrace Cafeteria of the House of Commons was officially opened by Madam Speaker, the Rt Hon. Betty Boothroyd MP, after a lengthy and complex restoration programme set in motion on 12 July 1994. Our involvement came about because of the discovery of important early wall tiles, designed by Augustus Pugin, of dado height around the perimeter of what had originally been the Strangers' Smoking' Room. Research into the archives kept by the House of Lords Records Office had provided documentary evidence of the existence of the tiles, but not until the mock-tudor panelling dating from 1914 was removed could the condition of the tiles be ascertained. What was revealed was both good and bad. Almost all of the original scheme was in place except for areas where heating ducts had been fitted, probably in the 1960s, and new doorways had been knocked through. To counterbalance this the tiles had suffered severe damage by the hammering of steel pins at 24 about 30 cm intervals into the tiles the whole height and length of the dado as crude fixings for the oak panelling. This had left holes with deep shelling of the ceramic about 3-5 cm in diameter; added to this the majority of the bottom row of tiles were badly damaged, probably caused by the earlier removal of a skirting board to facilitate the fitting of the panelling. In consultation with English Heritage, the architects Cecil Denny Highton and Partners decided first to establish the provenance of the tiles. This they did by contacting tile historian and author, Chris Blanchett, who confirmed that the tiles were indeed examples of the earliest block printed tiles made by Mintons using the Collins and Reynold's 'New Press' printing technique patented in 1848; that they were stylistically certain to have been designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and first appeared in the Minton Catalogue in 1850. However, whilst it was agreed by all concerned that conservation and restoration of the original tiles was desirable, there was a requirement for a considerable number of replacements of these complex, highly decorative and colourful tiles in order to fill in missing areas, replace tiles too badly damaged to be restored and to decorate walls which were being re-instated. The architects contacted The Decorative Tile Works here at Jackfield Tile Museum for advice as to the possibility of manufacturing tiles which would be of an exact colour and technique match of the originals. The Decorative Tile Works andJackfield Conservation Studio responded jointly to provide a manufacturing and conservation service for the project under the control of Michael Kay of Decorative Tile Works. Manufacture There were three different tile designs which required manufacture: tile A, a polychrome tile 130 mm X 130 mm self contained design used at the head of each drop of border tiles; tile C, polychrome, 130 mm X 130 mm, a frieze design which formed the border and drops which surrounded each panel of the predominant design; and tile B, a white ground with a green gothic style design which formed the main component of the overall scheme. The majority of the tile B type are 206 mm X 206 mm except for two small areas near the entrance of the Smoking Room where the same design had been either stretched or reduced to 206 mmX 219 mm and 178 mmX 178 mm, respectively, in order to fit precisely into an odd corner of the room, a small detail which had obviously been a requirement of the designer, Pugin. Separate silk screens were made for each component of all three designs, with extra hand finishing needed for the corners of the stretched design for tile B. All tiles were first hand dipped in a Victorian white glaze and fired. The solid colours were then individually screen printed on top of the white. Two colours, pink and green, Context54 June1997
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