Original article featured in Cambridgeshire Agenda March 2009. Photography courtesy of Sanderson, Morris & Co and Fired Earth.

Cambridgeshire, like so many English counties, is bursting with superb Victorian architecture and the legacy of this extraordinary era is as strong within the style of our interiors as it is in our housing stock. Cate Burren of Angel + Blume interior design looks at how to bring the best of the great style of the Victorians into our homes today.

Queen Victoria ruled from 1837 until 1901 and during her reign, Britain led the way in terms of trade and enjoyed great prosperity due to the industrialisation of the economy. The population more than doubled and a thriving middle class developed who having made money were keen to display their new found prosperity, not least within their homes. Household decoration products such as wallpaper, textiles and carpets were being mass-produced and purchased by a society keen to emulate the upper classes. Luxury and formality were key in the mainstream modern Victorian home and in a society where family was of utmost importance, the home was a central part of daily life.

What is Victorian style?

Although we tend nowadays define a particular style as Victorian, decorating during this time was about an eclectic mix of styles. Elizabethan and Gothic designs were popular giving a sense of continuity with tradition and as travel became available to many more people, Moorish, Egyptian and Oriental influences started to appear in British homes. Homeowners often turned to new fashions in order to stay ahead and it was not unusual to use diverse styles in different rooms in the house. Mid-Victorian homes were full of pattern and rich colours on walls, furnishings and carpets and would typically be crammed with luxurious furniture, heavy curtains over lace screens, dark woodwork and every available surface crammed with lamps, vases, flowers, boxes and a selection of flowers and plants. Lighting during the day was dim and at night, fires were lit and light came from oil lamps. The overcrowded effect was generally regarded as reflection of a family’s means and place in society and as a statement of respectability.

One of the most important design movements to influence the interior of the nineteenth century home was that of the Arts and Crafts movement. This was about the rejection of mass produced furniture and the reintroduction of hand made, well designed individual pieces that tended to be a sturdy and elegantly simple compared with the current Victorian style. One of its chief exponents was William Morris who was an emotional idealist and despite being a convinced Marxist was also a successful entrepreneur. In 1861 he founded his own company which produced furniture, textiles, wallpaper, pottery and stained glass and produced styles that are recognisable and still stand up well as designs in modern day homes. The company which is now Morris and Co still exists today and sells primarily fabric, wallpaper and paint.

Victorian style today

It is rare today to want to emulate the Victorian look in its completeness but there are elements of Victorian style everywhere in modern day interiors. Antiques from the age are commonplace and styles of Victorian furniture, textiles, paint colours, tiles, baths and so on are reflected in products available on the market. Unsurprisingly, furnishings that are Victorian or are of the style work well in the huge range of Victorian homes that are to be found in this country but they also mix well with different styles – just as the Victorians themselves used to – to create a relaxed eclectic style. Victorian furniture can look great when used with older antiques, 20th century pieces or with brand new designs.

The key with any mixture of old and new is to create the right balance and to keep an airy feel to a space so that all elements of the design can work well. Modern lighting helps to achieve this, as does the use nowadays of lighter paint colours. However, it is not only in Victorian buildings that this style can work. Very modern buildings can also benefit from bravely using Victorian furnishings, particularly the exquisite designs of the Arts and Crafts movement, just as Victorian houses respond well to a very contemporary redesign. The style of the Victorians is to be celebrated in British decorating, not least for the variety and confidence of the look but also for the tremendous legacy it leaves today in our architecture, our antiques and our design inspirations.