The Home Beautiful: Paneled room from The Grove in Harborne, 1877

This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

I’m always amazed to see whole rooms from houses reassembled in museums. I wonder, first, what happened to the rest of the house, and, second, how a room can be removed from a structure so neatly. Here’s an entire room as seen at the V&A from “The Grove” in Harborne, Birmingham, England. The Grove was designed in 1877–78 by John Henry Chamberlain for William Kenrick, a prominent Birmingham businessman.

This room is the anteroom of the drawing room. It was acquired by the V&A just before the house was demolished. The structure is unusual in that it reflects a mixture of several architectural styles—Classical, Gothic and Aesthetic.

Decorated with inlaid, painted and gilded wood, the room was used to display Kendrick’s important collection of blue and white ceramics. The ancient porcelains must have looked very handsome contrasted against the paneling of sycamore and oak, with inlays of walnut and other exotic woods. The mirror surround above the marble fireplace is gilded as is the background of the curved frieze which was painted with a naturalistic design of apple blossom and birds on a blue ground.

In 1962, The Grove’s house and grounds had been bequeathed to the City Council of Harborne who decided to pull the house down. The Ante-Room was removed by the V&A for display before the house was demolished. The reassembled structure was opened to the public in June 1967.