Paterson Brothers in Melbourne’s Little Collins Street provided competition for the British firms active in the colonies such as Gillow of London (active in Melbourne) and Morris and Company (active in Adelaide). There were other smaller decorating firms, of course, as well as architects and individual decorators at work in all the wealthier 19th century colonies.
Melbourne’s Paterson Brothers completed one of their first interior decoration commissions at Villa Alba, Kew in 1884. This commission included fabrics, valances, tiles, Japanese “leather” paper, furniture from local retailer W.H. Rocke & Co. as well as the Paterson Bros.’s much-admired interior painting and stencilling scheme.
Other well-known Paterson Bros. commissions included Trades Hall Council Chambers (c.1884), “Bracknell”, a Toorak mansion now demolished, where Liberty fabrics and painted and stencilled wall decorations were used. It is tempting to suggest that the retailer W.H. Rocke & Co. (who also supplied decorating services in the 19th century) provided an early model for the famed Georges Department Store.
This summary relies on Andrew Montana. The Art Movement in Australia (1875-1900). Melbourne University Press, 2000 and eMelbourne. The City Past and Present. www.emelbourne.net.au/ 2 December 2010.
- Writers:
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- Date written:
- 2018
- Last updated:
- 2018
