Wallpaper and Aviation

Wallpaper design (for walls not laptops).[1]

What has wallpaper to do with the history of aviation at Hanworth? Read on…

Some years ago, while I was researching at the Royal Institute of British Architects, Portman Square, I came across plans for a building in Hanworth, which are referred to as the ‘Rudder Bar’. Never having heard of the Rudder Bar I noted the information and moved on. The plans can be viewed here link.[2] (Copyright applies.)

Yesterday, (while researching online for information unrelated to the Rudder Bar) I came across an image of the above wallpaper with its aircraft design, (though I had previously seen an image of the wallpaper but without the attached information). The text with the image states:

‘This elegant design for a wallpaper was only one element in an entire design scheme presented by [Raymond] McGrath for a house called “Rudderbar”, commissioned by a British female pilot in 1934. It had been conceived as a combination “house and transport hub” having “an aircraft hangar and a garage built alongside domestic quarters surmounted by an observation/control tower”! It was to be built nearby the historic Hanworth Airplane Field, Feltham, Middlesex, England. And all of this in McGrath’s signature Modernist style.’[3]

There is mention in the RIBA library archives of the Hon Mrs Victor Bruce, in connection with the Rudder Bar – was she the client? (Papers of Oliver Hill.) [4] Intrigued I delved a bit further into the Rudder Bar and voila:

Here is an image of the proposed Rudder Bar.[5]

In an article by Rhodri Windsor Liscombe he states that McGrath was the designer and that the:

‘Building was to have commenced with the patron (client) dropping a foundation block after take-off at the onset of an attempt on the flight endurance record, to be terminated coincident with the completed structure.’[6]

That would link nicely with the Hon Mrs Victor Bruce (Mary\Mildred Bruce) who was very involved in aviation during the inter-war years: record breaking attempts, aircraft companies...

In one particular thesis, it states that Raymond McGrath was the designer of the Rudder Bar and in another thesis that it was Oliver Hill. Oliver Hill’s name, though, is on the design plans at RIBA. The information so far suggests that Hill designed the exterior and McGrath the interior. They were good friends and did influence each other.[7]

This wallpaper and the history of aviation at Hanworth, therefore coincide through McGrath’s wallpaper design. Imagine the wallpaper somewhere in the restored Hanworth Park House and being able to explain its provenance. The Rudder bar though, was never built.

This wallpaper is still being produced today and is available online or, if you are in California, in person. The manufacturers of this wallpaper state:

‘This charming pattern was designed by architect Raymond McGrath in the early 1930s. It may have been intended for "Rudderbar" a house for a woman aviator.’.[8]

Further reading

Raymond McGrath biography: I would not normally recommend this particular link in connection with research, it does though cover McGrath from his early years in Australia, his time spent in England and his further career in Ireland. Among other works of his while he was in England he designed a set of etched glass windows at RIBA, the interiors of BBC Broadcasting House, St Ann’s Hill, Chertsey and art work for the War Artists Advisory Committee [WAAC](WW2). The WAAC accepted sixteen drawings from McGrath on the subject of wartime aircraft production. Could this war artwork have come from a visit to Hanworth? Irish Architectural Archive exhibition for Raymond McGrath on youtube: link

McGrath for the War Artists Advisory Committee , FITTERS WORKING ON A SPITFIRE: [9]

McGrath, St. Ann’s Hill, Chertsey[11]

[1] Vintage Poster Blog, vintageposterblog.com., Who let the dogs out?,(nd), [01Mar2019]. link

[2] Architecture, architecture.com/image-library/RIBApix., Unexecuted revised design for a house

Rudder Bar, Hanworth, London: plans; (2017), [Mar2019]. link

[3] Vintage Poster Blog, vintageposterblog.com., Who let the dogs out?,(nd), [01Mar2019]. link

[4] The RIBA Library Catalogue, Hill, Oliver, 1887-1968; (2017), [02Mar2019]. link

[5] MICHAEL BOGLE, a_Bogle.pdf., ARTHUR BALDWINSON, REGIONAL MODERNISM IN SYDNEY 1937-1969, (Thesis, RMIT University,November 2008), [01Mar2019]. link

[6] Rhodri Windsor Liscombe, Grounding the New Perspectives of Modernism: Canadian Airports and the Reconfiguration of the Cultural and Political Territory, P. 6 (nd), [02Mar2019).link

[7] MICHAEL BOGLE, a_Bogle.pdf., ARTHUR BALDWINSON, REGIONAL MODERNISM IN SYDNEY 1937-1969, (Thesis, RMIT University,November 2008), [01Mar2019]. link; Vanessa Vanden Berghe, OLIVER HILL AND THE ENIGMA OF BRITISH MODERNISM DURING THE INTER-WAR PERIOD, (Thesis Sept 2013), p. 42.(2013), [02Mar2019] link

[8] Bradbury & Bradbury, bradbury.com.,Art Deco Aeroplane, Old Gold, (2019), [01Mar2019]. link

[9] Imperial War Museum, iwm.org.uk., Collections, FITTERS WORKING ON A SPITFIRE, Art.IWM ART LD 142; (2019), [01Mar2019].

[11] Vintage Poster Blog, vintageposterblog.com., Who let the dogs out?,(nd), [01Mar2019]. link