Month: August 2017

As a volunteer cataloger, I have spent some weeks engrossed in the Arthur Halcrow Verstage archive collection, acquired by The William Morris Society in 2005. This resource not only reveals fascinating details about the life and work of William Morris, but also exposes the passionate zeal he inspired in his devotees long after his death.Arthur Halcrow Verstage (1875-1969) was one these devotees. An architect who spent much of his career in the public sector, he was a student at the Royal Academy…

I’ve always had a soft spot for Emery Walker’s House. My connection to it goes back to 2001, soon after the future of the house was secured but well before it opened to the public. I began a five year, part-time stint as the Conservation Cleaner. As I swept, dusted and hoovered every nook and cranny I imagined the Walker family and Elizabeth de Haas inhabiting the house over the previous century. If only walls could talk! The ‘spirit of place’ was palpable. I had the sense that this was still…