The house closes from beginning of November to end of February for essential maintenance and conservation work. It also allows the rooms to be minutely inspected for damage for damp, dust and infestations!
As a regular volunteer the house feels strange all
curtained and cloaked, quiet and eerie, furniture carefully stored all the
familiar ephemera cleared away.
Work starts immediately, when I arrived for the
first clean the house smelt of paint, the stairwell had been painted, it was a
dull day but it did look refreshed. The house is always kept cool as possible
to protect the furnishings and paintings, we all know to wrap up warm on the
cleaning days! Made a coffee and found the biscuit barrel, essential to this type
of work.
This year Jen and I will tackle the main bedroom. I am usually on kitchen duty as I proved rather good at dusting empty tins, and working with kitchenware, all of which had to be returned to their exact positions, after hoovering drawers and cupboard. See post here.
The built-in wardrobe we open for visitors is to
be decanted and thoroughly cleaned out. I tackled the coat hangers! They are
skittish things, like to hook on to each other and lay awkwardly once cleaned
with the hog’s hair brush and soft duster. Also, checked the felt linings for
any potential moth casings. If coat hangers could speak all these fine
specimens would have a story to tell. Some look home-made but the majority are
of quality manufacture, from a time when everything was made to last!
Perhaps Mr Goldfinger had carried some of them
with him from Hungary to Paris and back to England, or perhaps purchased in
Paris in the 1920s. The mechanisms to close in your skirt or trousers are
complex constructs, none of the skimpy lightweight things we use today. One or
two had names on, we think this might be a boarding school item, perhaps passed
from person to person as you went up a year to finally come to the Goldfinger's
children and laid rest in Mum and Dad's wardrobe unnoticed until 2016.
Perhaps I should not get started on the
shoehorns! A couple of pairs manufactured and some handmade albeit showing wear
and tear, as in parts looking like a puzzle. The exciting inspection was of the
boot horns in what we assumed were Ursula Goldfinger's riding boots, slim of
foot.
It is very likely they are bespoke possibly made
for her in her twenties. The workmanship is something you will not find today
except of course at the highest end of bespoke bookmakers who still exist in
small numbers. We decided to take the horns out to inspect that nothing
untoward was going on inside. We managed the two halves but decided against
taking out the hinged central piece that went inside the foot of the boot.
A revelation, the boot horns are hand carved with
knots of wood plus a sliver or wood inserted to improve the shape and fit. On
closer inspection words and numbers, the letters denoted left and right horn in
Hungarian, the number probably a reference to Ursula Goldfinger’s template with
bookmaker. All items softly polished inside and out and returned to their place
in the wardrobe.
An old tweed suit of Erno Goldfinger was quite
an emotional piece. Excellent quality material, well-worn to the extent the
lining was ripped and strained. The cuffs had leather stitched trim over the
frayed ends and leather elbow patches, obviously a favourite. No labels, again
a bespoke item we guessed made by a family tailor in Hungary and worn to the
end of Erno’s life. I was half hoping it still had the whiff of the cigar,
traces of the great man in his suit, sadly not.
Several stylish raincoats belonging to Urusla
Goldfinger, one herringbone right up there in the fashion stakes presently, so
you see, throw nothing away, or better still buy quality rather than
quantity. All items of clothing gently
inspected and then lightly hoovered to remove dust and hang back in the
wardrobe to be close to one another once more.
A bundle revealed a shabby duffle coat, could
this be navy issue, with a name tag? Pockets full of garden debris, a gardening
coat, possible worn by Ursula? We also found a lovely tartan poncho, tartan has
made a comeback as has the poncho, both a fashion staple in 2016!
All other items including the skates were
wrapped in acid free tissue, a shame as not much will be on view the next time
we open the wardrobe door. But we can admire Goldfinger’s attention to detail,
everything has its designated place. As time goes by the house may seem to
stand still in time but unfortunately the vagaries of exposure to visitors, dust,
sunlight hot and cold all have an impact on this protected property so we must
do everything we can to ensure all the items at 2 Willow Road remain in good
condition for the future.
The Doll’s House, lampshade and
under the bed!
On my next visit back in the main bedroom.
The Doll’s House is not always on show at 2
Willow Road, but when it does appear it delights everyone who sees it. A
modernist’s creation for his daughter, who, it is said, was not entirely
pleased with it! We feel she may have hankered after the 'Tudorbethan' versions
some of us enjoyed, black and white detail, red tile roof and flowers growing
over the front door! We are left with this lovely toy to take care of. We start by using the soft brushes to get
dust out of the tiny corners, being careful with the doors and their tiny
hinges. Windows are Perspex but still
wiped over gently. The roof has a spiral staircase leading up to it. We then must carefully put it all together
and lift it up to the top shelf of the built-in wardrobes.
A box of Christmas decorations are also emptied
out and carefully checked for any possible infestations and then carefully put
back in the box, sadly never to see any sight of a festive tree ever again.
It was decided to move the bed, especially as
there were two of us. It looks handmade
and very simple in design, solid but relatively easy to move out as we needed
to check the carpet plus it had been used to store large pictures and posters
keeping them flat in the space underneath. Mattress and bedding had to be carefully vacuumed. For
the bed-cover, we used a muslin piece over the nozzle before carefully hoovering
it all over. The result was a horrid
black matted clump of dust, so worthwhile, if tedious.
My favourite piece of the day was the lampshade
from the uplighter. Far more complex in design than I had first realized and
not sure the photographs do it justice. The results after cleaning it with damp
cotton wool and cotton buds were worth the effort. We found a maker’s mark and a patent number.
I decided to find out if the company still exists, it does! We also found a
spare glass shade in one of the other cupboards so comfort in knowing we have a
spare! |
| Holophane Pat. No. 20222 (?) Made in England |
Several leather wallets dusted, and wrapped like presents ... in protective tissue.
Spare tiles floor and wall were discovered as
well as lots of signage from long gone exhibitions, plus interesting
photographs and posters. All to be carefully cleaned up and then wrapped up.
 |
| Old Map of Modernist properties in Hampstead |
2 Willow Road opens again beginning of March 2017 https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/2-willow-road
