Tall Buildings in Numbers
Green Walls in High-Rise Buildings
For centuries, green walls have been used to shade building walls and atriums, to shield buildings
from wind, and to cultivate agricultural plants. Now, as the world population urbanizes, green
walls have become a significant tool in the quest for greater sustainability in the tall-building field.
The latest CTBUH technical guide, Green Walls in High-Rise Buildings, provides a thorough
investigation of the methods used around the world for implementation of vertical vegetation at
height. In commemoration of the release of this important guide, Tall Buildings in Numbers
profiles the 18 case study buildings included.
To purchase your copy of Green Walls in High-Rise Buildings visit: https://store.ctbuh.org
Location of Case Studies and Size/Percentage
of their Green Coverage
One PNC Plaza
Pittsburgh, 2009
Building Height: 129 meters
Stories: 30
Total surface area of green
coverage: 221 m2
Largest green coverage on a
single façade: 221 m2 (5%)
Green coverage of total
façade: 1%
Athenaeum Hotel
London, 2009
Building Height: 48 meters
Stories: 9
Total surface area of green
coverage: 256 m2
Largest green coverage on a
single façade: 159 m2 (9%)
Green coverage of total
façade: 9%
B3Hotel Virrey
Bogota, 2011
Building Height: 30 meters
Stories: 9
Total surface area of green
coverage: 264 m2
Largest green coverage on a
single façade: 264 m2 (49%)
Green coverage of total
façade: 15%
Consorcio Santiago
Santiago, 1993
Building Height: 58 meters
Stories: 17
Hotel Intercontinental
Santiago, 2011
Building Height: 52 meters
Stories: 16
Bosco Verticale
Milan, 2013
Building Height: 112 meters
Stories: 27
Total surface area of green
coverage: 2,293 m2
Total surface area of green
coverage: 1,590 m2
Total surface area of green
coverage: 10,142 m2
Largest green coverage on a
single façade: 2,066 m2 (43%)
Largest green coverage on a
single façade: 1,302 m2 (60%)
Largest green coverage on a
single façade: 1,735 m2 (47%)
Green coverage of total
façade: 22%
Green coverage of total
façade: 29%
Green coverage of total
façade: 42%
The floors with green
walls at Consorcio,
Santiago, Chile, use 35%
less energy than the
floors without green walls
in the same building.
52 | Tall Building in Numbers
The agriculture and
greenery in Pasona
Headquarters, Tokyo, Japan,
has been attributed to 12%
productivity gains and a
23% reduction in employee
absences due to ailments.
Singapore’s Parkroyal on Pickering
provides 215% of the greenery that
existed on the site before the building
was built.
CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue III
Building Functions
Institutional
1
Hotel
Office
4
The Met
Bangkok, 2009
Building Height: 231 meters
Stories: 69
Solaris
Singapore, 2011
Building Height: 79 meters
Stories: 15
Total surface area of green
coverage: 3,065 m2
6
Residential
Across the 18 case studies, there are four
different types of building functions. Green
walls are thus clearly applicable across
multiple building types and functions.
7
Total surface area of green
coverage: 7,170 m2
Largest green coverage on a
single façade: 3,385 m2 (18%)
Green coverage of total
façade: 14%
Largest green coverage on a
single façade: 1,449 m2 (N/A)
IDEO Morph 38 Tower
Bangkok, 2013
Building Height: 134 meters
Stories: 32
Green coverage of total
façade: 15%
Total surface area of green
coverage: 5,850 m2
Largest green coverage on a
single façade: 1,276 m2 (66%)
Green coverage of total
façade: 23%
ACROS Fukuoka
Fukuoka, 1995
Building Height: 60 meters
Stories: 14
Pasona Headquarters
Tokyo, 2010
Building Height: 34 meters
Stories: 9
Total surface area of green
coverage: 5,326 m2
Largest green coverage on a
single façade: 5,326 m2 (84%)
Total surface area of green
coverage: 1,224 m2
Green coverage of total
façade: 28%
Largest green coverage on a
single façade: 720 m2 (37%)
Green coverage of total
façade: 20%
Newton Suites
Singapore, 2007
Building Height: 120 meters
Stories: 36
Gramercy Skypark
Makati, 2013
Building Height: 244 meters
Stories: 73
Total surface area of green
coverage: 1,274 m2
Largest green coverage on a
single façade: 734 m2 (21%)
Total surface area of green coverage: 189 m2
Largest green coverage on a single façade: 138 m2 (1%)
Green coverage of total façade: 0.4%
Green coverage of total
façade: 10%
PARKROYAL on Pickering
Singapore, 2012
Building Height: 89 meters
Stories: 15
Total surface area of green coverage: 4,827 m2
Largest green coverage on a single façade: 2,257 m2 (16%)
Green coverage of total façade: 11%
School of the Arts
Singapore, 2010
Building Height: 56 meters
Stories: 10
Helios Residences
Singapore, 2011
Building Height: 94 meters
Stories: 20
Total surface area of green
coverage: 6,446 m2
Total surface area of green
coverage: 1,652 m2
Largest green coverage on a
single façade: 1,434 m2 (53%)
Largest green coverage on a
single façade: 1,142 m2 (15%)
Green coverage of total
façade: 26%
Green coverage of total
façade: 7%
The Bosco Verticale, Milan, Italy,
has the largest total percentage
of green coverage in the guide, at
42%, and the largest total surfacearea coverage at 10,142 m2.
CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue III
Trio Apartments
Sydney, 2009
Building Height: 39 meters
Stories: 16
Total surface area of green
coverage: 139 m2
CH2 Council House 2
Melbourne, 2006
Building Height: 42 meters
Stories: 10
Largest green coverage on a
single façade: 139 m2 (5%)
Total surface area of green coverage: 420 m2
Largest green coverage on a single façade: 420 m2 (19%)
Green coverage of total façade: 7%
The tallest green wall in the guide
is at The Met, Bangkok, Thailand,
rising about 200 meters in a thin
strip. The building’s overall green
wall coverage is about 14%.
Green coverage of total
façade: 0.7%
One Central Park, Sydney
(submitted too late to make the
guide) won the CTBUH 2014 Best
Tall Building: Asia & Australasia
award for its innovative use of
heliostats and vertical greenery.
Tall Building in Numbers | 53
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doi:10.1093/jdh/epw039
Journal of Design History
Vol. 30 No. 3
The Evolution of Wallpaper Interior
Design Schemes in a Commercial
Setting: The Interiors of the St
Pancras Renaissance Hotel (Midland
Grand Hotel), London 1870s–1980s.
Lynda Skipper
The refurbishment of the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel (formerly the Midland Grand Hotel)
provided a unique opportunity to investigate the interior design history of this iconic London
landmark. During the refurbishment, wallpapers were uncovered from the initial decorative
schemes of the hotel in the 1870s and from later interior design schemes until the building’s
closure in the 1980s. This article demonstrates how the CoBRA (Conservation-based Research
and Analysis) methodology can be applied to increase our understanding of the history of
interiors. The conservation process adds a new perspective to the historiography of the papered
interior and its significance in the interior design process. By combining archival research with
access to the original wallpapers during the retrieval and subsequent conservation process, it
has been possible to construct an account of this commercial building’s decorative schemes.
Many of the earliest wallpapers were supplied by Jeffrey and Co., a London firm that worked
with William Morris and other prominent designers. The wallpapers illustrate how the approach
to the interior design of this building evolved over time, moving away from the Gothic Revival
style of interior.
Keywords: wallpaper—William Morris—historical interior—conservation—heritage—Sir
George Gilbert Scott
Introduction
© The Author [2016]. Published by
Oxford University Press on behalf
of The Design History Society. All
rights reserved.
Advance Access publication 3
October 2016
The St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, London, UK is an iconic building in the Gothic Revival
style. Originally known as the Midland Grand Hotel, and later as St Pancras Chambers,
it was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811–1878), and welcomed its first guests
in 1873.1 The hotel was funded by the Midland Railway Company, which had previously
shared railway lines into London with other rail companies. Many of these companies
had an associated hotel at their London terminus, and when the Midland Railway
decided to build its own line, it was seen as essential to build its own hotel in order
to compete. Although Gilbert Scott’s design for the hotel was the most expensive, he
presented the Midland Railway with the opportunity to build a hotel that would overshadow those offered by the other rail companies in terms of size and luxury.2 After the
hotel closed in 1935, it was used as British Rail offices and staff accommodation before
its final closure in the 1980s.3 After extensive restoration between 1997 and 2011 by
a consortium led by the Manhattan Loft Corporation, the building was returned to its
original use and reopened as the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel in 2011.4
The Midland Grand Hotel was renowned for its decorative painted interiors, like the
Grand Staircase, and the spectacular designs in many of the rooms, particularly on
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the lower floors, all of which have been discussed in more detail by authors such as
Bradley.5 Previous research in the building has concentrated solely on the painted decoration with the wallpapers being ignored. However, early photographs of the building interiors,6 and remnants visible on the walls themselves, provide strong evidence
that wallpapers formed a significant part of the interior decorative schemes. While the
building was being completely stripped for building works, many areas were uncovered
as later additions such as radiators and dividing partition walls were removed. This
meant that wallpapers that had survived in situ during earlier redecoration were now
exposed. The initial aim of the St Pancras project was to remove and catalogue the
wallpapers, carrying out conservation treatments as required. However, the refurbishment of the Midland Grand Hotel also provided a unique opportunity to investigate
the importance of wallpapers used in this historic commercial property, spanning a time
period of just over one hundred years, from the 1870s to the 1980s.
Wallpapers offer valuable evidence of society in a particular era by indicating structural
change and hierarchical function, providing examples of contemporary fashion and
suggesting the personal tastes and social aspirations of the owners and occupants.7
Wallpaper collections in museums tend to be composed of the best preserved and most
expensive examples, not necessarily giving a true picture of the types of wallpapers
used at the time.8 The expensive papers often come with some provenance, like bills
and letters, but the use of cheaper paper is very rarely recorded, and evidence of the
use of wallpapers in commercial settings is scant.9 Information about wallpaper usage
from the later 1800s and early 1900s tends to come from interior design publications such as The Building News (1855–1926) and The House-Furnisher and Decorator
(1872–1883), though most were aimed at advising householders about the appropriate styles to use, concentrating more on the domestic rather than the commercial
interior.10 These sources of advice for the home recommended that wallpapers used in
servants’ areas should be cheap, with simple machine-printed patterns. In rooms used
mainly by women, like drawing rooms and boudoirs, floral or lightly coloured striped
papers were to be used. In areas frequented by men, like the library or smoking room,
darker colours with bolder patterns were recommended.11 In more communal areas,
designs were suggested for particular areas, like the use of marble patterns in hallways.12 Hotels often used bigger, bolder patterns than domestic homes as the rooms
were larger and they created a more striking atmosphere.13 Colours were also important in the Victorian domestic setting but have been little studied in relation to hotels.
Browns and oranges were preferred for sitting rooms, whilst green and blue were more
commonly used in bedrooms, being considered to be more restful colours.14
In the nineteenth century wallpaper manufacturing developed rapidly, and by 1874,
thirty-two million rolls of wallpapers were produced every year, in a vast range of
designs.15 Patterns and styles varied widely, along with the cost of the papers, intended
to meet the demands of consumers from all areas of society. Because of the sheer
quantity and variety of papers produced there are substantial gaps in our knowledge
of historic wallpapers, and surviving examples are relatively rare. With the exception of
the most costly hand-painted papers, wallpaper was generally regarded as ephemeral
and was very easy to replace, either by removal or by covering over. In the hundred
and fifty years since the mechanization of the wallpaper production process, this act of
replacement has in many cases been relatively inexpensive and so repapering has often
been the cheapest way to alter the look of an interior.16
Even now during the refurbishment of historic buildings, although interest in the
painted schemes is growing, wallpapers are often neglected. However, wallpapers
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form a valuable part of the historical record, and should be considered as part of any
investigation into a building’s history. The St Pancras project is particularly significant
for the approach taken to preserving examples of all the wallpapers. When projects
involving the historical study of a building are carried out, generally the interest is
in the earlier examples of the decorative schemes, while the ‘modern’ schemes are
overlooked. This project preserves not just the earliest wallpapers in the property but
looks at the evolution of the decoration as a whole, up until the 1980s, providing a
valuable record for future scholars. The stratigraphy of the wallpapers in a building and
their relationship to its painted layers both enhance our understanding of an interior’s
history. Markus argues that buildings are social constructs, used to convey a narrative
and meaning, which will evolve over time with changing uses and ownership. The interiors of a building, whether painted or papered, will all contribute to that narrative.17
Through studying the decorative choices made in the building, we can further add to
our understanding of the building’s meaning to its various owners and occupiers.
Clark18 uses the term CoBRA—Conservation-Based Research and Analysis—to describe
the type of research and analysis carried out to understand the significance of built
heritage, and to provide information regarding its future management, repair and
alteration. It is a term which encompasses academic rigour and the forensic practices
of understanding a building, or elements thereof. CoBRA can arguably be used to good
effect with design history as the scientific and forensic methodologies available to conservators are powerful tools for the analysis of material culture. This article illustrates
how using the CoBRA approach to deal with the wallpapers from the Midland Grand
Hotel has provided additional insights into the significance of wallpapers in the building’s history, and information about the wider context of design trends in commercial
settings.
The restoration project at the Midland Grand Hotel, and the subsequent conservation
and study of the wallpapers, provides a case study to illustrate of the impact and effectiveness of the CoBRA methodological approach to the understanding of historic interiors. In order to carry out these studies, it was therefore necessary to record and, where
possible, retrieve samples of all the surviving wallpapers. A conservator’s expertise in
the handling and documentation of objects is very valuable as part of this process. By
combining information from archives with the evidence of the wallpapers themselves,
we can gain an insight into the evolving narrative of interior design styles during the
building’s use as a hotel, and then as offices and accommodation.
The history of the Midland Grand Hotel
In 1866 Sir George Gilbert Scott won the competition to design a new hotel for the
Midland Railway Company in St Pancras, London. Scott’s estimate for the work was
£316,000, the most expensive of the designs submitted by the eleven invited architects.19
This hotel, then known as the Midland Grand, began construction in 1867. Work on
the hotel progressed slowly, but in 1872 firms were invited to tender for the contract to
supply furnishing and fittings for the first stage of the hotel. Frederick Sang, a Germanborn decorator, and associate of George Gilbert Scott, was awarded the contract for
the interior decoration of the east wing of the hotel at a cost of £9,340.20 Much of this
interior decoration seems to have been executed using Scott’s own designs.21 Sang had
previously been responsible for decorating the interiors of a number of clubs in London,
such as the Travellers Club and New Conservative Club, and had exhibited fifteen
drawings at the Royal Academy between 1846 and 1884.22 Although the decoration
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317
was generally admired, the company became concerned that many of the estimates
were being exceeded.23 Sang’s account of £11,320 was paid in September 1873, and
the decoration of the west wing was given to Gillow & Co. This was a commercial firm
who had previously supplied the furniture for the east wing of the hotel.24 The first
guests were welcomed into the completed east wing in 1873, while work on the west
wing was still ongoing. The building of the hotel was finally completed in 1877 at a cost
of £438,000,25 the equivalent of around £46 million in 2015.26
Spending on decoration and furnishings on the upper floors of the hotel was much
more modest than that on the lower floors, reflecting the hierarchy of uses in the building. In the servants’ quarters in the attics, furniture was made from deal (pine) japanned
as oak. The third and fourth floors were decorated with furniture made from ash; on
the second floor the furniture was ‘of mahogany and black, parts being carved, incised
and ebonized’; the first floor rooms were furnished in oak; and the ground floor was
furnished with ‘the furniture of walnut & black wood relieved with gold’.27 Bedford
Lemere’s photographs in the National Monument Record archives, taken shortly after
the hotel was opened, clearly show that wallpapers were used throughout the building
as part of this initial decorative scheme.28 The original ledger for the hotel also demonstrates the use of wallpapers. For example, Gillow’s accounts from 1875–1877 show:
‘Preparing lining & papering walls with a gold ground bird pattern french [sic] paper
having a dark red paper dado & black & gold border’. This is remarkably specific in
terms of design; the majority of papers mentioned by Gillow & Co. are simply denoted
by ‘Hanging own paper to walls’.29
The Midland Grand was used as a hotel until 1935. During this time various redecorations and modifications took place, and it is likely this would have involved repapering
areas in addition to repainting them. Electricity was installed between 1885–1889,
which led to further redecoration, co-ordinated by the architects Trubshaw and
Towles.30 There were considerable difficulties with modifying the interior spaces to
add en-suite plumbing because of a fireproof concrete flooring system; despite this,
more bathrooms were added between 1905 and 1912 in order to keep up with the
changing expectations of hotel customers. Initially, only nine bathrooms were provided
for guests throughout the entire hotel.31 Although the exact number of bedrooms is
not recorded, a reference from 1911 states that there were 400 beds.32 A reduction
in profits combined with the lack of space for installing further bathrooms led to the
Midland Railway, which by that date had become part of the London Midland and
Scottish Railway Company, converting the building into offices in 1935.33
It continued to be used as offices while it was in the hands of British Rail, between 1948
and 1985, but there were also staff bedrooms in the garrets.34 The lack of fire escapes led
to the building being declared unsafe for occupation and it was closed and stripped of its
furnishings. To add to the problems, part of the west wing was damaged by fire in 1988.35
Despite the recognition of the building’s exceptional historic significance, with English
Heritage awarding it a Grade 1 listing in 1967,36 the condition of the hotel gradually deteriorated. A survey by architects working for the Conservation Practice in 1990 found dry
rot, eroding brickwork and slipped and broken slates.37 However, this proved a catalyst for
protecting the future of the building. Essential repairs were carried out, followed by a £9
million project by British Rail between1993–1995 to repair the exterior of the building.38
At this time limited research was carried out into the original decoration, and the grand
staircase was restored to the 1901 painted scheme of crimson with gold fleur-de-lis.39
Shortly after the exterior of the hotel was restored, the hotel was handed over to
London and Continental Railways as part of the agreement for the development of
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the Channel Tunnel link. In September 1996 they initiated a competition to find a
new use for the building, and in 1998 selected a consortium including the Manhattan
Loft Corporation to carry out the work. Later partnered by Marriott International, the
consortium carried out extensive internal works to produce apartments on the upper
floors and a 244-bedroom hotel, in addition to stabilizing and further improving the
condition of the exterior of the building.40
Uncovering the wallpapers
Crick Smith Conservation of the University of Lincoln was appointed by English Heritage
in 2001, first to investigate the painted interior schemes of the hotel during its restoration, and then later the wallpapered interior decoration, with the initial aim of providing information to the restorers about the original decorative schemes.41
Fig 1. Sitting room of
the Midland Grand Hotel,
photographed circa 1876. ©
National Archive for Historic
Decoration, University of Lincoln.
Many of the later wallpapers from the British Rail era were clearly visible on the walls,
and often still covered entire rooms, particularly in areas which had been used for staff
accommodation. Some of these papers were layered over other, older wallpapers, as
it was not unusual to reduce redecoration costs by papering over existing schemes
instead of removing the older design. Others, however, were rather more difficult to
track down. Archival and photographic evidence showed that wallpapers had been
used extensively throughout the building as part of the interior design schemes.42
While trying to locate these early wallpapers it became apparent that the majority had
been stripped and removed when alterations took place, and finding a large section of
paper was rare. Where papers were evident, they were generally found only as small
remnants. The author made several visits to areas where building works were taking
place, as more hidden fragments were revealed as the renovations progressed. Some
papers were discovered hidden behind stud walls, others behind ducts or even behind
electrical light fittings. Clearly the workmen at the time had decided that stripping off
wallpapers which would later be hidden was not a necessary task, a decision which led
to the survival of some of these papers. In other areas, like the first-floor sitting room
photographed by Bedford Lemere
[1], sadly only traces of wallpaper
paste were found on the walls.
Removal of the wallpapers from the
Midland Grand Hotel took place
while restoration was going on.
With the building works progressing
rapidly the work had to be carried
out as quickly as possible. In situ,
they were exposed to less than
ideal
environmental
conditions
within the hotel, and many were
subject to damage. This meant that
conservation of the wallpapers,
including the separation of layers of
paper and paint, was necessary in
order to fully understand the designs
present. As well as layering and
overpainting, wallpapers showed
evidence of mould growth, fading,
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damage from later alterations to the building as well as
surface dirt and discolouration [2]. While conservation
in situ was considered, many wallpapers would have
been damaged or destroyed during the renovations;
therefore, their removal was the only way to ensure their
survival. Similarly, others would have been covered during
redecoration, and the evidence of their design obscured.
Working alongside the team carrying out renovations
provided challenges but also opportunities. The removal
of later additions during renovations exposed wallpapers
that would otherwise have remained undiscovered,
providing valuable additional material for understanding
the interiors. Conversely, the time pressure of working
during a commercial restoration of the building
meant that wallpapers had to be removed quickly in
sometimes difficult conditions. In one case, the author
was removing a wallpaper while workmen were waiting
with sledgehammers to demolish the doorway it was
attached to. Co-operation and communication with the
building team was therefore of the utmost importance in
order for everything to run smoothly. In a few cases it
was not possible to remove a sample of the paper, either
for health and safety reasons because of the height at
which the wallpaper remained or because of restricted
access, or because the wallpaper had already extensively
deteriorated. Where retrieval was not possible, the papers
were photographed so that there was a record of their
appearance.
Some wallpapers were removed dry as the glue binder
holding them to the wall had broken down and they were either already partially
detached or could easily be removed with a scalpel. Others more firmly attached
were removed using water and, in a few cases, it was necessary to remove paper still
attached to the backing plaster. The aim was to retrieve a full pattern repeat where
possible, though some papers were only found as small fragments. In total, ninety-nine
different designs were found throughout the hotel.
Fig 2. Deteriorated wallpaper
(1900–1910) from a third-floor
room, showing patches of black
mould and fading as a result of
light damage.
In order to fully understand the wallpaper designs retrieved from the building, conservation treatments were carried out as necessary, prioritizing papers that were particularly vulnerable to further damage, such as those with plaster remaining on the
back from the removal process. Papers in layers were separated, generally using careful
application of moisture, and paint was removed from the surface of papers in order to
reveal all the designs. The photograph [3] illustrates the issues with many of the papers
from the hotel, where earlier papers were obscured by paint and other paper layers.
The striped paper shown is likely to date to the 1900s, with a pearlescent paper from
the 1930s on top, followed by further layers of paint. Without this uncovering as part
of the conservation treatment process, it would have been impossible to interpret the
designs of the papers and their use in the building.
These wallpapers have been catalogued, with their context and position in the building
recorded, alongside their position in layers where appropriate, and now form part of
an archive of historic wallpapers held by the University of Lincoln. Conservation of the
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Fig 3. An example of the
complexity of layers of paper
and paint retrieved from the
hotel. This stack of papers is
from a third-floor bedroom.
wallpapers allowed designs and layers to be better understood, and evaluated in the
context of their locations within the building. Finding correlations between wallpaper
designs across different areas provides information about how these wallpapers were
used, and enables us to make suggestions about why individual papers were chosen
for particular spaces. Looking at their stratigraphy—how papers were layered on top of
one other—provides some evidence for the dating of the layers.
The initial decoration of the hotel
By combining archival evidence, historic photographs and the evidence of wallpapers
retrieved from the building, it is possible to investigate the wallpapers used within the
hotel in more detail. Although the earliest designs found in the building were generally
fragmentary, the hotel accounts held by the National Railway Museum, York provide
many clues as to the extent of wallpaper used within the building.43 The hotel accounts
cover the period from when the hotel was first being built until 1877, and include the
expenses sheets for both Gillow and Sang. Additional notes in red ink appear to have
been added by R. Etzenberger, the hotel manager.
The earliest photographic evidence of wallpaper being used in the Midland Grand
Hotel is a historic image of a first-floor sitting room, from 1876.44 Previous investigations had found no trace of this original paper, except for traces of paste and lines
on the wall where the dado used to be. This was probably stripped when electricity
was installed in around 1886.45 Thirteen examples of wallpapers were found that are
believed to relate to this period but many of these were small and did not contain
enough of the pattern to be conclusively identified [4]. It seems likely that this pattern
of removal was employed throughout the building. Where the papers survived, they
were hidden under later alterations such as the insertion of an electric light switch [4a].
In some of the third-floor rooms wallpaper was revealed when a later dividing partition
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Fig 4. Wallpapers from
the 1870s. a. Two overlaid
wallpapers in a third-floor
bedroom, protected by the light
fitting. b. Owen Jones-style
block-printed paper from the
first floor. c. William Morris
Venetian pattern paper from
a third-floor bedroom. A small
fragment of slightly later
wallpaper can be seen on either
side of the Venetian paper.
wall was removed. These rooms would originally have been guest bedrooms. The paper
is Venetian pattern, probably designed by G.F. Bodley for Morris, Marshall, Faulkner &
Co. in the late 1860s, and manufactured by Jeffrey and Co.46 This paper was found in
both pale blue and green within the hotel [4c]. This relates directly to archival information, as it is mentioned in the Gillow & Co. accounts as ‘Hanging own Venetian pattern
paper, providing + hanging borders’ and the account from Frederick Sang, as ‘Green
venetian 26 pieces @ 5/–‘.47 Gillow’s accounts state specifically that the wallpaper is
to be hung on the third floor, which correlates with where the examples were discovered, but doesn’t specify an area in any more detail. By combining the account ledger’s
information with that of the actual position of the papers it is possible to conclude that
these papers were chosen for guest bedrooms.
Although some entries in the accounts ledger do not give quantities of papers provided, the majority of entries do offer that level of detail. Throughout the accounts for
both Sang and Gillow, 1184 pieces of paper were mentioned, with 198 yards of border,
twenty-five pieces of tinted lining paper, and dado, which is described separately as
thirteen pieces, and as a 66-foot run.48 As used in the ledger, ‘piece’ was the terminology used at this date for a roll of wallpaper. Lining paper is mentioned in connection
with the wallpapers in the ledger: however, only quantities of tinted lining paper are
given; amounts of plain lining paper are not specified. Gillow also describes a frieze on
the second floor, although that has not been included in the totals as no measurements
were given: ‘Second floor. Hanging own paper to walls in two heights with frieze at
top, and providing and hanging a border to dado’.49
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A list of designs in Sang’s accounts to 1873, which is more detailed than that given
by Gillow, contains mention of nine wallpapers that can be identified as Morris &
Co. papers. In addition to the Venetian patterns, the other Morris papers listed are
two Spray patterns (one variant with gold, one without); light Spray; yellow Larks per
and dark blue Larks per (likely Larkspur), dark blue Indian, blue fruit (also known as
pomegranate); and New Daisy50 (presumably a revised version of Morris’s c. 1862 Daisy
design51). Two further papers may also be Morris, though it has not been possible to
confirm this because of the lack of detail in the ledger. These other designs specified
in Sang’s lists are Dark Sunflower, which may be a Bruce Talbert or William Morris
design, although Talbert’s design is dated to 1878, Morris’s to 1879, and the record
is dated prior to this in 1873.52 Peacock is also mentioned by Sang, which may refer
to the Walter Crane Peacock wallpaper or to the William Morris Peacock and Dragon,
although again the records of these designs suggest they postdate the ledger. The
sunflower and the peacock were fashionable motifs of the Aesthetic Movement.53
The pattern used most frequently was Spray without gold, at 102 pieces, with the
smallest quantity of one design being New Daisy, at just seven pieces.54 If we assume
that seven pieces was the minimum for decorating one average-sized room in the
hotel, then that implies that Spray without gold was used in up to fourteen rooms in
the building, with a further five rooms in light Spray (thirty-five pieces). No traces of
these wallpapers have survived.
Some wallpapers were produced at quite a high cost and would have looked very
dramatic on the walls: for example, ‘Spray pattern with gold 30 pieces’ suggests this
version of the Morris pattern had gold highlights or a gold background. It is of note
that the Morris papers mentioned were generally relatively low cost, with the majority
priced at four to eight shillings per piece. The exception was the Blue Fruit pattern, at
a cost of thirteen shillings, and the Spray with gold at thirteen shillings and sixpence.
Other lavish wallpapers include a variety of unspecified satin papers and gold and silver
paper, such as ‘36 pieces of green and silver at 18/–‘ and ‘Basket pattern 16 pieces
satin papered at 15/–‘.55 Gillow states in an estimate that all gold papers would need
to be lined, suggesting gold backgrounds were frequently used. A less costly entry from
Sang’s accounts describes 350 pieces of ‘bedroom patterns’ which cost just two shillings per piece,56 a substantial quantity of wallpaper, though no information is given as
to which floor this refers to.
Interestingly, in a room on the sixth floor, a border was found that was based on an
1850s Owen Jones design, significantly predating the hotel. It may be that this was
bought relatively cheaply as old stock and then used to decorate the servants’ quarters.
Some evidence for this practice can be found in Sang’s accounts, where he charges for
‘50 pieces of 25 years old pattern at 5/–‘57. There are also several mentions of French
papers in the original ledger. In addition to the Gillow quote in the introduction, Sang
provided a very intriguing quote of: ‘Sir G Scott’s 31 pieces of French paper near Paris
pattern’, and elsewhere, mentions 1 set of 7 pieces of Chinese paper.58 The Chinese
paper was the most expensive obtained during the decorating of the hotel, at a cost of
£1 5s. Unfortunately it was not stated where this wallpaper was hung, and no evidence
for the existence of this paper has been found by the author within the hotel.
While Gilbert Scott’s involvement in the latter stages of the decoration of the west
wing is believed to be more limited than in the east wing,59 from the accounts it is clear
that he still had involvement in the design. Accounts from Sang show ‘print-cutting for
borders by order of Mr John Scott’, who was supervising the decoration of the west
wing prior to its handover to Gillow.60 John Oldrid Scott, born in 1841, was also a
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prominent architect, and from 1864–1878 was an assistant to his father before inheriting the practice upon his father’s death.61 There are multiple references in the Gillow
accounts in the ledger to Sir G Scott’s wallpapers, or to ‘your’ wallpapers, implying
that they were often working with wallpapers supplied to them by Gilbert Scott, and
evidence of this practice is reinforced by his own writings. In Remarks on Secular and
Domestic Architecture, Present & Future (1857), Gilbert Scott briefly mentions the use
of wallpapers, stating that ‘ . . . in all important buildings, the architect should always
design them for himself, or at least have them designed under his own direction . . .’.62
It seems that even at this early stage in the building works, changes were being made
to the interiors because of damage. Sang includes references to work additional to
the original contract ‘Room 177 4th floor damaged by water & repapered . . . Room
172 damaged by gas, paper cleaned’. Gillow too refers to work carried out during
the period of 1875–1877, where work was carried out in the sixth-floor tower rooms,
including the removal of old wallpaper; ‘ . . . these rooms were flooded from the large
Iron Tank on account of the defective construction of the waste pipe’. This is followed
by a charge for ‘13 pieces of wallpaper 6/–‘.63 This provides further evidence that at
least some of the walls were stripped of paper, instead of the paper being covered over
during redecoration.
Although the accounts for the Gillow contract relating to the west wing of the hotel
(1873–1877) are less detailed than those provided by Sang, with no pattern names
given, there are some entries which suggest at least the style of the hanging. Gillow
mentions a frieze and dado on the second floor. This relates to a hanging style where
the wall was divided into three sections—dado, filling and frieze, introduced by Owen
Jones in The Grammar of Ornament (1856),64 and popularized by Charles Eastlake in
his 1868 book, Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery and other Details.65
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. used this style for the Green Dining Room at the South
Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) in 1867, and it is still viewable today in the Morris Room.66 By the late 1870s this style was widely utilised, with
manufacturers producing full sets with complementary designs for each area.67
The Gillow accounts shows that wallpapers were used throughout the building in the
west wing, from the ground floor to the sixth floor of the tower. This includes seventythree yards of border which were placed in the smoking and billiard rooms, and ‘hanging 18 pieces of paper in Manager Rooms & 46 pieces of Satin Paper, 30 pieces in
Clerks Room’ in addition to ‘hang[ing] your own papers to walls of Rooms on 4th, 5th
and 6th floor in tower . . . ‘. His accounts also provide the only mention of decorating
materials, with a charge for a ‘firkin of size’, which is approximately forty-one litres of
wallpaper paste.68
An overview of the wallpapers found at the hotel shows that they do appear to have
followed the colour trends of the time for the rooms, perhaps as would be expected
from a hotel aiming to present itself as both fashionable and luxurious. More muted
colours, including many greens and blues, tended to be found in the bedrooms, while
the brighter reds, oranges and pinks, and larger patterned designs, tended to be more
predominant in the communal rooms and corridor spaces.
The wallpaper designs found throughout the building were generally quite simple flat
patterns, indicating that they were influenced by the Design Reform movement. From
the mid-nineteenth century, this movement began to have an influence on the style
of pattern, and the usage of wallpapers. Based around Pugin’s ideas of honesty with
design, the movement advocated a departure from the ‘vulgar’ three-dimensional
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representations of scenes on wallpaper, and instead promoted a return to simpler two
dimensional patterns.69 These ideals reached wider coverage through Henry Cole and
his colleagues, via the relatively new South Kensington Museum and Design School,70
and were further promoted to the wider public in magazines and books, such as
Eastlake’s Hints on Household Taste. Their influence on the mass market for cheap
wallpapers was limited; however, design reform did have an influence on the higherquality wallpaper market, working with designers such as William Morris.71
The designs found are generally floral patterns in an Aesthetic style, with only one
wallpaper which could be described as being in a Gothic style, resembling an Owen
Jones-type design [4b]. The Aesthetic Movement had a strong influence on design
styles from the late 1860s. However, for a hotel known as a Gothic revival masterpiece, with extensive Gothic-style painted interiors, this choice of Aesthetic Movement
wallpapers is perhaps rather surprising. The sole Gothic-style paper was found in a
cupboard, part of a first-floor corridor near the grand staircase. Its position at the
back of a cupboard had protected it during later redecorations. Perhaps it was felt
that combining Gothic interior design with the Gothic furniture in all but the grandest of rooms would be too overpowering for guests, or perhaps this combination of
the Gothic and the Aesthetic was also motivated by fashions of the time. Certainly,
in the 1870s these styles were not seen as exclusive. This overlapping of Gothic and
Aesthetic styles was further developed throughout the 1870s, by designers including
Gilbert Scott’s son, George Gilbert Scott the younger, through his work with Watts &
Co.72
Decorative schemes of the hotel 1877–1935
In contrast to the evidence for wallpaper use in the initial design and decor of
the hotel, there appears to be little documentary evidence available detailing the
changes made whilst the hotel was in use. We must therefore rely on information
provided by surviving papers recovered from the building itself; understanding the
extant material culture is the only viable way to retrieve this information. As a result
of the conservation project, it was possible to locate forty-five wallpaper designs,
Fig. 5. Wallpapers from the
1880s to1930s. a. Lindsay
P. Butterfield wallpaper,
designed in 1906 for Jeffrey &
Co. or Essex & Co. b. 1920–
1930s machine-printed paper
from a second-floor room.
c. 1900–1910 block-printed
paper from a first-floor room.
d. 1920s geometric repeat, also
found in red, from the thirdfloor corridors.
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which encompass the period while the hotel was
in use. Four of these are shown in the photograph
[5].
Eight of these wallpaper designs had varnish
present on the surface. This was a common
practice in the late nineteenth century, and would
have allowed the papers to be washed. This was
viewed as being more hygienic, given the high
levels of pollution from both external sources and
the internal coal fires and lamps, and improved
the papers’ longevity.73 The varnished papers were
found in areas with high traffic, like the corridors
on levels 3 and 4, the luggage handling area, and
smaller stairways. It seems that varnishing was not
always applied immediately after the papers were
hung. Wallpaper found in a number of fourth-floor
corridors had some unvarnished sections which
were exposed by the removal of ducting. Elsewhere in the corridors this paper was
found varnished, suggesting the varnish had therefore been applied after the ducting
was put in place [6]. This pattern matches one held by the Victoria and Albert Museum
(E.2236-1913) and dated to 1890–1900.74 It may have been designed by Sidney
Moreson and was produced by Jeffrey and Co.77
Fig 6. Unvarnished section of
wallpaper on the fourth floor
corridor, exposed by removal of
ducting.
Other corridors and rooms that needed long-lasting washable papers were decorated
with hard-wearing embossed papers such as Salamander, Lincrusta and Anaglypta,
that would most probably have been introduced between 1885–1914. A number of
papers were found from the first floor upwards, including an example of Salamander,
which was a washable fireproof paper first produced in 1896.75 Wallpaper in another
second-floor room appears to be a Lincrusta or Anaglypta-type design. A photograph
taken in 1967 shows a radiator with a Lincrusta design around it probably dating from
around 1910.76 As these areas were all subject to high usage, it is likely that the hotel
manager realized the need for the use of varnished or washable wallpapers to avoid
the need for frequent redecoration. Although they had been repainted, the survival of
many of these embossed wallpapers in relatively good condition compared to other
papers demonstrates how hard-wearing these types were.
Written descriptions of the appearance of the interiors of that time period come from
the hotel’s guests. In his book Travels in South Kensington (1882), Moncure Daniel
Conway describes the interiors and some of the wallpapers from his tour around the
building: ‘the halls and corridors have a dado of fine dark brown tiles, and bright fleurde-lis paper above’. It is probable that he is referring to a brown tile paper, with a stencilled, pale brown fleur-de-lis on a peach colour background above, which was located
by the author on a third-floor corridor. He describes a bedroom as having ‘deep-green
paper, with gold lines and spots’, and as the furniture in that room was oak, we can
surmise that this refers to one of the most expensive first-floor rooms. However he was
rather unimpressed by the decor, describing it as an ‘exercise of ingenuity to find things
costly than to find things beautiful’.77
By taking an overview of the styles, using information provided by the wallpaper
designs and their locations within the building, it is possible to draw conclusions
around the appearance of the hotel interiors through this period. In addition to a practical approach to decorating, as already discussed, with the use of varnish or embossed
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papers in high-use areas, the preference for floral designs continued through this
period, though a few other design styles were found, like stripes (which can be seen
as a lower layer in [3]), simple repeats [5d], and fleur-de-lis. The wallpapers dating
from the 1880s through to the early 1900s were generally bolder in colour, with large
flowers and would have produced quite a striking effect, such as the paper shown in
[5a], which was found in several areas on the third floor, including a corridor and two
bedrooms. This is a 1906 Lindsey P. Butterfield design (pattern 463460), from either
Jeffrey and Co. or Essex and Co.78
Perhaps reviews from visitors such as Conway, who felt the bedrooms should be ‘more
quiet’,79 were taken into account during redecorations. The later wallpapers (post -910)
found in the building were predominantly plainer in style, with paler or more subtle colours and smaller patterns. This is also in keeping with the claim by Simmons80 that the
hotel’s flamboyant interiors were gradually toned down over time, though still using
simple foliate patterns.81 Some designs were found in multiple areas, including a simple
repeat of squares, which was found in both red and blue with a cream background.
The blue version was varnished and located on a fourth-floor corridor, and the red was
found varnished in a room on each of the first, second and fourth floors.
The styles of the papers were clearly influenced by the fashions of the time. An example
of this is the two wallpaper borders found from this period. One of these follows the
trend for ‘cut out’ designs, which were fashionable in the period between World War
One and World War Two.82 This cut out design is a stylized rose in an Arts and Crafts
style, likely to date to the 1920s. Another border dating from the building’s last few
years as a hotel has a much more subtle pattern of flowers and leaves on a textured
paper, a style introduced by Sanderson in the 1930s.83
Although it is widely known that the furnishings and painted decoration were more
expensive on the lower floors, the costs relating to use of wallpaper within the building
had not been previously explored. The ledger covering the period from 1872 to 1877
demonstrates that this cost-gradient approach was also applied to the choice of wallcoverings throughout this period, and continued throughout the building’s use as a hotel. On
the lower floors, many papers found were of the more costly hand-printed kind, or with
more striking gold and silver backgrounds. Even the machine prints present on the lower
floors were produced on thicker, higher-quality paper than those located higher in the
building or in areas not used by the public. Lining paper or hessian was used as a backing
for papers on lower levels, while higher in the building the wallpapers tended to be hung
directly onto plaster, a cheaper method. Lining paper was used as a backing to protect the
paper from damp, which would often discolour papers pasted straight onto walls. Hessian
scrim covered with lining paper created an air space behind the paper, giving even greater
protection from staining through contact with damp walls than lining paper alone,84 but
consequently was a more expensive process in terms of materials and labour.
Wallpapers from the offices and accommodation era, 1935
onwards
During this period of use there appears to have been no cohesive decorative scheme,
and the wallpapers used were a very eclectic mix of styles and designs. There was an
equally eclectic mix of qualities, ranging from an expensive Cole & Son reproduction in
one of the fifth-floor rooms to a poor-quality cheap paper just two rooms away. Many
rooms were painted by British Rail in magnolia during this period,85 but wallpapers
were still used in the building. The majority of the wallpapers from this time period
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were found on the second, fourth and fifth floors. The sixth floor was largely abandoned at this point, and no post-1935 wallpapers were found on this level. Indeed,
almost all of the wallpapers found from this period are believed to date from the 1950s
onwards, suggesting that when the rooms were first used as offices and accommodation, they were initially left with the same paint—or paper—that had been on the walls
when the hotel finally closed. Earlier wallpapers had been a mix of block-printed and
machine-printed, but all of these later papers were machine-made. A number of the
wallpapers found were relatively plain, with quite subtle patterns compared to the earlier papers, while others had large, bold, floral patterns, more typical of the 1960s [7].
A number of rooms were still fully papered, so a full pattern repeat was retrieved for
each design, plus borders where present. Although all the wallpapers found from this
era were machine-made, there were still a mix of types. One of the wallpapers found
in a second floor room was screenprinted, dating it to post-1950. Eight vinyl examples
were found (one shown in [7b]), which can be dated to post-1960, when that form
of printing was introduced.86 Textile wallcoverings, known as Strings paper or Novalin,
were among the most recent wallpapers added to the building. They became popular from the 1970s onwards. This wallpaper was produced on a paper base covered
with 100% linen yarns. The original papers were made by Kinnasand of Sweden, and
introduced into the UK in 1979 by the distributor Turner Wallcoverings Ltd, London.87
These were found in two second-floor rooms, and were therefore likely to be part of
the office space.
A block design found in two rooms on the fifth floor had Crown stamped on the
verso and the number P577 1711 [7d]. Pattern book SC87 (1962/3) at the Museum of
Domestic Design and Architecture (MoDA) shows a selection of wallpapers from this
Fig 7. Wallpapers from 1935
onwards. a. Abstract wallpaper
from the fifth floor, dated to
1960s. b. Simpler patterned
vinyl wallpaper from the second
and fourth floors 1950s–1960s.
c. Bold 1960s floral design
wallpaper from second floor
room, possibly used as offices.
d. Crown wallpaper front and
verso, 1960s.
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maker, with pattern numbers beginning with P (P95731 onwards), as was the case
with this piece. However, the number printed on the verso of this paper is unusually
long, as most numbers in this archive have five digits. This may therefore be a factory
number rather than a specific pattern. The style of this pattern is similar to that of
another Crown series, the Palladio range. These were available from 1955, and were
designed by leading figures in the art and design world, such as Terence Conran and
Walter Hoyle.88 The prices reflected their prestige. This design has similar colours and
format to a design by John Line (pattern SC64, MoDA), but this may have been a
cheaper version of a similar date. Given that this floor was used for accommodation
from 1967 onwards it seems likely that the room was redecorated around that time.89
This is consistent with the dates of the other wallpapers found on that floor.
Later wallpapers are often overlooked when researching earlier designs and the histories of interiors, but it is important also to consider this time period and the use of
more recent wallpapers as part of the overall history of the building. The presence of
wallpapers across three floors of the building demonstrates that wallpapers were used
as part of the commercial office areas as well as by staff in their own accommodation.
Although there is a range of quality and designs of paper, from a wide range of manufacturers, the majority are a contemporary style for the dates, perhaps trying to give
what was by then viewed as an outdated building a more modern appearance. The
exception to this is the Cole & Son paper, which is more in keeping with the original
look and style of wallpapers in the building, implying that at least one of the occupants was influenced by the historic nature of their surroundings. This may reflect an
increasing awareness of the significance of Britain’s heritage from the 1970s onwards,
as demonstrated by publications such as Wright’s On Living in an Old Country (1985).
Manufacturers and suppliers
A vast number of wallpaper designs were available to consumers throughout this
period, but because of the lack of written records, finding the exact design and maker
for a particular wallpaper piece from St Pancras is problematic. The majority of wallpapers found at St Pancras were therefore dated by comparison to wallpaper with known
dates, through wallpaper design resources and original pattern books, in combination
with the stratigraphy and position of wallpapers within the building itself. Discussions
with Lesley Hoskins, editor of The Papered Wall (1994) were also helpful. It can be difficult to generalize about design styles as designs that were popular were not always
designs that were at the forefront of fashion, and some styles were available for many
years. However, it seems plausible that in the public spaces of the hotel at least there
would have been an attempt to keep the hotel decoration in as modern a style as possible, in order to maintain its prestigious status.
Jeffrey and Co. seems to be a likely candidate for the manufacturer of many of the
early papers for the hotel, at least during the phase of decoration overseen by Sang.
All Sang’s Morris papers would have been available through Jeffrey and Co., and they
would certainly have supplied the Venetian pattern design. A small fragment of wallpaper found on the first floor is thought to be a Bruce Talbert design from the 1870s,
again supplied by Jeffrey and Co.90 Using one main supplier would have been likely in
order to reduce administration, and of course overall cost. However, the archival information also indicates that not all the papers were originally supplied by the contractors,
Sang and Gillow, with Gillow’s ledger entries (1875–77) in particular showing a number
of papers simply referred to as ‘your own papers’. Repeated references to hanging
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‘your own’ or ‘hanging own paper and providing and hanging borders’ provides evidence that at least some of the papers were sourced elsewhere. Some were certainly
supplied by Gilbert Scott, such as Sang’s reference to ‘Sir G Scott’s 31 pieces of French
paper . . .’ mentioned previously.91 These may still have been obtained from Jeffrey and
Co., as their business also involved the printing of designs based on French imported
wallpapers,92 so it is possible that the references to French papers simply relate to a
Jeffrey and Co. paper that had been ordered by George Gilbert Scott.
Two of the slightly later papers (1900–1910) share strong similarities with wallpapers produced by Charles Knowles and Co, and the Butterfield design has been
confirmed as either Jeffrey and Co. or Essex and Co. A later 1920s paper was most
probably produced by Arthur Sanderson. The companies listed here were all very
prestigious and at the forefront of design at the time. Jeffrey and Co. was renowned
for its quality and produced wallpapers by many leading designers such as William
Morris, Owen Jones and C.F.A. Voysey.93 Charles Knowles also employed prominent
designers such as Voysey.94 Sanderson was awarded a Royal Warrant in 1924 as
providers of wallpaper to the King, and still produces high-quality block printed
wallpapers today, including Morris & Co. designs, having acquired the Morris business and stock in 1940.95
Once the building closed as a hotel, it seems sensible to suggest that the people using
it as their personal accommodation would have decorated the rooms to their own
personal taste, and the range of papers on the second-floor office rooms implies that
there may have been some individual input in these areas too. It has been possible to
identify wallpapers by Cole & Son, Kinnasand and Crown, but there is clearly no single
supplier used at this stage; it was very much a personal decision for individuals living
and working in the space.
Conclusion
The Midland Grand Hotel was designed to be a landmark, and a statement about
the importance of the Midland Railway Company, emphasizing its superiority over
the other railway companies offering accommodation in London. Designed to
emphasize both comfort and luxury, it was a statement to potential investors in
the company as well as to passengers.96 Because of this, it was important to ensure
the hotel stayed at the forefront of modernity and fashion in terms of the facilities it offered guests, and the standard of the interiors, including, of course, the
wallpapers. Gothic Revival, a style associated with good principles, truthfulness and
Christianity, might have been chosen to represent the values and stability of the
Midland Railway Company.97 The documentary evidence available for this building
relates only to the initial phases of decoration, and information regarding later
changes to the building’s interior is scant. This lack of documentary evidence has
previously discouraged historians from discussing overall decorative schemes within
the hotel. However, the refurbishment work led to removal of walls and ducting,
exposing wallpapers that would otherwise not have been discovered. The retrieval
of these wallpapers, and their study during the process of conservation, was able to
add a great deal to our understanding of the interiors, and is a methodology which
could be applied more widely to historic buildings.
Ninety-nine different wallpapers were found during this investigation, with many
designs being repeated across bedrooms or along several corridors. This examination
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of the wallpapers sheds new light on the way in which the interior design of the
building was approached. In some areas, it is clear that wallpapers were chosen for
practical reasons, such as the use of hard-wearing and varnished papers in highuse areas. However, the use of more expensive, gold and silver papers shows that
as one of the most expensive hotels at the time, it also needed to present itself as
a luxurious building, and this meant the interiors also needed to be maintained in
good condition. The range of wallpapers from the 1870s to the 1930s shows that
redecoration was ongoing throughout the history of the building. Clearly the use
of prestigious designers was important in maintaining the perception of the hotel’s
luxury status, as shown by the choice of papers by designers like William Morris,
Owen Jones and Bruce Talbert, and highlights the significance of the wallpapers in
giving this impression of opulence. The rooms within the hotel, like the smoking
room and coffee lounge, have parallels with the aristocratic houses of the time, with
a smoking room and billiard room, and ladies coffee lounge.98 Bradley99 suggests
that the painted decoration was intended to imitate that of the upper classes, but to
also provide an area where the upper and upper-middle classes could mix on equal
terms, and so it is likely that the wallpapers were chosen to aid the creation of this
ambience.
Floral designs were popular throughout the building’s use as a hotel, with larger floral
patterns on the lower floors and cheaper, smaller floral pattern papers on the upper
floors. Patterns associated with nature, and particularly florals, were perceived by the
Victorians as being associated with ‘God’s work’,100 and as such could also be viewed
as an expression of the Christian values of the commissioning company. The wallpapers found on the sixth floor suggest that the servant/staff areas had some papered
decoration but the wallpapers were printed on such poor-quality paper that only a few
examples have survived. In areas not intended for public access, it is unsurprising that
economical decoration was employed. Although many of the painted schemes show
a strong Gothic Revival influence, the wallpapers are generally less Gothic-influenced,
and instead seem to follow the Aesthetic style.
There is considerable evidence from the wallpapers that the hotel was decorated within
a cost gradient, which is also reinforced by the pricings found in the documentary
evidence. Only through studying examples of the wallpapers instead of images was it
possible to understand the types of papers used (whether thin, cheaper wallpapers, or
higher-quality expensive materials), and their printing methods. It became clear that
it was not just the furniture types which followed a cost gradient within the hotel,
but the whole approach to the interiors followed this pattern, with the most expensive items on the lower floors. This has parallels with the approach taken by Gilbert
Scott at Kelham Hall, Nottinghamshire (completed 1861), where the decorative treatment of the corridors decreases in complexity and ‘richness’ as one ascends within the
property.101
Through the uncovering of hidden wallpapers, one is given an insight into the hidden
narrative of the building,102 and the choices made by the owners and occupiers during
its evolving use from hotel to offices and accommodation. The conservation process,
using the CoBRA methodology combined with archival research, provides a new perspective and understanding of the historic interior of this building, and enables us to
provide a more complete historical record of the developments of the papered interiors
over time. This case study demonstrates how these methodological principles can be
applied elsewhere in order to improve our understanding of interiors.
Lynda Skipper
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by Adam Ellsworth, Adam Ellsworth
on 24 September 2017
331
In addition to providing new information about the complex decorative choices made
by the owners and occupiers of this building, the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel project
has led to the creation of an archive of historic wallpapers that will be preserved at the
University of Lincoln as part of the National Archive for Historic Decoration, offering
access to this collection for researchers, owners, students and other interested parties.
Dr Lynda Skipper
Senior Lecturer. Department of Conservation,
School of History and Heritage, University of Lincoln
E-mail: lskipper@lincoln.ac.uk
Dr Lynda Skipper is a Senior Lecturer in Conservation at the University of Lincoln and
is programme leader for the BA in Conservation of Cultural Heritage. After studying
Natural Sciences followed by a PhD in biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, she
trained as a conservator at Lincoln on their MA in Conservation of Historic Objects. She
then worked for the Science Museum and National Trust before returning to Lincoln as a
lecturer in 2011. Her research interests include paints, pigments and historic wallpapers.
If you have any comments to make in relation to this article, please go to the journal website on
http://jdh.oxfordjournals.org and access this article. There is a facility on the site for sending e-mail
responses to the editorial board and other readers.
Acknowledgements: The author would like to thank Dr Jim
Cheshire, Reader in the School of History and Heritage at the
University of Lincoln, for his helpful comments, and also Helena
Brazil for proofreading.
9 Ibid., 9–12.
10 Penny Sparke, Anne Massey, Trevor Keeble and Brenda
Martin, eds., Designing the Modern Interior: From the
Victorians to Today (Oxford: Berg, 2009), 22.
11 Saunders, op. cit., 16.
Notes
1 Alastair Lansley, Stuart Durant, Alan Dyke, Bernard
Gambrill and Roderick Shelton, The Transformation of St
Pancras Station (London: Laurence King Publishing, 2012),
159–162.
12 Clare Taylor, Wallpaper (Princes Risborough: Shire, 1991)
20.
13 Saunders, op. cit., 18
14 Ibid., 25.
2 Jack Simmons and Robert Thorne, St Pancras Station 3rd
edn,(London: Historical Publications, 2012), 52.
15 Lesley Hoskins, The Papered Wall: the History, Patterns and
Techniques of Wallpaper (London: Thames & Hudson, 1994),
136.
3 Lansley, op. cit, 222.
16 Saunders, op. cit., 8.
4 Simon Bradley, St Pancras Station 2nd edn, (London: Profile
Books, 2011), 191.
17 Thomas A. Markus, Buildings & Power: Freedom and
Control in the Origin of Modern Building Types (New York
and London: Routledge 199), 5–6.
5 Ibid., 109–119.
6 John Christopher, St Pancras Station Through Time (Stroud:
Amberley Publishing, 2013), 50–51.
7 Allyson McDermott, ‘Wallpapers’, Journal of Architectural
Conservation 11 (2005): 10–27.
8 Gill Saunders, Wallpaper in Interior Decoration (London:
V&A Publications, 2002) 9.
332
18 Kate Clark, Informed Conservation–a Guide to
Understanding Historic Buildings and their Landscapes
(London: English Heritage, 2001), 19–21.
19 Simmons, op. cit., 52.
20 Ibid., 65.
21 Ibid., 68.
The Evolution of Wallpaper Interior Design Schemes in a Commercial Setting
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by Adam Ellsworth, Adam Ellsworth
on 24 September 2017
22 Laura Microulis, ‘Gillow and the furnishing of the Midland
Grand Hotel, London’, Magazine Antiques 165, issue 6
(2004): 108–117.
51 Victoria and Albert Museum, William Morris and Wallpaper
Design, accessed 20 March 2016, http://www.vam.ac.uk/
content/articles/w/william-morris-and-wallpaper-design.
23 Simmons, op. cit., 69.
52 Victoria & Albert Museum, Catalogue numbers E.37–1945
(Talbert) and E. 513–1919 (Morris), accessed 10 August
2015, http://www.vam.ac.uk/users/node/8289.
24 Ibid, 69–70.
25 Ibid., 75.
26 Bank of England, Inflation Calculator, accessed 21January
2016, http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/Pages/
resources/inflationtools/calculator/flash/default.aspx.
27 Midland Grand Hotel London, Inventory of Furniture,
Fittings, & c. Inventory No. 2003–8600, National Railway
Museum, York, 4–7.
28 Historic England Archive, accessed 12 August 2014, http://
archive.historicengland.org.uk.
29 Midland Grand Hotel, op. cit, 164.
30 English Heritage, St Pancras Station and former Midland
Grand Hotel, accessed 12 August 2014, http://list.englishheritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1342037.
31 Bradley, op. cit., 118.
32 Simmons, op. cit., 99.
33 Ibid.
34 Christopher, op. cit., 21.
35 Simmons, op. cit., 137.
36 English Heritage, op. cit.
37 Simmons, op. cit., 157.
38 Ibid.
53 Johanna Banham, Encyclopedia of Interior Design (London:
Routledge, 1997), 15.
54 Midland Grand Hotel, op. cit., 195.
55 Ibid.
56 Ibid.
57 Ibid.
58 Ibid.
59 Bradley, op. cit., 107.
60 Simmons, op. cit., 69–70.
61 Ken Allinson, Architects and Architecture of London
(Oxford: Elsevier, 2008), 164.
62 George Gilbert Scott, Remarks on Secular and Domestic
Architecture, Present & Future (London: John Murray,
1857), 77.
63 Midland Grand Hotel, op. cit., 165, 192.
64 Owen Jones, The Grammar of Ornament (London: Bernard
Quaritch, 1856), 40.
65 Charles Locke Eastlake, Hints on Household Taste
in Furniture, Upholstery and other Details (London:
Longmans, Green & Co., 1868), 111.
40 Lansley, op. cit., 166–167.
66 Charles Harvey and Jon Press, William Morris: Design and
Enterprise in Victorian Britain (Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 1991), 55–56.
41 Simmons, op. cit., 162.
67 Hoskins, op. cit., 152.
42 Midland Grand Hotel, op. cit.
68 Midland Grand Hotel, op. cit., 49, 52.
43 Ibid.
69 Banham, op. cit., 13.
44 Christopher, op. cit., 50.
70 Ibid.
39 Bradley, op. cit., 109.
45 Ian Crick and Michael Smith, St Pancras Chambers,
Architectural Paint Research Phase 1 Report. Unpublished
consultancy report available from the University of Lincoln,
2001, 14–19.
46 Charles C. Oman & Jean Hamilton, Wallpapers – a History
and Illustrated Catalogue of the Collection of the Victoria
and Albert Museum. London: Sotheby, 1982.
47 Midland Grand Hotel, op. cit., 24, 195.
48 Midland Grand Hotel, op. cit., 25, 195.
49 Midland Grand Hotel, op. cit., 24.
50 Midland Grand Hotel, op. cit., 195.
71 Hoskins, op. cit., 143–145.
72 Watts & Co., Watts History and Timeline, accessed 18 April
2016, http://watts1874.co.uk/history.
73 Hoskins, op. cit., 154.
74 Oman, op. cit.
75 Pamela Simpson, ‘Embossed wall coverings’, The Wallpaper
History Review (1996/7): 22–25.
76 Jean Hamilton, An Introduction to Wallpaper (London:
H.M.S.O, 1983), 45.
77 Moncure Daniel Conway, Travels in South Kensington
(London: Trubner & Co., 1882), 126–128.
Lynda Skipper
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by Adam Ellsworth, Adam Ellsworth
on 24 September 2017
333
78 Michael Parry, Sanderson, personal communication to
author, 6 April 2016.
89 Crick, op. cit., 7.
79 Conway, op. cit., 128.
90 Lesley Hoskins, personal communication to author, August
2007.
80 Simmons, op. cit., 99.
91 Midland Grand Hotel, op. cit, 195.
81 Bradley, op. cit., 107.
92 Banham, op. cit., 653.
82 Lesley Jackson, 20th Century Pattern Design: Textile and
Wallpaper Pioneers (London: Mitchell Beazley, 2002),
61–62.
93 Jackson, op. cit., 19.
83 Ibid, 62.
84 Saunders, op. cit., .39.
85 Christopher, op. cit., 49.
86 Simpson, op. cit.
94 Ibid., 13.
95 Mary Schoeser, Sanderson: The Essence of English
Decoration (London: Thames & Hudson, 2010), 90, 186.
96 David Dunning, Great British Railway Hotels, Createspace
Publishing [Kindle edition], 2013.
87 Hoskins, op. cit., 229.
97 Mark Girouard, Life in the English Country House (New
Haven & London: Yale UP 1978), 273.
88 Jackson, op. cit., 108.
98 Ibid., 292–295.
334
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by Adam Ellsworth, Adam Ellsworth
on 24 September 2017
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Online Journal of Art and Design
volume 5, issue 2, April 2017
Influence of Design Styles on User Preferences in Hotel
Guestrooms
Aysen OZKAN
Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
aysenoz@hacettepe.edu.tr, aysenoz@gmail.com
Kemal YILDIRIM
Department of Furniture and Decoration, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey
kemaly@gazi.edu.tr
Duygu TUNA
Department of Instrument Manufacturing, Haydarpaşa Vocational and Technical High School, İstanbul, Turkey
ABSTRACT
In this study, the impact of the differences between the hotel guestroom design styles
and the participants’ gender on the dependent variables including preference, complexity
and impressiveness was investigated. In the experiment, 82 Turkish persons rated the
nine guestrooms grouped in contemporary, traditional and classical styles on seven-point
Semantic Differential Scales for a total of five bipolar adjective pairs. According to the
results, linear relationships were found between preference and complexity with
preference and impressiveness indicated that preference increases with low complexity
(simplicity)
in
line
with
high
impressiveness.
Furthermore,
contemporary
style
guestrooms have had more positive evaluations for all dimensions compared to
traditional and classical style guestrooms. In addition, males responded more positively
than females. In conclusion, avoiding designs with complex features or those with
excessive classical forms and using less ornate, smooth and simple forms or materials
may contribute to the more positive perception of guestrooms by guests.
Keywords: interior design styles, preference, complexity, impressiveness, guestrooms
INTRODUCTION
Hotels must pay special attention to maintaining high quality standards in hotel service
environments, such as the guestroom, guest bathroom and the exterior that have the
greatest impact on financial return (Kimes, 1999). In addition to this, guest satisfaction
can be improved by their initial visual comfort. Consequently, guests’ visual perceptions
53
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volume 5, issue 2, April 2017
of hotel guestrooms are important for pleasantness and satisfaction. With this in mind,
this study focused on the perception of hotel guestrooms, which were designed with the
same design features, but in different styles.
Guestrooms are considered to be a private space for guests in the hotel service
environments. However, guestroom design focuses on these basic functions: a sleeping
zone that permits viewing television in bed, a working area, a resting area, a bathroom
and a storage space for clothes (Pullman & Robson, 2005). Guestrooms have a deep
influence on the guests’ relaxing and resting by creating a residential environment to
make guests feel at home (Siguaw & Enz, 1999; Rutes, Penner & Adams, 2001; Lin,
2004). Today, the hospitality sector uses design and style as a way of differentiating
itself from other hotels and of impressing the socially active hotel guests. In design, hotel
services especially take into consideration decoration, ambience and furnishings along
with developing all other elements and details to generate a homelike environment for
guests (Siguaw & Enz, 1999; Bitner, 1992; Phillips, 2003; Countryman & Jang, 2006;
Ryan & Huimin, 2007). Therefore, service providers and designers should pay special
attention to the guestroom design from a guest’s perspective for using the right interior
design style to create a pleasant environment (Pullman & Robson, 2005; Lin, 2004;
Bitner, 1992).
Many studies have shown that styles have common components and people are aware of
them (Espe, 1981; Groat, 1982; Devlin & Nasar, 1989; Wilson & Canter, 1990). The
physical properties of place and the persons’ experience have emerged as the variables
of why persons may prefer some styles. At the same time, a contradiction of preference
may occur in response to a known (experienced) style (Purcell, 1986). Design, with these
variables, may be evaluated by these environmental data and consequently, the choice
of formal and symbolic meanings. Meanings are diversified by experience and content.
Some studies have shown that symbolic meanings comprised the differences (Nasar &
Kang, 1989; Nasar, 1989). Other studies have evaluated according to formal meaning
(Herzog, Kaplan & Kaplan, 1982). Lastly, Kempen (2008) found that people can infer
meanings from the scene of spaces, and spaces can give meaningful information to
persons within the psychological process.
Styles in interiors that express the symbolic and formal meanings emerge as a need of a
person’s physical and psychological requirements. In every culture and every period,
interior design styles show differences with their periodical or personal needs. With these
differences, the changes made to interiors by users can be considered as a search for
individual appearance, i.e. the need for comfort, identity and personalization. Interior
54
Online Journal of Art and Design
volume 5, issue 2, April 2017
elements, such as furniture, personalize the environment and further give a message
about who lives there (Cooper, 1974). Several studies have shown that elements used in
interior spaces have broad symbolic significance. Especially, furniture defines personal
style and social class (Cooper, 1974; Ritterfeld, 2002; Lihra & Graf, 2007; Yoon, Oh &
Cho, 2010).
The preference of styles on architectural or interior environments has been supported by
various studies (Nasar & Kang, 1989; Ritterfeld & Cupchik, 1996; Cupchik, Ritterfeld &
Levin, 2003). Despite the importance of interior design styles, little is known about how
people make preferences and which design styles they like in hotel guestrooms. The
current study focuses on the preferences in complexity and impressiveness that might
occur in hotel guestrooms when styles are considered.
There are a number of studies on hotel guestroom evaluations, but they support the
research that the degree of perceived complexity is an important part of preferences for
interiors. However, visual information presented by an environment is referred to by
complexity (Berlyne, 1971; Kaplan & Kaplan, 1982; Ham & Guerin, 2004), and interior
preferences may be changed by the complexity within the interiors’ elements (Scott,
1993). Complexity occurs depending on the relation of the independent elements to each
other, great differences in these elements and how they are used together. The
perceived number of elements in an interior, particularly the noticeable differences
among them, provides a measure of complexity. Perceived complexity correlates to the
value at which usable information is made available to the person, or by the value of
change in the noticeable differences (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989; Rapoport, 1990; Akalin,
Yildirim, Wilson & Kilicoglu, 2009). Berlyne (1960) identified complexity as a dominant
factor influencing a person’s level of arousal with the level of organization within
elements.
Many studies have investigated whether or not there was a correlation between
complexity and preference (pleasantness) (Berlyne, 1974; Wohlwill, 1976; Oostendorp &
Berlyne, 1978; Rapoport, 1990; Imamoglu, 2000; Herzog & Shier, 2000; Akalin, Yildirim,
Wilson & Kilicoglu, 2009). There seems to be, however, a disagreement on the
relationship between complexity and preference. While in some studies, preference
increased or decreased in relation to complexity (Kaplan, Kaplan & Wendt, 1972;
Wohlwill, 1976; Nasar, 1983; Devlin & Nasar, 1989; Capanoglu, 2014), in others,
maximum preference for intermediate degrees of complexity have found, decreasing to
unpleasantness at the high and low complexity (Wohlwill, 1968; Berlyne, 1974; Wohlwill,
1975; Imamoglu, 2000; Akalin, Yildirim, Wilson & Kilicoglu, 2009). Apart from these
55
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volume 5, issue 2, April 2017
studies, there have been few interior service environment evaluations (Lin & Worthley,
2012; Orth & Wirtz, 2014), but perceived complexity may change the interior design
style preferences of hotel guestrooms.
The current study aims to contribute to the above-mentioned literature by exploring the
effect of the level of complexity on guestroom design styles for judgments of preference
and complexity. It was expected that preference would be reduced due to an increase in
complexity level as the guestroom design style changes (H1).
Impressiveness has an identical meaning with individuality of details as defined by
Berlyne (1974). However, perceived impressiveness and perceived complexity have a
linear relationship one increases and the other decreases as the interior scene changes
(Devlin & Nasar, 1989; Capanoglu, 2014). In this study, it was expected in line with the
previous studies that impressiveness would be reduced due to an increase in complexity
level as the guestroom design style changes (H2).
An additional objective of the present study was to examine the role of gender as an
important independent variable affecting preference. The concept of gender-role
identification has been generally considered to be a major factor in the development of
behavioral differences (Putrevu, 2001). According to some studies (Ritterfeld & Cupchik,
1996; Stamps & Nasar, 1997; Imamoglu, 2000; Putrevu, 2001; Yildirim, 2005; Yildirim,
Akalin-Baskaya & Hidayetoglu, 2007), males and females perceived the environment
differently and male users were usually more positive than female users. It is believed
that males and females perceive the hotel guestrooms differently, i.e., male users are
usually more positive in evaluating guestrooms than female users (H3).
METHOD
Participants
For this study, two different groups were formed, consisting of experts and laypersons.
In the first stage of the study, 10 professors participated from the Hacettepe, Selçuk and
Gazi Universities, who are experts on the subject of architecture and furniture history. In
the second stage of the study, 82 laypersons between 35-45 years of age participated, of
which 43 were females (52.4%) and 39 were males (47.6%). Of these 82 participants,
29 (35.3%) had attended high school and 53 (64.7%) had attended university.
Laypersons were randomly selected from among the public group.
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volume 5, issue 2, April 2017
Environmental Setting
A total of nine different guestrooms were used at the Bilkent Hotel, which has been
serving its guests with a five-star hotel comfort since 1991 in Ankara, Turkey. When
grouping the guestrooms into the styles, experts paid attention to physical properties
(i.e. form, material, details, function, layout, design idea, accessories, measurements,
furniture density, decoration, flat surfaces, sharp corners and bow lines), for every
guestroom. In this direction, the experts grouped nine guestrooms according to the most
determinant and differential features of their styles as contemporary, traditional and
classical. Experts grouped the rooms in a similar manner, with nine guestrooms
numbered 1, 2 and 3 as contemporary, refers to as low complexity (combinations of
contemporary design features, i.e. using plain and smooth forms, solid wood and plain
fabric furniture); with the guestrooms numbered 4, 5, and 6 as traditional, refers to as
intermediate complexity (adaptations of eighteenth century design features, i.e. using
curved forms, solid wood furniture) and with the guestrooms numbered 7, 8, and 9 as
classical, refers to as high complexity (adaptations of antique and classic features, i.e.
flamboyant forms, using brass furniture). When grouping the guestrooms the expert
group approved the other features i.e. nightstand, lighting, curtain, floor, layout, density
as identical when grouping into the styles with complexity levels.
In order to not affect the participants’ color preferences, the pictures were shown in black
and white. The examples of images of the guestrooms have been shown in Figure 1 and
were taken from a similar view angle – from the left front corner of the room.
In the hotel service environments, the plan of the typical guestroom has determined the
guestroom functions – sleeping, relaxing, working, entertaining, the bathroom and areas
for dressing and clothes storage (see Figure 2). The sleeping area was at the center of
the guestroom space, the seating and work areas were located near the window and the
areas for dressing and clothes storage were grouped next to the entrance. Furnishings
included a double bed, two nightstands, a dresser, a TV stand, a seating group, a
minibar, a coffee table and accessories.
57
Online Journal of Art and Design
O
D
v
volume
5, issu
ue 2, April 2017
Picture 1
Picture 4
Picture 7
Picture 2
Picture 5
Picture 8
Picture 3
Picture 6
Picture 9
Contem
mporary style guestrooms
g
Traditioonal style gueestrooms
Classicaal style guestrrooms
Fig
gure 1: Exe
ecutive gue
estrooms att the five-star Bilkent Hotel in An
nkara, Turk
key
e 2: A stan
ndard plan drawing
d
of the five-sta
ar Bilkent Hotel
H
execu
utive guestrrooms
Figure
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volume 5, issue 2, April 2017
Questionnaire Design and Procedure
In this study, two different questionnaires were used in the form of an expert
questionnaire for the expert group, and a layperson questionnaire for the public group.
The expert questionnaire was prepared by utilizing the data used in previous studies
(Akalin, Yildirim, Wilson & Kilicoglu, 2009; Akalin, Yildirim, Wilson & Saylan, 2010;
Erdogan, Akalin, Yildirim & Erdogan, 2010). The expert questionnaire form consisted of
two parts: the first part asked for general information about the participants’ age and
gender; the second part consisted of the physical features for their classification of the
guestrooms’ design styles. The expert group questionnaire form was based on grouping
judgments of 10 experts as styles of the panoramic virtual images of the nine executive
guestrooms and commensally from the black and white photographs of the A4-sized
printouts.
The layperson questionnaire form consisted of two parts: the first part asked for general
information about the participants (e.g., education, gender); the second part consisted of
seven-point semantic differential scales about their perception of the guestroom design
styles. The participants had to evaluate the importance of each of the bipolar adjective
pairs on a 1-7 semantic differential scale where 1 = beautiful and 7 = ugly. The
participants evaluated a total of five bipolar adjective pairs after familiarizing themselves
with the items, three of which dealt with preference and the other two with complexity
and impressiveness. Related bipolar adjective pairs were designated for each category;
for preference: beautiful – ugly, pleasant – unpleasant, attractive – unattractive; for
complexity: simple – complex, and for impressiveness: impressive – unimpressive. The
technique of altering the sets of items from positive to negative, as previously done by
Akalin et al. (2009), Berlyne (1974), Imamoglu (2000), Capanoglu (2014), Yildirim
(2005), Yildirim et al. (2007), Akalin et al. (2010), Imamoglu (1979), Mattila and Wirtz
(2001), Brennan et al. (2002), Kaya and Weber (2003), Leather et al. (2003), Lee and
Brand (2005), Baskaya et al. (2006), Akalin-Baskaya and Yildirim (2007), and Yildirim et
al. (2007) was adopted to reduce the probability of participants simply marking the scale
on either of the extremes.
A participant evaluation was carried out for determining the preference for complexity
and impressiveness for each guestroom. After collecting general information about the
participants, the 360° black and white panoramic views of the nine guestrooms were
presented one-by-one in a mixed order to the participants on a notebook computer from
the hotel website and they were asked to rate each with the five bipolar adjective pairs
as grouped in three groups of scale items (preference, complexity and impressiveness).
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volume 5, issue 2, April 2017
The study was conducted at different times of the day. It took subjects approximately
twenty minutes to complete each of the questionnaires. The data obtained from this part
were referred to as the rating data.
Data Analysis
As a result of this study, the categorical means of the data have been defined with their
standard deviations and the reliability of the semantic differential items was tested using
the Cronbach’s alpha test. To examine the effect of differences, the appropriate
techniques of the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multivariate analysis of
variance (MANOVA) were used. Tukey's honestly significant difference (HSD) test has
been used for the differences among the dependent variables belonging to the variance
sources, which were found to be significant in the analysis. In addition, the Pearson’s
correlation test was used to determine the relationship between the dependent variables.
The data were given in graphs to compare the significant means of the variance in the
analysis.
RESULTS
The reliability of the semantic differential items, including the participants’ perceptual
evaluation of the guestroom design styles, was tested using the Cronbach’s alpha test
and has been given in Table 1. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient estimates of internal
consistency for the scale, including the average scores for the five bipolar adjective pairs
grouped together in Table 1, were 0.90. The coefficient of the scale was above 0.70,
which is a threshold for good reliability according to some researchers (Bagozzi &Yi,
1988; Bosma et al., 1997; Grewal, Krishnan, Baker & Borin, 1998). The scale may
therefore be considered reliable.
Table 1: Results of the reliability analysis for the dependent variables
Dependent Variables
Preference
Complexity
Impressiveness
Scale Items
Items’ Reliability
Scale Reliability
0.87
0.88
0.86
0.90
0.88
0.90
beautiful – ugly
pleasant – unpleasant
attractive – unattractive
simple – complex
impressive– unimpressive
Note: The scales’ reliability is given for each dependent variable.
In this part, the statistical differences among the participants’ evaluations of the
guestroom design styles (contemporary, traditional and classical) for the dependent
variables were analyzed. The results have been given in Table 2 as the mean, standard
deviation and homogeneous group for the three groups of scale items (preference,
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complexity and impressiveness). Tukey’s HSD test was used for comparing the average
values belonging to the differences among the guestroom design styles and for the
differences among the dependent variables belonging to the variance sources. Therefore,
Table 2 has indicated that perceptions of the guestroom design styles for the preference
and impressiveness variables were statistically significant and the ordering of the design
styles from the most positive to the most negative value have been given as follows:
Contemporary > Traditional > Classical. Likewise, the evaluations of the participants
including their perceptions of complexity for the design styles of the guestrooms were
listed from simple to complex as follows: Contemporary (low complexity) > Traditional
(intermediate complexity) > Classical (high complexity).
Table 2:Means, SD and HG of the dependent variables for the guestroom design styles
Guestroom Design Styles
Dependent Variables
Preference
Complexity
Impressiveness
Contemporary
M
SD
HG
3.22a
1.50
A
3.06
1.59
A
3.73
1.63
A
M
3.60
3.17
4.27
Traditional
SD
HG
1.37
B
1.58
AB
1.50
B
Classical
SD
1.49
1.78
1.65
M
3.88
3.47
4.39
HG
B
B
B
Notes: M: Mean, SD: standard deviation, HG: homogeneous group
a
Variable means ranged from 1 to 7, with higher numbers representing more negative responses.
The differences among the dependent variables for the guestroom design styles
(contemporary, traditional and classical) were tested with the ANOVA (see Table 3).
According to these results, the differences among the dependent variables including
preference, complexity and impressiveness were found to be statistically significant (at a
level of p
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