‘The refurbishment of Northumberland House: Craftsmen and Interior Decoration in Mid-Eighteenth-Century London Town Houses’

Based on the authors' longstanding interest in Northumberland House, this essay develops out of a recent study on its mid-eighteenth-century refurbishment. Starting from a summary analysis of the team of craftsmen involved at the house, it suggests how they were involved at other contemporary aristocratic London palaces. The question is whether these craftsmen represent a circle that met the demand for a new French taste in interior decoration, fashionable among Francophile patrons of the likes of the Northumberlands and indeed de rigeur with Frederick, Prince of Wales. This essay relies on an appendix thematically organised - based on previously unpublished material - of all craftsmen, builders and architects involved at Northumberland House, where biographical information as well as cross references between all figures involved with our examples are given in full.