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About Watts 1874

Watts 1874 is a leading British company specialising in luxury textiles and wallpapers for the interiors worldwide. The founders of Watts were three pioneering architect-designers of the Gothic Revival and Aesthetic movements, George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907), George Gilbert Scott known as ‘Middle Scott’ (1839-97) and Thomas Garner (1839-1906). They were all trained by Middle Scott’s father, Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811 – 1878), known for his numerous works in the Gothic Revival style, including the St Pancras Hotel and the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park. Watts built up a prestigious national and international portfolio of commissions. The company designed, re-modelled and furnished elegant homes, palaces, churches, cathedrals, and constitutional buildings such as the Houses of Parliament at Westminster, creating an extraordinary treasure trove of decorative design. They were highly influential in their work, attracting celebrated architects and designers, such as William Morris, Charles Eamer Kempe, Sir Ninian Comper, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Stephen Dykes Bower, Keith Murray and Robert Maguire. Unlike so many firms that were destined to close in the 20th century, Watts has been cherished and protected. Nurtured through decades of highs and lows, the company continues to flourish, remaining true to the principles of the founders and defying the pendulum of fashion. Today it continues to be run by descendants of George Gilbert Scott, now a fifth-generation family firm and Watts continues to go from strength to strength. You will find Watts of Westminster at the hub of British design in London’s prestigious Design Centre Chelsea Harbour. The showroom exudes personality and warmth, brimming with colour and pattern and expertise, and strangely echoing the riches and choices heralded by the founders in 1874.

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