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A W N Pugin for J G Crace. An outstanding oak centre table
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Width: 52 in (132.08 cm)
Depth: 52 in (132.08 cm)
About this piece
A.W.N.Pugin. An outstanding oak centre table designed by Augustus Welby Pugin and almost certainly made by firm John Gregory Crace. Height 30 1/2", Width 52", Depth 52". Circa 1847. See The Pictorial Dictionary of British 19th Century Furniture Design, page xxvi for an identicle but carved version designed by Pugin for Abney Hall which is now in The Victoria and Albert Museum. Last 2 Images. Provenance: Another similar table with drawers but the identicle base was sold at Bonhams Chester and also formerly at Abney Hall, Cheadle, Cheshire. Under the patronage of Sir James Watts. A textile wholesaler and Lord Mayor of Manchester, Abney Hall was remodelled as a private home with reception rooms designed and decorated by Pugin and Crace in the 1850's. The decorative scheme was completed in 1857. Prince Albert during a visit to Manchester described the hall as 'a most princely mansion'. Abney hosted many other important people including Edward VII, Disraeli, Gladstone and E.M Forster. The reclusive Agatha Christie visited Abney when it was in the possession of her brother-in-law and wrote two novels there, 'The Tale of the Christmas pudding and After the Funeral'. The hall became known Cheadle Town Hall when it was sold to the local council in 1959. This uncarved version without drawers is actually more true to Pugins later designs which were simpler and less elaborate and in those respects more important because of the purity within Pugins designs in his later years before he became insane and died at only 40 years of age in 1852.