George Walton. An important oak panelled bench for the Eastman Kodak London showrooms

George Walton (1867-1933). An important oak panelled bench for the Eastman Kodak London showrooms, 140cm high, 152cm wide, 143cm deep See Moon, Karen 'George Walton. Designer and Architect', p. 81 and 82, where there is a period photograph showing the settle in situ in the Brompton Road and Cooper, Jeremy 'Victorian and Edwardian Furniture and Interiors', p. 230. Only one of two made for one of Walton's earliest Kodak commissions at 59 Brompton Road, London. This accomplished Glasgow School design has obvious influences from Mackintosh's work, with whom Walton worked on the first and second commissions for Mrs Cranston's tearooms. Walton had been brought in to design the top Kodak showrooms by George Davison who convinced George Eastman of Walton's expertise and genius and, by the end of 1898, they had renamed his work for the showrooms as 'Kodak-oration the decorative work of George Walton'. At that moment the names of George Walton and George Eastman were fused as one. 1900 was the peak of Walton's work for Kodak and the Brompton Road commission was the best he achieved alongside the Strand and Brussels showrooms. He also designed showrooms in Glasgow, Milan, Vienna, Leningrad and Moscow.