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A Tale of Two Chairs: The Library Porters’ Chairs

We have discovered intriguing new details about two historic items of furniture in our collection following their conservation. The library porters’ chairs that sit outside the Commons’ Library, marked by their tall backrests, are significantly older than first thought.

A dark green, shiny leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and a two wooden panels in the front by where the feet would rest. The seat of the chair shows damage to the leather with cracks and wrinkling. It is photographed head on against a stone wall with two windows either side just visible with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet.
A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it. A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it. A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it. A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it. A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it. A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it. A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it. A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it. A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it. A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it. A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it. A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it. A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it. A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it. A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it. A dark green, matt leather chair with a high back, upholstered with fourteen green button studs in the back rest and with wooden arms and nine large round nails in the front edge of the seat leather. There are two wooden panels at the feet of the chair in the front fascia. It is photographed near head on just to the left, against a stone wall with two windows either side with lead tracing and stained glass, against a floor of green checkered carpet. A white printed sign too distant to read is pasted on the wall on the top right of the image and above the chair is the bust of a man’s head with a plaque beneath it.
Chair before (left) and after (right) conservation. Photographs: POW 08087 © UK Parliament

The chairs were initially believed to be early 1900s, largely because of the date of their makers’ marks, which are the ciphers or text left by manufacturers like a ‘signature’ on their work.  The word ‘BARRETT’ was imprinted on both chairs, thought to be the furniture maker from High Wycombe, active from 1905 to 1962. The team had also assumed the two were a pair made together.

The two chairs needed some conservation, and the work stripped back over a century of different interventions.

Restoration revealed more of their original frame and structure. Both were older than previously thought. The later ‘BARRETT’ imprint suggests subsequent work, while the chairs were in fact originally made by the renowned furniture-maker Gillows of Lancaster between the 1860s and 1870s. Gillows produced a substantial number of items in Palace of Westminster, including early pieces to Pugin’s designs.  

A sketch of a high backed chair with armrests, with a gap where the seat would be, in black and white. Around it are close up images in colour of each respective part, with textual information. Text on the back of the chair itself reads ‘both chairs have screwed floating tack rial frame. 08087 is in birch and 08088 in oak batten. The oak rails need consolidation and/replacement. The top right wing of the chair has an arrow pointing to it with a box of two wooden wings shaped like the end of an oar. The text by them reads ‘08087 shaped birch wing’ and ‘08088 square softwood wing’. Below it, an arrow points to the left hand arm rest with two thick black lines representing its curvature. The text reads ‘moulded profile on arms ; 08087 shallow profile and great width to arm’ and ‘-’08088 prominent moulded profile and narrow arm.’ The bottom front facing wooden panel by the foot of the chair has an arrow with an image of tarnished wood reading ‘surface colour/finish 08087 has old polish residue under lock escutcheon which is dark rich red and thick.’ On the left, an arrow points to the back of the seat rest, with two images of a wooden panelled aperture, reading ‘seat pad fixing—both screwed at front’ ‘08087 oak batten glued and screwed; 08088 modern batten screwed old dowels’. The top left has an arrow pointing to the top of the chair above where the head would rest, with two images of the back of the chair in wood, with red lines mirroring their curvature. The text reads ‘08087 arch shaped birch crest rail and birch tack rails for back pad upholstery cut with precision’ and ‘08088 dome shaped oak crest rail and oak tack rails roughly hewn for back pad upholstery’.
Conservation Diagram for POW 08087 and POW 08088, Image © UK Parliament

Uncovering the frames of the library porters chairs revealed differences in their construction, from moulding profiles to how the frames were made. One chair was a copy of the other or of a different pair. We cannot be certain which is the eldest, though it is clear they were built by different hands. Conservation discoveries like this remind us how a working collection like Parliament’s changes and develops over time. Even individual pieces like these chairs are collaborations across time and space. They are formed from many layers of expert handicraft, repair, and adaptation.

The wooden side wing of a chair with two round nails shaped like buns pinned in the top and twelve nails in a line down the side towards the base of the armrest. Some brown fabric is peeled away on the back exposing some black or green fabric underneath it. There are nail holes throughout the outside of the wing. The cracked green seat leather is visible over the wooden armrest. In the background are various other bits of upholstery and fabric as well as the legs of other chairs.
Detail of the chair showing the reupholstering in process, Photograph: POW 08088 © UK Parliament

The chairs ‘are well loved and have had a full life,’ our furniture Conservation Manager, Jonathan Hellyer, explains. ‘They had been stripped and spray finished in lacquer’ over the years, leaving ‘no original surface finish.’  Such repair can obscure the history of these pieces, and they had also been reupholstered in ‘modern foam’ in the 1970s.

The Historic Furniture and Decorative Arts team worked closely with master upholsterers and conservator-restorers. The conservators preserved the existing upholstery pattern on the back, which they identified as an original design decision. They therefore followed its button spacing when reupholstering. The chairs also retain the leather colour seen around the estate, known as House of Commons Standard Green.

Master upholsterer Greg Cupitt-Jones explained,

When we removed the 1970s foam upholstery, the chairs revealed their secrets. I was able to advise and then return the chairs to their original configuration as designed by Gillows. When looking at the frames, I could see the original placements of the banding and handmade brass studs. The frame also showed evidence that it was originally a sprung chair [with springs in the seat]. They now look so smart, and there won’t be any chance of sagging seats!

‘This was a unique opportunity for all of us,’ master conservator-restorer Jamie Chatfield told us;

We were collectively able to present the chairs in a more appropriate condition. We were supported by the archival information available about the collection and our joint commitment to investigate and reinstate original features, giving us all a chance to learn more about the Gillows cabinet work in the 19th century. They are now in great condition and ready to last over another 100 years.

The chairs returned to the Palace this month to take up their seats once more outside the Commons’ Library.

Two tall green leather chairs sit either side of an arched double door, the left door ajar letting through a stream of light. Above the door are carved stone decorations of roses and floral details along the top of the stone wall. Either side of the door are two stained glass windows with intricate details. Above the tall chair on the right hand side is a noticeboard with a white notice and a small round wooden table to the left of the chair. The carpet is green checkered.
The two chairs outside the House of Commons’ Library, Photograph: POW 08087 and POW 08088 © UK Parliament
May 5, 2023