1896

Kelmscott Manor: Attics

Frederick H. Evans

British, 1853 - 1943

Attics often serve as metaphors for the space where memories reside. Here Frederick Evans captures the warm glow, the simple, rough-hewn timbers, and the striking geometry of the attic at Kelmscott Manor, the beloved summer retreat of designer William Morris (British, 1834–1896).

Morris, the leader of the Arts and Crafts movement—which valued Britain’s craft tradition and rejected its industrial revolution—drew inspiration from the architecture and workmanship of Kelmscott, designed and constructed in the 1500s. In 1896 Morris invited Evans to photograph the home, which he felt embodied the memory of Britain’s aesthetic past.