Lot Essay
The William IV hat-stand and umbrella-tray, may have formed part of the furnishings introduced around 1835 to the temporary House of Lords in the Old Palace of Westminster. Some stands of this pattern are in use in the present House of Lords. The decoration of the 'New Houses of Parliament', was largely undertaken by A.W.N. Pugin after the fire in 1834. Kenneth Clark on the Palace of Westminster, in his Gothic Revival, London, 1928, writes, 'every inch of the great building's surface, inside and out, was designed by one man; every panel, every wallpaper, every chair sprang from Pugin's brain, and his last days were spent designing inkpots and umbrella stands.'