Museum of Domestic Design opens in London

Housing comprehensive collections of late 19th- and early 20th-century decorative design for the home, The Museum of Domestic Design & Architecture has been opened by Culture Secretary Chris Smith.

Based at Middlesex University’s Cat Hill campus in north London, the museum’s collections chronicle the history of domestic interiors from the 1870s to the 1960s.

The museum includes the Silver Studio Collection, described by the then Department of National Heritage (now Department of Culture, Media and Sport), as being of “outstanding national academic importance”.

The museum, which will provide a resource for the study of decorative design, has been funded via grants from charitable trust sponsors. It will also benefit from revenue generated from a design-licensing programme.