Decorative Parquetry at the 19th Century Lyon, France.

Relative recently I’ve made an interesting discovery: a set of images with decorative parquet borders in the 19^th century France. Lyon residence. Why interesting? Because I haven’t seen this type of product in France. Not at that age. I was used to see different types of panels (panneaux in  French) but no this design borders.

The owner of the images – Mr. Martin Loyer, le photographe – allowed me to publish them inside an article.

http://www.martinloyer.fr/visites-virtuelles/lyon-appartement-apparat/galerie-photos-appartement-apparat/

A few details on the building:

1.Dates from the end of the 18^th century beginning of the 19^th

2.Part of a large improvement project made by architect Soufflot

3. Initially there were Versailles panels but the owner changed it for a more modern parquet – at the beginning of the 19^th century

4.Parquetry is made of Oak (blackened), Walnut, Sycamore and Mahogany

5.It was installed on the old backing strips (called “lambourdes” in French)

6.It seems they kept the backing strips at the same distance and this was too big for the new parquetry causing damage with time.

The technical data was provided by Daniel Daminot, a cabinet maker in Lyon, France who worked for restoring it.

Interesting is Mr. Daminot said there are another 4 places in Lyon with the same parquetry.

I wait your comments. To the subject, please. Others will be promptly erased!

If you read this article and know a similar parquetry elsewhere in the world and are willing to share please contact us at pavex.parquet@gmail.com

Parquetry Borders and Panels in Lyon, France - Images:

Austria. The 18th & 19th Century Old Decorative Parquetry Works

Vienna, Austria.

Thomas Reiner runs a special business: he restores old parquet floors and in other cases recovers, restores and resells the same type of parquetry.

His website – www.antique-parquet.com - has a section where old, recovered and restored parquetry is offered for sale and it’s patiently waiting to start a new life.

Viewing Mr. Reiner’s collection of parquetry, one can have an idea on the decorative parquet flooring history. Not only the aesthetic side but how the importance of the work has been shared between the richest and the less rich of the society.

The richest.

The oldest – and the most spectacular – work is a piece of inlaid parquetry dating from 1745 and originating from Hetzendorf  Castle, Vienna (an edifice build 1694 by Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, bought in 1742 by Empress Maria Theresia of Habsburg, rebuild until 1745):

Hetzendorf Castle, Austria - Intricate Inlaid Parquetry Work, cca. 1745

Made of Oak, Mahogany, Maple & other specie | Size (in mm) 30 x  4530 x 4530 | Designed by Francois Cuvillies & Pacassi 1743 – 1745.

Here are some components of the larger assembly:

Parquetry border, part of the Hetzendorf Castle inlay.

Central motif, part of  intricate Hetzendorf Castle parquetry work;

The musicians and the nobility.

Down at a simple level there are parquet panels with design.

1.The first one is said to originate from the house of a musician, in Vienna. Notice the attention given to the design and the intricacy of detail.

Ringstrasse, Vienna, room of a musician - intricate parquet panel;

or another one worked with the same finesse:

Vienna, Austria, the end of the 19th century - Oak and maple parquet panel;

2. Beautifully parquet panel with geometric shapes – and done in maple, oak and mahogany.

Geometric shapes parquet panel inlay

A time when the attention for detail produced works of art we can inspire from today. 

by www.pavexparquet.com

From Simple to Intricate - A Rectangular Parquet Flooring Installation

From a simple Herringbone pattern to an intricate 3 components (medallion, border + parquet flooring) parquet flooring installation the attached design shows how the same room can evolve.

by pavexparquet

1. - Herringbone; 2. - Herringbone + Greek key border; 3. – Herringbone + Greek Key Border + Medallion

A Typical Installation - Hardwood Floor Border with Herringbone Laid Parquet

Somewhere in the U.K.-

The installation in the image is done in a relatively small room. It is composed from a Herringbone laid parquet pattern in the middle (parquet battens 10x70x350mm) a Greek Key DE (double edge) border and the backfill strip (completes the installation to the wall).

Classic rectangle shape of the border, classic installation.

Greek Key Hardwood Border + Herringbone laid parquet flooring

Insole Court in South Wales and the fine parquetry with inlay border. Craftsmanship of the 19th century.

The Insole Court is a Llandlaff, South Wales located mansion who belonged to James Harvey Insole, a colliery proprietor. It's a mansion whose building started at the middle of 19th century and went through a series of rebuilding and redecoration phases afterwards.

What interests us is the parquetry flooring installed in the house in the 19th century which, in the dining room, features a splendid parquet border.

I have found two detail images on Mark's photo stream at Flickr:

Wide parquet border inlay - detail, Insole Court.

  

Parquet flooring with border, Insole Court - detail

Old parquet floor borders for restoration in New York city residence

Some time ago one customer requested the reproduction of a parquet border to be used in the recreation of an old floor in a New York city residence. The border to be reproduced was a well known pattern. Attached are two images showing the pattern but also the degree of deterioration the flooring was in at that date.
Unfortunately there are a lot of this kind of works on which the time-effect and the lack of care are devastating.

Damaged hardwood border - image 1

Damaged hardwood border - image 2

Hardwood Floor Medallion Installation - Somewhere in France

Somewhere in France - Installed Hardwood Floor Medallion

Hardwood Floor Medallion Initial Drawing

This post presents an installation of a "8 RAYS MARQ FRAME" hardwood floor medallion - somewhere in France. It is an interesting installation in a kitchen (...!...). We have attached two images, one of the initial design provided to the customer and their final installation.

Parquet border in Sankt Petersburg

parquet, a photo by liz&jeff | patonphotography.ca on Flickr.

Large inlay border in one of the Sankt Petersburg palaces - a type of Greek key pattern. Some of the works there have been remade after the damages inflicted in the WW II.

The works in the palaces of Hermitage and Pavlovsk (but not only) are worth seeing.

Solid System Hardwood Floor Borders

The image attached shows a sectioned hardwood floor border (our Grill pattern in this case). It is a standard 10 mm thickness product that can be installed in glue down parquetry works.

For the case where different thicknesses are needed there are the following two solutions available:
1. Inferior thickness - under 10 mm thicknesses can be manufactured - like 8 mm (5/16 inch) for example;
2. Superior thicknesses - something like 19 mm (3/4 inch) or 21 - 22 mm - for this case a plywood is attached underneath the border to compensate to the overall thickness of the surrounding floor;

Solid System Hardwood Floor Border

Stefanie's Brooklyn Renovation - Old Parquet Flooring with Inlay Borders

DiningRoom1
Originally uploaded by MrsLimestone

Stefanie's renovation of a Brooklyn house apartment has brought back to life an old parquet flooring.

The parquet is installed with inlay borders in a few patterns used in that epoch.

It is rarely seen on the Internet such well done pictures not to mention the succession of images that show how an old parquet (nail-down installation) has been transformed.

The pictures show the splendor of the old floor and the aesthetic contribution of the inlay borders.

Stefanie's blog: http://www.brooklynlimestone.com/