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Soho House

Ell, yes, the sitting room was Anne Boulton's - Matthew Boulton's daughter. I slept in that room many times when I grew up at Soho.

Judy
 
Lots of changes! In Anne's Sitting Room the cabinet you can see is now on the right hand side with the newly acquired writing table in the left alcove, the mirror has also been changed! And the painting of Mr Boulton is now in the Visitor Centre Exhibition Gallery! The Sphinxes are in the refurbished Tea Room and look happy to be home!!

I know that the two Sphinxes returned.

Here they are at BM & AG before they went back to Soho House



The staircase now seems weird without them!

This is what I took in the Sitting Room back in 2010



And this was the portrait I saw in Matthew Boulton's bedroom

 
I am quite jealous Judy, the Sitting Room is by far my favourite room, although of course it would have been very different when you lived there! I have loved reading the stories of your time at Soho and looking at the photos you have posted too! Thank you x

Ell, yes, the sitting room was Anne Boulton's - Matthew Boulton's daughter. I slept in that room many times when I grew up at Soho.

Judy
 
Do you know why there is two Matthew Boulton portraits that look exactly the same?

Here's the other one in BM & AG



Next to a portrait of James Watt

 
Not sure yet if I'm going to go back to Soho House!

Not even been inside Aston Hall since they reopened a few years ago.
 
I might be mistaken about it being in the Visitor Centre then - I know there is a portrait up there, that is very similar, but us Visitor Services Assistants don't go up there very often, too busy working! Will pop up if I get chance soon and take a quick snap with my phone camera! I knew it had been taken to BM&AG for the £50 note launch, and mistakenly thought it had come back!

Do you know why there is two Matthew Boulton portraits that look exactly the same?

Here's the other one in BM & AG



Next to a portrait of James Watt

 
Maybe it's the same portrait then.

Sure it was still in the main gallery at BM & AG last time I was there.

A few more portraits I saw at Soho House in 2010






Here is a scan I took from the Birmingham Mail in November 2011 -re the new £50 note

 
I see the two portraits nearly every day, and the younger one (he is 42 in it) is by far my favourite although he was still a very distinguished gent at 73! Haven't had chance to check the exhibition gallery today but will see what I can do tomorrow! Thanks for the £50 article, Mervyn King officially opened the refurbished Vistor Centre in September last year, I even got to shake his hand but sadly he didn't bring any £50 note samples with him!! Did you know that Matthew is going to have a memorial in Westminster Abbey? About time too ;0)

Maybe it's the same portrait then.

Sure it was still in the main gallery at BM & AG last time I was there.

A few more portraits I saw at Soho House in 2010






Here is a scan I took from the Birmingham Mail in November 2011 -re the new £50 note

 
Yeah I heard!

Are you aware of all the colleges named after Boulton and Watt?

For instance the Matthew Boulton Campus is part of Birmingham Metropolitan College (Jennens Road, Eastside, City Centre).
Used to be called Matthew Boulton College. They used to be on a site at the corner of Sherlock Street / Belgrave Interchange and Lee Bank Middleway.


Probably the most famous statue of Boulton and Watt is on Broad Street. With William Murdoch.

 
Haven't been able to look at the portrait in the Visitor Centre yet but my colleague tells me that it's the one that James Watt commissioned after Matthew Boulton's death in 1809, and the one you saw alongside James Watt in BM&AG is still there! It looks very similar to the one in BM&AG but the manufactory isn't in the background. Will try to get a picture if I can!

Yeah I heard!

Are you aware of all the colleges named after Boulton and Watt?

For instance the Matthew Boulton Campus is part of Birmingham Metropolitan College (Jennens Road, Eastside, City Centre).
Used to be called Matthew Boulton College. They used to be on a site at the corner of Sherlock Street / Belgrave Interchange and Lee Bank Middleway.


Probably the most famous statue of Boulton and Watt is on Broad Street. With William Murdoch.

 
I just posted this photo on the 1920 Car thread, as I didn't know what year this photo was taken. It is of my Dad in his car at the front of Soho when it was a hotel and my family were there. They moved there in 1925. I have been advised that the car is a Morris Flatnose, so I guess the date of the photo would be between 1927 and 1930.
Judy
Dad at Soho 30s.jpg
 
Hi Amanda. The corrugated building to the right of the photo was an extension that housed a billiard room and store room when my grandparents/parents were at Soho. There was also a large garage with inspection pit at the rear of this extension. The three windows you can see behind my Dad in his car were those of the Writing Room, as it was called when it was a hotel, and a door and small passage from this led to the billiard room. A large number of the guests were commercial travellers (reps) and regulars, names of whom I remember to this day as they were part of my growing up. The Writing Room had a number of desks for use mainly by these men to write up their daily reports/paperwork. As this was in the days before television the billiard room was very popular in the evenings.

I don't know who put the extension on to the house. Not sure if it was my grandparents or if it had been there when they bought Soho. The house had been a hotel before them, and previous to this it was a girls' school. My parents sold the hotel to the GEC in 1956, and the GEC in turn sold the house to the Police for cadet accommodation. I visited Soho in the mid to late 1970's (I think) when the police had it, and by that time the extension that you see had been replaced by a brick built accommodation block which was very ugly, and extended right into the old tennis court. This extension was in turn removed when the house was renovated by the Museums Dept. I was shocked at the state of the house when I visited at this time.

Judy
 
Thanks Lyn. It is a lovely photo that I treasure. I should have mentioned in my previous post to Amanda that the Writing Room (which my Dad's car is standing in front of) revealed an interesting surprise when the house was being renovated by the Museums & Art Gallery. There was a fireplace in this room which had been filled in and when it was opened up a besom (broomstick) was found in the fireplace opening - it had been put there to ward off evil spirits! I wonder how many years that had been there?

Judy
 
Thanks Lyn. It is a lovely photo that I treasure. I should have mentioned in my previous post to Amanda that the Writing Room (which my Dad's car is standing in front of) revealed an interesting surprise when the house was being renovated by the Museums & Art Gallery. There was a fireplace in this room which had been filled in and when it was opened up a besom (broomstick) was found in the fireplace opening - it had been put there to ward off evil spirits! I wonder how many years that had been there?

Judy


wow judy how amazing...you may have already done this but have you thought about offering soho house copies of some of photos for their archives..they have a lovely display just inside...

lyn
 
Lyn, back in 1993 on a visit to Birmingham I saw that Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery were involved in the renovation of Soho, so I wrote to them and told them of my connection with the house. I was in correspondence with Rita Maclean and Val Loggie who was the Project Development Assistant at the time, and gave them a lot of information from my family's time at the house. I was invited to visit when the house had been gutted, and provided them with letters and bits and pieces which may have been relevant, such as photos of Soho, hotel tariff's and the layout of the house at the time. I don't think I gave them any family photos though.

When the house was complete but before it was opened to the public, I was invited to a lecture and a visit to see over the finished building which was interesting, but the house was now a museum and not the home I remembered! But I am pleased that the building has been returned to its former glory.

Judy
 
It was mainly about Joseph Wright of Derby. They found a picture that was of a bridge from near Rome in Italy that they had restored.

Nice for once to have a historical documentary about someone from the Midlands!
 
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