Queen Square: The First Workshop of Morris's Firm

The Firm's First Documented Premises: Red Lion Square

If you are searching for the first workshop of Morris's firm, the earliest documented address is Red Lion Square. Encyclopaedia Britannica records that the firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company was formed in April 1861 with premises there. That date and address are the firm's starting point in the historical record used for this page.

The firm grew out of a domestic project. According to the record of the firm's formation, the idea of founding an association of fine art workmen came to Morris and his friends during the furnishing and decorating of Red House, the home that, according to the National Trust, Philip Webb designed for Morris and completed in 1860.

Red House mattered to the group beyond its fittings. It was a family home for William Morris, his wife Jane, and a hub of an artistic community, and Edward Burne-Jones described it as the most beautiful place he knew in the terms recorded below.

What the Record Does Not Establish About Queen Square

This page is a Place Guide, and honesty about the sources matters more than a tidy story. The evidence used here does not mention Queen Square, a Queen Square workshop, or any connection between Morris's firm and Queen Square. It also does not give a date the firm moved to or operated from Queen Square, or any date range for Morris's association with such a premises.

The following points are not established by the supplied record and would need verification before they could be stated as fact:

• Any documented Morris connection to a Queen Square workshop.
• The current owner or operator of a Queen Square workshop.
• Morris objects held at a Queen Square workshop.
• Current visiting details such as opening hours, admission or access.

Following the Firm's Story in Places You Can Visit

For readers who want to trace the firm's work through documented places, several sites are covered in detail elsewhere on this site.

Two further London connections are documented. Encyclopaedia Britannica records that William Morris was born on March 24, 1834, in Walthamstow, near London, and that he died on October 3, 1896, in Hammersmith, aged 62. Hammersmith is also where the William Morris Society is based, in the Coach House and Lower Rooms of Kelmscott House, Morris's London home for the last eighteen years of his life. The Society is a charity founded in 1955.

For a broader view of how these places fit together, the places connected with Morris's life are gathered in our biography guide, which links the sites above into a single timeline.