THE GAME OF WALLPAPER, Waterhouse Wallhangings & Thomas Strahan

Thomas Strahan, the oldest (modern-day) wallpaper company in America is Thomas Strahan founded in 1866, A.L. Diament in 1885, Thibaut in 1886, F. Schumacher in 1889, York Wallpaper in 1895, and Nancy McCelland Inc. in 1922.

Dorothy Waterhouse became passionate about wallpaper after renovating Captain Jimmy Fish’s house (circa 1799) on Cape Cod. During the process she uncovered layers and layers of wallpaper dating back to the mid-1930’s. Her hobby soon became a business with the launch of the first collection in the early 1950’s with many collections to follow until her retirement in the late 1970’s.

1. Thomas Strahan, when he opened the manufactory in 1885 took on a partner George A. Smith. Thomas Strahan remained president until his death in 1910. (Thomas Strahan was also the two-term mayor of Chelsea, MA. and served in the Massachusetts Statehouse.)

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THE GAME OF

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3. The company continued block printing up until labor shortages during World War Two made this form of wallpaper printing unfeasible. Most of the over 12,000 designs were printed on either 8 or 12 color surface printing machines imported from England. At the height of production, they had 5 surface printers running, the oldest of which was a Waldron machine manufactured in England in 1886.

2. In 1866 Thomas Strahan started distributing European wall-hangings in the US. On one of his trips to Europe he convinced an English block printer to emigrate to Boston, and in the early 1880's he launched his own collection and print works.

Book the paper Align first strip

Apply wallpaper paste

Enjoy the pattern

Tuc k and trim the pape r Continue papering

Cover switch Close the seams Cut in ar ound moldings 4. Mr. Smiths’ son-Abbot Smith, who joined the company after graduating from Harvard in 1918 and after rising through the ranks, became

6. Dorothy started doing research and became quite a wallpaper historian/ expert giving guest lectures around the Northeast. She literally “uncovered” some interesting facts- often Early American homes glued newspapers of the day to the rough plaster walls to smooth out the rough plaster, act as an insulator, and as a wallpaper liner.

5. In 1937 Dorothy and Clifford Waterhouse bought the Captain Jimmy Fish house on Cape Cod, circa 1799.

4. Mr. Smiths’ son-Abbot Smith, who joined the company after graduating from Harvard in 1918 and after rising through the ranks, became president in 1947. (Abott Smith was a friend of President Kennedy and when Jackie Kennedy re-decorated he White House Thomas Strahan donated wallpaper.)

7. The first collection book was introduced in 1950 and was titled- ”Waterhouse Documentary Collection of Wallpaper and Matching Fabrics”. The second book, introduced in the mid to late 1950s,- the “Waterhouse Collection by Dorothy Waterhouse for the Warner Company”, like the first one was based on the re-coloring of Dorothy’s documents and printed and distributed by Warner Wallpaper.

8. In the fall of 1959 Dorothy’s third collection book came out comprised of 13 designs- the wallpaper book was produced by Katzenbach and Warren with coordinating fabric produced by Greeff Fabrics.

9. By the early 1990’s Many of the Waterhouse and Thomas Strahan designs were converted to the hand printing technique utilizing silk screens, this enabled smaller runs and made custom coloring affordable. 10. By the late 1990s Bernard Scott, once Dorothy’s business partner, sold Waterhouse Wallhangings to the “Two Jims” Jim Burke and Jim Early, so Bernard could concentrate on developing the Thomas Strahan archive and building the commission printing mill business at Thomas Strahan.

11. By 2003 the city block long wood frame structure built by Thomas Strahan in 1903, containing the five large surface printing presses (manufactured between 1880 and 1948) was no longer viable. The factory close in 2003 for urban development.

12. The two brands -Waterhouse Wallhangings and The Thomas Strahan Company sold the companies/ brands to Lance Houpt in 2008. Lance Houpt to this day continues to develop the large archives of both brands, create new artwork, and produce new collections, under both brand names, on a regular basis. The Thomas Strahan studio is headed up by Lances partner in Thomas Strahan, Katherine Porter. The company is headquartered in West Hempstead, NY.

13. Under the leadership of Houpt and Porter the brands are re-introducing achival patterns, murals and collections to the market including the reach launch of the Leta Austin Foster collection.

To learn more and read through the entire history of Waterhouse Wallhangings and Thomas Strahan check out their websites and historical collections.

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