From Dustiness to Elegance - Thornhill
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Thornhill, north west of Soho, was occupied until 1793 by John Scale, Matthew Boulton's button trade partner. Boulton later bought it for his son Matthew Robinson Boulton, who turned it down, as did his sister Ann, who complained about the excessive dust and nearby pubs!
Right: Watercolour of Thornhill House
and grounds by John Phillp |
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Therefore in 1808 he leased the house to James Watt Jr, and it was redecorated by George Bullock, a fashionable interior designer from Liverpool, and A. Smallwood of Birmingham. Watt Jr planted an orchard, a kitchen garden, and asparagus beds. In 1810 he ordered seeds of over one hundred types of flower and hotbed plants.
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In 1818 Ann Boulton finally moved in, and James Watt Jr moved to Aston Hall. Thornhill was now far more attractive, but even so, in 1822 the drawing room was extensively altered, to elegant designs by architects Rickman & Hutchinson and Richard Bridgens.
Ann Boulton died there on the 13th of November 1829, and her beautiful furnishings were auctioned in 1832. The house later became the Handsworth Technical School, and it was demolished in 1900.
| Left: Sketches of doors at Thornhill by John Phillp |
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| Above: Designs for Ann Boulton’s Drawing Room at Thornhill House, by Richard Bridgens, 1822 |
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