John Dibblee Crace (1838 – 18 November 1919) was a distinguished British

interior designer Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordina ...

who provided decorative schemes for the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

, the Royal Academy,

Tyntesfield Tyntesfield is a Victorian Gothic Revival house and estate near Wraxall, North Somerset, England. The house is a Grade I listed building named after the Tynte baronets, who had owned estates in the area since about 1500. The location was form ...

and

Longleat Longleat is an English stately home and the seat of the Marquess of Bath, Marquesses of Bath. A leading and early example of the Elizabethan era, Elizabethan prodigy house, it is adjacent to the village of Horningsham and near the towns of War ...

among many other notable buildings.

Life and work

Crace was the eldest of eleven surviving children of

John Gregory Crace Vice Admiral Sir John Gregory Crace (6 February 1887 – 11 May 1968) was an Australian who came to prominence as an officer of the Royal Navy (RN). He commanded the Australian-United States Support Force, Task Force 44, at the Battle of the C ...

(1809–1889), interior decorator and author, and his wife, Sarah Jane Hine Langley (1815–1894), the daughter of John Inwood Langley (1790–1874) of

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, a civil servant at the

Royal Naval Hospital A Royal Naval Hospital (RNH) was a hospital operated by the British Royal Navy for the care and treatment of sick and injured naval personnel. A network of these establishments were situated across the globe to suit British interests. They were ...

. His father was renowned as a decorator who was in partnership for eight years with A.W.N. Pugin, the eminent Gothic revival architect, and was head of a decorating firm founded in 1768 by his great-great-grandfather Edward Crace, a coach-decorator and keeper of the king's pictures. Edward and his son Frederick were responsible for the decoration of

Brighton Pavilion The Royal Pavilion, and surrounding gardens, also known as the Brighton Pavilion, is a Grade I listed former royal residence located in Brighton, England. Beginning in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Prin ...

and other Royal palaces. Crace came to fame with his

Victorian Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

-style furniture which he exhibited at the International Exhibition in 1862. Crace decorated the interior of Two Temple Place,

William Waldorf Astor William Waldorf "Willy" Astor, 1st Viscount Astor (31 March 1848 – 18 October 1919) was an American-British attorney, politician, businessman (hotels and newspapers), and philanthropist. Astor was a scion of the very wealthy Astor family of ...

's London estate office, in the style of French Renaissance from about 1892 to 1895. For Astor, he also designed furniture and decorated the home in Cliveden. He similarly redecorated

for

John Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath John Alexander Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath (1 March 1831 – 20 April 1896), styled Viscount Weymouth between March and June 1837, was a British peer and a diplomat for almost sixty years. Background and education Born in St James's, he was the ...

. Considered the acme of 'High Victorianism', he designed decorative schemes for the main entrance of the

. Crace decorated the Royal Academy's Fine Rooms, but a painting by

William Kent William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748) was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, bu ...

lies beneath his work. He is buried with others of the Crace dynasty at

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of ...

Works in museums and galleries

Metropolitan Museum of Art: Watercolour designs by John Dibblee Crace
(23 works)
Victoria and Albert Museum: Designs by John Dibblee Crace
(132 works, 14 illustrated)

References

Sources

* Megan Aldrich, 'Crace, John Dibblee (1838–1919)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Crace, John Dibblee English interior designers 1838 births 1919 deaths Burials at West Norwood Cemetery