Ornament for export: iron founders and visual cultures of display

Paul Dobraszczyk is a lecturer in the history and theory of architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. He’s the author of many books, including 'Iron, Ornament and Architecture in Victorian Britain' (Routledge, 2014) and, forthcoming in the autumn, 'Botanical Architecture: Plants, Buildings and Us' (Reaktion, 2024). He’s also a photographer and artist and built the website www.stonesofmanchester.com in 2018. More details can be found at www.ragpickinghistory.co.uk.

This talk explores how ornamental iron founders developed practices of advertising their products for international markets in the 19th century. This will focus on three important contexts: first, illustrated trade catalogues; second, international exhibitions; and third, iron buildings destined for export. Taken together, these three developments spearheaded the creation of an international market for prominent iron-founders like Walter Macfarlane. These visual cultures of display – catalogues, exhibitions and public display of buildings for export – were overlapping and mutually reinforcing promotional tools that, particularly in Macfarlane’s case, became key elements in defining how iron founders wanted to present themselves to the world.