Mural, Dalongdong Baoan Temple, Taipei City, Taiwan, photo: Dalongdong Baoan TempleMural, Dalongdong Baoan Temple, Taipei City, Taiwan, photo: Dalongdong Baoan Temple

Artlab’s work in historic houses encompasses a broad range of activities from the collection management of contents, such as furniture and fittings, to detailed materials analysis of building components.

We prepare inventories and condition surveys, and provide advisory and treatment services for collections and building elements such as decorative surfaces, timberwork, stained glass, bronze doors and windows, and furnishings.

Our conservators liaise with heritage architects to study the fabric of buildings to differentiate original material from later additions and provide evidence for the determination of significance of particular elements, for example, the convict graffiti at Woolmer’s Woolshed in Tasmania or Fremantle Prison in Western Australia.

We are experienced in examining early painted decorative schemes through paint scrapes and cross sections and where necessary, revealing sufficient original decoration to allow for accurate replication.

In situ treatments include stabilisation and reintegration of damaged paint surfaces, stain reduction and resecuring loose wallpapers, strengthening deteriorated woodwork to ensure its retention, and cleaning delicate original surfaces. We have carried out extensive regilding both indoors and out, on surfaces including stone, metal, wood and render.