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Victoria & Albert Museum
Sgraffito Conservation Project
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At the rear of the Henry Cole Building, part of the Victoria and Albert Museum, an extraordinary façade unfolded, less visible than the grand entrances, yet rich with artistic ambition. Designed by Francis Moody and executed between 1871 and 1872 with four students from the Royal College of Art, the decoration was a rare and expansive example of sgraffito work in Britain.
Rather than being painted onto the surface, the imagery was built into the wall itself. Layers of plaster, dark below, pale above, were applied over a base coat. The design was first drawn at full scale, then transferred to the fresh plaster. By cutting through the outer white layer to reveal the black beneath, the artists created a polychrome relief: drawing not with pigment, but with absence.
Client
Victoria & Albert Museum
Dates
2013
—
2014
Location
London
Grade listing
Grade I
Fabric
Terracotta
A Technique Written into the Wall
Across most of the elevation, the process was painstaking and irreversible. Once the plaster set, the image became part of the building’s skin. Over time, however, exposure and movement began to loosen this outer layer. Areas of the white intonaco started to debond from the substrate, threatening the loss of details that could not simply be repainted or replaced.
By the time DBR Conservators were commissioned, the façade required urgent yet highly specialised care.
Securing What Was Coming Away
The conservation approach focused on stabilising the original material rather than reconstructing it. Pozzolanic lime grouting was introduced behind areas where the plaster had separated, carefully reattaching the decorative surface to the wall beneath without disturbing the artwork above.
To provide additional security, more than five thousand carbon fibre micro pins were inserted, each one discreet, lightweight, and non-corrosive. These tiny reinforcements worked collectively to hold fragile sections in place, invisible to the eye but crucial to the façade’s survival.
Restoring Strength Without Altering Appearance
Further consolidation was achieved using nanolime treatments, allowing weakened plaster to regain cohesion while maintaining breathability. Where losses had already occurred, lime mortar fills were applied, shaped to support the surrounding work without falsely recreating missing detail.
The aim was not to make the façade look new, but to ensure that what remained could endure.
The restored sgraffito once again unites art and architecture on the museum’s rear elevation, its lines secure and story intact. DBR’s conservation preserves this delicate Victorian experiment born of teaching, craft, and invention, on the wall where it first emerged.
