Decorating Broomhouse Lane

Broomhouse Lane is one of Fulham's older thoroughfares, its name deriving from Broomhouse, a substantial property documented in the area since at least the sixteenth century. The lane originally connected the riverside settlement of Fulham to the agricultural lands and market gardens that extended westward toward Parsons Green and Walham Green. For centuries, it remained a rural track bordered by hedgerows and orchards, with only scattered farmsteads and gentlemen's residences along its length. The residential development of Broomhouse Lane began in earnest during the 1870s and continued into the Edwardian period, proceeding incrementally as different landowners released parcels of ground for building. This phased development produced a streetscape of notable variety, with houses from different decades sitting comfortably side by side, united by their common materials and domestic scale. The earliest Victorian houses, dating from the 1870s, are of modest proportions, reflecting the lane's distance from the developing railway stations and its consequent appeal to a less affluent market than the streets closer to Fulham Broadway or Parsons Green. The later Edwardian houses, built in the first decade of the twentieth century, are more substantial, reflecting both the general improvement in building standards and the increasing desirability of Fulham as a residential address. Throughout the twentieth century, Broomhouse Lane maintained its quiet residential character, its relative seclusion from the main traffic routes preserving an atmosphere of tranquillity that is increasingly valued in contemporary London. The lane's incremental development history is legible in its varied architectural character, making it a particularly interesting street for the architectural observer and a rewarding challenge for the heritage-conscious decorator.

The decorative treatment of Broomhouse Lane's varied housing stock must be tailored to the specific materials and period character of each property. For the early Victorian stock-brick houses, the priority is the preservation of unpainted brickwork through careful lime mortar repointing, avoiding the cement-based mortars that have caused damage to many similar properties. The pointing mortar should be a hot-mixed lime putty with sharp sand, the colour matched to the original joint to maintain the visual integrity of the brickwork. For the later Victorian polychromatic brick houses, the same lime mortar approach applies, with additional care needed to preserve the decorative brick banding that defines these facades. The Edwardian roughcast-rendered houses present different challenges: the render itself is typically a lime-based mix with a pebbledash aggregate thrown onto the surface while wet, and its maintenance requires a breathable paint system — Keim mineral paint or lime wash — that does not seal the surface and trap moisture within the wall. Where the render has cracked or detached, patch repairs should employ a compatible lime-based mix, and wholesale re-rendering should be avoided unless the existing render is extensively failed, as it often contains valuable evidence of the original specification. The timber elements of the Edwardian houses — bargeboards, porch canopies, and casement windows — should be maintained with a linseed oil paint system, the richer colour palette of the Edwardian period allowing for the deep greens, blues, and creams that characterise the Arts and Crafts aesthetic. Where leaded lights survive in Edwardian casement windows, the lead cames should be inspected for fatigue and renewed where necessary by a specialist glazier, preserving the original glass wherever possible.