Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture

The Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (MoDA) was a museum in North London, England, housing one of the most comprehensive collections of 19th- and 20th-century decorative arts for the home. The collections included the Silver Studio collection of designs for wallpapers and textiles, the Charles Hasler collection, and the Crown Wallpaper Archive. In 2008 the Silver Studio Collection was Designated as being of outstanding national and international quality and significance by Arts Council England. The museum was part of Middlesex University. Between 2000 and 2011 the museum was located at Cat Hill, Barnet, on Middlesex University's art and design campus. Exhibitions included: Purl (2004) The Suburban Landscape: 200 Years. The Silver Studio Collection The Silver Studio (run by the Silver family) was a commercial design practice, based in West London, which between 1880 and 1963 completed more than 20,000 schemes for items such as furnishing fabrics, wallpapers, tablecloths, rugs and carpets. The Studio employed a number of designers, some of whom, such as Archibald Knox, were well known in their own right. There were many others whose work remained anonymous. The Silver Studio's customers were retailers and manufacturers of wallpapers and textiles at all levels of the market, both in Britain and abroad. The Domestic Design Collection 1870–1960 This collection consisted of over 4,000 books, journals, magazines and trade and retail catalogues relating to all aspects of home furnishing, household management, cookery, house building, DIY, home crafts and gardening. A particularly important element was the material relating to the growth of North London suburbia between around 1900 and 1939. It consisted of posters, brochures and other publicity material produced by property developers, builders and estate agents. This material complemented the other items relating to domestic decoration and furnishing from the same period.