Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture

The Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (MoDA) was a museum in North London, England, that housed one of the most comprehensive collections of nineteenth- and twentieth-century decorative arts for the home. Part of Middlesex University, it operated from 2000 until its closure to visitors in September 2023, with final operations planned to end by July 2024. Its holdings were distinguished by the 2008 Designation of the Silver Studio Collection by Arts Council England, recognized as being of outstanding national and international quality and significance.

MoDA opened in 2000 at Cat Hill, Barnet, on Middlesex University's art and design campus. In 2011 it relocated to Beaufort Park in Colindale, near the university's Hendon campus in the London Borough of Barnet. During its second phase, the museum pursued several innovative research projects: The Hasler Gallery (2015); Katagami in Practice (2016-18), funded by Arts Council England; and Exploration of Social Sharing (2022), supported by the Art Fund. It also published the podcast 'That Feels Like Home' before and during the pandemic. The museum closed to visitors in September 2023, with plans to end all remaining operations by July 2024, following financial difficulties at the university that meant the Hendon Campus lease would not be renewed after 2026.

The museum's collections centered on domestic decorative arts, with particular strength in wallpaper and textile design. The core holding was the Silver Studio Collection, comprising over 20,000 designs for furnishing fabrics, wallpapers, tablecloths, rugs, and carpets produced between 1880 and 1963. This was supplemented by the Charles Hasler Collection, the working archive of a designer and typographer active from the mid-1930s to the mid-1980s, and the Crown Wallpaper Archive of approximately 5,000 wallpaper albums and samples from the early 1950s to the late 1960s. MoDA also previously held the Sir James Maude Richards Library on long-term loan, a collection of architectural books and journals assembled by a leading theorist of the Modern Movement in Britain.

The Silver Studio Collection formed the backbone of the museum. The Silver Studio, a commercial design practice based in West London and run by the Silver family, employed designers including Archibald Knox and sold designs to manufacturers across the market spectrum, from mass producers such as Lightbown Aspinall and Potters of Darwen to high-end firms including Essex & Co, John Line, Sandersons, and the department store Liberty. The Studio's influence on British interiors was acknowledged in 1981 with an English Heritage blue plaque at 84 Brook Green, Hammersmith. The Charles Hasler Collection encompassed printed material from the nineteenth century onward, including postcards, playbills, sheet music, packaging, and posters, reflecting Hasler's work on exhibitions such as 'Dig For Victory', 'Make Do and Mend', and the Festival of Britain 1951. In May 2024, ownership of the Charles Hasler Collection was transferred to the University of Reading Special Collections. The Sir James Richards Library was returned to its owner in February 2024.

From its opening in 2000 until 2011, MoDA was housed at Cat Hill, Barnet, on Middlesex University's art and design campus. From 2011 until its closure in 2023, the MoDA Collections Centre was based at Beaufort Park in Colindale, close to the university's Hendon campus in the London Borough of Barnet. The museum maintained regular opening hours from Tuesday through Sunday during its period of operation.

The Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture was located in the London Borough of Barnet, North London, and was part of Middlesex University. It closed to visitors in September 2023, with all operations planned to end by July 2024. The closure was precipitated by financial problems at the university, which led to the decision not to renew the Hendon Campus lease after 2026. The museum's website remains accessible at https://moda.mdx.ac.uk/.