We see this as a sort of common room, free for people to come and read a book in. Although there are no books here, we ve thousands in our house next door. We like to look out into the street to see the reflections in the car windows, roofs and bonnets down below.
The reflections make it into a sort of Alice in Wonderland world. We like the smell of this room: it comes from the paint on the doors, which is mixed with linseed oil and lead, as it would have been originally in this Queen Anne house. The furniture in the room is minimal and mostly 19th century.
We started to collect 19th-century furniture in the mid-70s because it was available and affordable. It seemed it was being discriminated against, just as we ourselves were at the time; anyone who mentioned the word Victorian meant Victorian rubbish . We felt we were in the same boat so were inclined to defend it.
In place of news, here's Gilbert & George in the Mail On Sunday taken from a new lavishly-tooled coffee table book, An English Room .
Fagburn has taken tea and cakes in that room, incidentally.
Alan Bennett's favourite place appears to be his bookshelves.
