Home furnishing
The Paul Kafka (Vienna) Archive
The collection consists of over 700 furniture design drawings by various Central European designers dating from between about 1920 and 1939. It originates from Vienna, Austria, where Paul Kafka worked for his father’s furniture business before emigrating to Australia
The Astor, 1923–2023
Upon completion in 1923, The Astor in Sydney's Macquarie Stree twas the largest reinforced concrete building in Australia, the tallest residential block, and this country’s first company title residences
Watch pockets
Watch pockets hung on the head cloth of a four-post bedstead and originally served in place of bedside tables, which were uncommon in the 19th century
Wallpaper
Wall to wall: a marvellous wallpaper collection
A remarkable donation of over 3,000 wallpaper samples by John and Phyllis Murphy adds to our existing collection to form Australia’s largest repository of historic wallpapers
Queering the Interior: London, New York, Sydney, 1882–1929
Design practices of five figures from queer history: Irish playwright and poet Oscar Wilde, American actress and interior designer Elsie de Wolfe, and Australian artists Eirene Mort, Roy de Maistre and Adrian Feint (1894–1971)
Furnishing textiles in Australia: 1850-1920
The Caroline Simpson Library holds numerous examples of textile furnishings provenanced to NSW homes dating back to the 1850s
Designed with intent: colonial vs modernist chairs
This selection of furniture juxtaposes the old with the new: early 19th-century colonial seating and modernist styles made over a hundred years later
Sydney's home furnishing stores
Mark Foyʼs
Most Sydneysiders associate Mark Foy’s with its impressive former home, now used as the District Court
Sydney's home furnishing stores
Grace Bros
From its location just outside Sydney’s main business district, Grace Bros grew to become one of the city’s largest department stores.