Victorian & Federation Wall Tiles
Authentic period features
About
Authentic replicas of heritage designs, colour coordinated across all formats, including: friezes, caps and skirting tiles. Suitable for a wide range of period homes and commercial premises. Locally manufactured, so no lengthy lead times.
Features
What sets our Heritage wall tiles apart-
Victorian and Federation
Designs for a wide variety of styles
Whether Gothic Revival, Boom Style, Arts & Crafts or Art Nouveau, you can find the right style and colour of decorative frieze for your home or commercial situation.
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Prints, embossed, capping
Colour coordinated across all formats
A wide selection of colours, sizes, patterns and textures, including friezes, caps & skirting tiles suitable for residential bathrooms and kitchens, plus commercial projects: shop facades, pubs, cafes & restaurants.
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Historically authentic
Based on authentic heritage tiles
Our decorative borders are high quality replicas of original Victorian & Federation designs, enabling you to achieve the correct look for your period renovation.
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Locally manufactured
Get your tiles sooner
Local production means you can select from our wide range without the inconvenience of lengthy import and production lead times, or minimum quantities.
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Custom-made tiles
Perfect for residential or commercial projects
After a custom profile or looking to match an exisiting feature tile? Our Sydney based factory means we can reproduce your original design without the inconvenience of lengthy production lead times & minimum quantities.
Inspiration
Recent projects.-
Porch and Parlour, North Bondi
Our classic poppies fireplace tile are paired with a simple black and w...
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Products
The best of our Victorian & Federation Wall TilesFeature Rectangle
Feature Square
Feature Strips
FAQs
Frequently asked questions.-
How high up the wall should I tile?
A quick guide:
Victorian bathroom walls were divided into three sections: 150x150mm tiles (plain, decorative, or a combination of both) from floor to dado height - approximate 1 metre high, terminating with a frieze and capping; 150x75mm plain brick bonded tiles continuing up the rest of the wall but finishing about 300mm short of ceiling. The final section was tiled with a richly patterned frieze of embossed or printed tiles plus a capping tile and sometimes with additional trim tiles. The best examples of this sort of treatment can be seen in the various bathrooms at Rippon Lea House in Melbourne.
Federation bathroom walls were more simply treated, which undoubtedly explains why this look has been the dominant one in the restoration of period bathrooms. Bathroom walls were generally tiled in 150x75mm white ‘subway’ tiles, with a contrasting coloured skirting tile at the base and a matching frieze and capping at a height of approximately 1800mm. Decorative friezes usually depicted floral motifs with a strong Art Nouveau styling. Occasionally the plant forms were specifically Australian. Waratahs and flannel flowers in particular lent themselves to an Art Nouveau treatment.
This is a very general rule, and there were many exceptions to this approach, as there are now.
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Which tiles suit my style of house?
The decorative styles of the Victorian era were extremely diverse. Apart from the taste for Gothic Revival styling, the innovation of the international trade show which started with the Great Exhibition in 1851, exposed the public to the decorative arts of the whole world.
Subject matter was extremely varied, including everything from mythological, historical and literary to animals, insects & flowers. Inspiration also came from different cultures, e.g. Persian, Turkish, Indian & Japanese art had a strong influence on the decorative style of people like William Morris.
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Prints: Do they come in other colours?
Several of our printed frieze tiles, notably ‘Persia’ and ‘Baroque’ are available in a wide variety of colours that coordinate with our standard subway glaze colours. Most other multi-coloured prints, such as ‘Birds & Berries’ or ‘English Rose’ are only available in one colourway on either a white or vanilla base.