PRESERVATION OF WALLPAPERS AS PARTS OF INTERIORS

Historic types of wallpaper and decorative schemes of interiors
documents describing the assets and liabilities of the factory
refer to the location of the main suppliers. For example, paper
was bought from Helsinki and Lübeck, paint and pigments
from Amsterdam, Lübeck, Hull in the UK, Szczecin in Poland
and Baltiysk in the current Kaliningrad Oblast, and templates
for surface printing from Lübeck and Amsterdam. 159 Some of
the factory’s clients were verified through the correspondence
between the customers and Revaler Tapeten Fabrik. According
to the letters, most of the products seemed to have been sold in
Estonia (at the department store of C. V. Haupt in Pärnu) and
neighbouring countries, such as Lithuania (in Liepāja) and the
Russian Empire (in Moscow and St. Petersburg). 160
Although no examples of wallpapers produced in the Revaler
Tapeten Fabrik have been definitely identified, it is highly
probable that a few fragments found in Olevimägi 14 were produced
in that factory.
An exemplary folder 161 of historic wallpapers found in Olevimägi
14 was compiled at the end of the 1970s. It includes several fragments
which reveal the tripartite scheme recommended by Jacob
von Falke in the second half of the 19th century. They consist of
a wallpaper, border and plain paper. The most extraordinary
details of the settings were the borders, many of which were
flocked and partly gilded. (Fig. 52) The samples were dated
to the 1880s, when the wallpaper factory seems to have been
actively running. Olevimägi 14 used to belong to the founder of
the Revaler Tapeten Fabrik, Baron Arthur Girard de Soucanton.
Although it cannot be proved, it is highly possible that the baron
decorated his private interiors with wallpapers produced in his
own factory.
The available wallpaper fragments and photographic material
from the second half of the 19th century reveal three types
of decorative schemes which were widely used in local interi-
159
Tapeedivabriku arved ja kirjavahetus kaubatellijatega tapeedi realiseerimiseks,
EAA coll. 4924, inv. 1, no. 5510.
160
Tapeedivabriku arved ja kirjavahetus kaubatellijatega tapeedi realiseerimiseks,
EAA coll. 4924, inv. 1, no. 5510.
161
Olevimägi 12, 14 varasemate tapeetide näidised hoonest, Tallinn City Archives
(hereafter TLA), coll. 347, no. 2, inv. 618.
94