Queer Places:
27 St George's Dr, Pimlico, London SW1V 2AD, UK
Oriel Lodge, 4 Wollstonecraft Rd, Boscombe, Bournemouth BH5 1JQ, UK
Brompton Cemetery, Fulham Rd., London SW10 9UG, United Kingdom
Pickford Robert Waller (October 29, 1849 - March 26, 1930) was an English designer, artist, and major collector associated with the Aesthetic Movement. Though he was the
son of the London builder, Robert John Waller and inherited his father's business, Waller devoted much of his life to fine art and book decoration.
The Waller family had built part of Belgravia and Pimlico for Thomas Cubitt, and remained active as builders, interior decorators and estate agents. Waller appears to have entered this firm on leaving St Nicholas College, Lancing, in 1867, but took little interest in it.
Waller was an influential patron within London's avant-garde creative circles. In the early 20th century (Edwardian era), he became the primary patron of the artist and occultist Austin Osman Spare.
Introduced to James McNeill Whistler by their mutual artist friend, Matthew White Ridley, Waller soon became a collector of his work and of others – first that of J W North and G J Pinwell and then, most significantly, Aubrey Beardsley. Later, he would become the most important patron of Charles Conder and Austin Osman Spare. As a result of his interest in such artists, he began to produce artistic work of his own.
He gained recognition for his Art Nouveau and Art Deco bookplate designs, floral patterns, and illustrations for works by authors such as Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm.
During this period, Austin Osman Spare moved closely through London's bohemian and homosexual artistic networks, attracting support from prominent queer figures, collectors, and aesthetes of the time—with Pickford Waller serving as his key financial and artistic benefactor.
By 1896, Pickford Waller resided at 27 St George’s Road, Pimlico (now St George’s Drive)—situated at the southern corner of Eccleston Square—where he began entering design competitions for The Studio, the premier fine and applied art magazine of the era. Drawing from sketchbooks of this period, he developed as an illustrator and bookplate artist. He collaborated with his friend, artist James Guthrie, whose Pear Tree Press published Songs and Verses selected from the works of Edmund Waller (1902, illustrated by Pickford Waller) and Book-plates
Waller later moved to Oriel Lodge, 4 Wollstonecraft Road, Boscombe, Bournemouth, where he died on March 26, 1930. The following year, Frank Hollings published The choice & remarkably extensive Aubrey Beardsley collection: assembled by the late Pickford Waller, together with first editions & finely illustrated books.
His only child, Sybil Waller, remained at the Bournemouth house. In her youth, she posed for artists Maurice Grieffenhagen, George Lambert, and Charles Shannon; in 1910, William Nicholson painted father and daughter together in the Conder Room at their St George’s Road home. Sybil later authored A Song of Thanksgiving and other verses (privately printed, 1950) and The Kingdom of Pan (Carvel Press, 1952). Following her death in February 1973, The Pickford Waller Collection was auctioned at Christie’s.
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