Heritage paint colour controls in Victoria, and to a large extent in Australia, are based mainly upon a document prepared 45 years ago by Miles Lewis and his then research assistant Alison Blake (now Bishop Alison Taylor). Today those controls are substantially unchanged, except for the cumulative inaccuracies which have crept in over time. But much more research has been undertaken by Lewis and others.
In this presentation Lewis will discuss both aspects – the fundamental principles underlying the original controls, and the further information now available, covering stucco and cement finishes, unpainted surfaces, paint types, natural colours, ready-mixed paints, conventions for external colours on buildings, signwriting, conservation colour controls, the paint colours bulletin, the Munsell colour system, paint layers and microscope analysis, sanded finishes and other topics.
Professor Miles Lewis, FAHA, AM, is an architectural and building historian known for a range of publications, such as Architectura, published internationally in five languages, and for his work on vernacular architecture. He is an honorary life member of the Comité International d’Architecture Vernaculaire. The building materials which he collected during his academic life at Melbourne University have now been digitised to produce interactive three-dimensional simulacra, on a web site which will be launched shortly.