Three William Mitchell murals in South London have been restored, following spirited campaigns led by local residents, support from C20 Society, and crucial funding and project management from the Heritage of London Trust. Conservation work on the murals at the Brooklands Park Estate in Greenwich and Foxborough Gardens in Lewisham took place throughout 2025, coinciding with the centenary of the artists birth.

William Mitchell (1925-2020)

William Mitchell as one of the most important and prolific artists active in England in the post-war period. The Society has long championed Mitchell’s highly distinctive murals, and many of his works have been saved thanks to our ongoing Murals Campaign, launched in 2009.

Wider appreciation for Mitchell continues to grow and 15 of his artworks are now listed on the National Register, more than any other post-war artist. These include the Grade I Roman Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool, Grade II* Cathedral Church of SS Peter and Paul in Clifton, Bristol, and Harrod’s Egyptian Hall, now threatened with demolition. Other recent listings include the murals in the Hockley Flyover in Birmingham (1968) and ‘Scenes of Contemporary Life’ in the Park Place underpass in Stevenage (1972) and the Civic Fountain at Southend-on-Sea (1971), all at Grade II.

His mural in the former Lee Valley Water Company Offices was relocated to a nearby new housing estate in 2015, and those at Bull Yard in Coventry and Kirkgate Market in Bradford are due to be relocated shortly to make way for redevelopment of the buildings upon which they’re affixed.

Brooklands Park Estate, Blackheath, Greeenwich

Commissioned as part of the London County Council Patronage of the Arts project, the mural was designed in 1958 for a clubhouse building on the new post-war estate. The 13 large decorative panels that make up the 20x12ft artwork are made from routed chipboard, inlaid with Bakelite – a pigmented polyester resin. Its organic design is in keeping with the brief of LCC architect Rosemary Stjernstedt, that the housing on the Estate should integrate well with the surrounding landscape.

In 2022 it was announced that the clubhouse was set to be demolished to make way for new social housing, causing concern from residents that the mural would be lost. C20 Society worked with the Blackheath Society, Royal Borough of Greenwich, local residents and ward councillors to successfully bid for funding from Heritage of London Trust, who commissioned and oversaw the conservation work. William Mitchell scholar Dr Dawn Pereira also advised on the restoration.

After exploring several potential new sites, an ideal location was identified at Brooklands Primary School – just 250m from the old community centre and built at the same time as the rest of the estate.

For its 2025 restoration, the mural has been thoroughly cleaned to remove engrained dirt, paint damage and to stabilise the top layer of the chipboard, which was delaminating and very flaky in parts. Losses have been filled with pigmented resin and areas of loss retouched and coloured with acrylic wash. It was then set into a bespoke timber frame and reinstalled in the main hall of Brooklands Primary School, ready to be enjoyed and cared for by new generations of young custodians.

Foxborough Gardens, Lewisham

Mitchell was commissioned by the LCC to decorate the entrances of two six­-storey housing blocks at Foxborough Gardens in Lewisham between 1957 and 1963. One mural is made from offcuts of wood and bits of old furniture – bannisters, dado rails and chair legs – arranged on baseboards and sanded down and varnished. It depicts abstract forms of birds, fountains, castles and sunbursts. The other mural is made from concrete (poured concrete into a clay matrix) and is more purely abstract. The concrete mural was painted in bright colours in subsequent decades.

After falling into a state of disrepair, the Foxborough Gardens Tenants and Residents Association mounted a spirited campaign to restore the murals and contacted C20 Society in 2023.  An introduction to the Heritage of London Trust followed and thanks to their funding and that of the Pilgrim Trust, the murals were successfully restored in 2025.

The timber mural was removed from site and sanded down to remove the UV damaged varnish, revealing the grain of the wood and original designs hidden underneath. The losses were then filled with newly cut pieces of wood, using molds from the original shapes, and the panels oiled. Restoration was carried out by Temple Studios.

The concrete mural was cleaned at high pressure and carefully scraped to remove the many years of old layers of paint. Losses and cracks were restored and UV resistant cement paint was used to repaint the mural. Restoration was carried out by Taylor Pearce Ltd.

Foxborough Gardens murals before and after restoration