Margaret Florence Lord was born at Warnambool, Victoria on 12 December 1908. She studied art for three years at the Swinbourne Technical College and then taught art in Melbourne secondary schools, continuing to study at night at the National Gallery School.

In 1936 she travelled to London where she remained until 1940, working for Reens-Arta, interior designers of Mayfair, and later for the Arnold School of Interior Decoration as Director of Studies. (Marie Louise Arnold had been the Managing Director of Reens-Arta before she set up her school.)

On her return to Australia in 1940, Margaret Lord moved to Sydney and was soon securing commissions for interior designs of private homes, institutional and commercial buildings. As well, she was in demand as a lecturer and a radio broadcaster. Army Education asked her to prepare a correspondence course for service personnel on interior decoration and the notes she prepared for this course developed into her first book, Interior Decoration: a guide to furnishing the Australian home (1944). She published two other books, A Decorator's World: living with art and international design (1969) and Interior Decoration in Practice (1971) and wrote numerous articles for magazines such as Australian Home Beautiful and The Home. Lord ran the women's session on ABC radio three days a week during 1944-46. From September 1945 she acted as colour consultant for the paint manufacturers Lewis Berger and Sons Pty Ltd. She was appointed lecturer in interior design to the University of Sydney Extension Board in 1948. In 1951 Lord became a foundation member of the Society of Interior Designers of Australia and participated in their first exhibition in 1953.

Interiors designed by Margaret Lord include Sydney University Union, the Shell Company's Carrington Street building, Johnston and Johnston's factory at Botany, Australian Glass Manufacturers' factory at Waterloo, Wrigley's Ltd building at Rosebery, the Sydney Club, the Memorial Hall at Shore, Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, Women's Hospital, Melbourne, and the ships Monowai, Manoora and Kanimbla.

Margaret Lord was married to businessman Vincent Wardell. They divided their time between a flat in Macleay Street, Potts Point and "Boswell" at Charlestown where they pursued interests in nature conservation. Margaret Lord died in 1976.

Archive, interior design, Margaret Lord, Australia, 1930-1975

The archive of interior designer Margaret Lord (1908-1976) consisting of diaries, 1956-1962, 1964-1975, guidebooks and notes re her travels to Scotland and France, 1937-1940, passports and international certificates of vaccination, 1951-1974, scrapbooks, 1940-1941, 1952, newscuttings, 1937-1970, issues of magazines featuring articles by or about Margaret Lord, 1941-1953, typescripts of speeches, broadcasts and articles, 1949-1964, letters received, 1947-1971, subject file, 'Publicity', 1948 and 1951, Christmas cards, n.d., issue of 'Meanjin' inscribed by Douglas Annand, 1970, certificate of membership of the Society of Interior Designers of Australia, 1951, exhibition catalogue for Society of Interior Designers' First Exhibition, 1953, textbooks and other publications on interior decorating and furniture design, 1933-1961, catalogues of furniture designers, 1961-1968, papers re T.H. Robsjohn Gibbings' recreation of classical Greek furniture, 1973-1974, notebook of photographs of chairs, post 1955, photographs of United Kingdom stand at International Exhibition, Sydney Showground, featuring room interior designed by Lord, 1947, photographs of interiors of ships Monowai and Kanimbla designed by Lord, 1948-1951, photographs taken for article on Lord in 'Vogue Australia', 1969, photographic portraits of Lord taken for Angus and Robertson, 1971, miscellaneous photographc portraits of Lord, n.d., slides of Lord's flat at Potts Point, Sydney, n.d., miscellaneous photographs, n.d., publications by Lord, 1944-1971 and reader's reports on 'A Decorator's World', 1968.

Made: Lord, Margaret; Australia; 1930 - 1975

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1930 - 1975