Foxborough Gardens murals

William Mitchell (1925 - 2020) was a prolific industrial artist and designer, best known for his large scale abstract concrete murals of the 1950s to 1970s. During the war he served as a petty officer on Royal Navy destroyers and later painted murals in NAAFI clubs and Ministry of Defence buildings. He then studied at the Royal College of Art, focusing on woodworking, metalworking and plastics and received the Prix de Rome. He was appointed Design Consultant to the London County Council in the 1950s and his work began to focus on civic spaces: pedestrian underpasses, roundabouts and squares.

He was commissioned by the LCC to decorate the entrances of two six­-storey housing blocks 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. In total, Mitchell is believed to have produced around 100 pieces of public art in London. Over fifteen of his works now have Grade II or Grade II* listed status.

In 2024, the painted mural was featured in an exhibition by young photographer Leah Robinson at our Public Art: Aesthetics in the Public Realm conference.

For the 2025 restoration project, 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 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.

The restored murals were unveiled in December 2025 with the children and local community, the Council and the Pilgrim Trust who have also supported the project.

This project was brought to Heritage of London Trust by the Foxborough Gardens Tenants and Residents Association and funded by Heritage of London Trust and the Pilgrim Trust.