A picture rail is a horizontal moulding fixed around the walls of a room, usually a little below the cornice, from which pictures and mirrors can be hung by hooks and cords or chains. Its purpose is to allow artwork to be moved or rearranged without driving nails into the plaster.
Picture rails were most widely used in British houses of the Victorian and Edwardian periods, when rooms were hung densely with paintings, prints and photographs. They were usually made of softwood and painted, though finer houses might have oak or mahogany rails, and they often divided the wall into a frieze above and a main field below, each with a different wallpaper or colour. Brass, steel and decorative picture hooks designed to sit over the rail are collected in their own right. In older houses the rail is part of the original architectural scheme, and its height and profile help to date the interior. Restorers should retain or replicate original mouldings where possible. Today picture rails are prized as a period feature, and they remain a practical way to hang heavy gilt frames and mirrors in rooms with fragile lime plaster walls.
