The Wentworth Room – Portsmouth, New Hampshire – 1695-1700
The once proud home of John (1671-1730) and Sarah Hunking Wentworth (1673-1741) was moved from its original site to a wrecking company yard. It was carefully dismantled shortly after 1926 and stored by the Metropolitan to ensure that at least part of this house would survive. It had served as a rooming house before demolition, and many of the main floor rooms had been seriously altered, so in 1937, museum staff decided to install only one of the second floor chambers and its stairway in the American Wing. The scale of the room, about 29 feet in length and 18 feet wide, suggests the prominence of its merchant and sea captain owner. The room is one of the largest domestic interiors to survive from America’s colonial period. It was the best chamber in the house, and was used for both sleeping and informal entertaining. Another of the house’s upstairs chambers was sold to Henry Francis du Pont in 1929 and is now installed at Winterthur.
The splendid fireplace wall features raised pine paneling with bold moldings. All the woodwork is painted dark red to match the original color, as determined by paint analysis of remaining traces. The herringbone pattern in the hearth’s brickwork was inspired by the Winslow House (1699) in Marshfield. The room is beautifully furnished in the William and Mary style, and includes new forms such as the day bed, easy chair, the oval gateleg dining table, high chest and dressing table. The pieces are lighter and more vertical than those in the earlier Hart room. The six-legged chest is handsomely veneered and is one of the earliest versions of the highboy form. The dressing table and imported English mirror are further indications of individual forms with specialized functions in luxury goods of this period.
Note the ‘Turkey’ carpet on the table. Such expensive textiles were never used on floors at this time, but instead served as table covers. The upholstery and curtains are of green wool in the early eighteenth-century manner, and chairs are lined up against the wall to be brought to the center of the room as needed.
The Hart Room – Ipswich, Massachusetts, c. 1680
The earliest room has been the subject of recent intensive investigation. Its original owner was thought to be Thomas Hart (1611-1674). However, dendrochronology (the study of the annual growth rings in trees, wood or wooden objects) has shown that the tree that provided the massive oak summer beam was likely felled in 1680. Thomas was already dead by this time, so it’s probable that this room belonged to his son Samuel. Curators have both Thomas and Samuel’s household inventories and each is so similar that this room didn’t require any furnishings to be changed. Only a fully draped bed has been added.
The house was a simple structure with the first floor consisting of a single room known as a hall. A large chimney stood at one end, and the room was used for most family activities, particularly cooking, dining, household tasks and even sleeping. The hall is furnished simply with two chests similar to those mentioned in the inventory. The one under the window is carved in low-relief in a style associated with Ipswich joiners William Searle and Thomas Dennis.
The court cupboard to the left of the fireplace may have been beyond Hart’s means, but is typical of those used in period to store table linens, ceramics and other luxury goods. A paneled oak cradle with turned finials suggests that the most recent Hart baby would never be far from the warmth of the hearth. A versatile chair-table and a pair of joined stools with red wool cushions brighten the assortment or furnishings.
The Baltimore Dining Room –
Baltimore, Maryland – Circa 1810
The Baltimore patriot and Declaration signer Charles Carroll of Carrollton sold his four-bay, two and a half-story dwelling on 913 East Pratt Street to the merchant Henry Craig (d. 1823). Though the exterior of the brick house was quite simple, the interior contained elegantly proportioned neoclassic rooms, of which this is one. The room was originally Craig’s parlor, but has served as a dining room at the Metropolitan from its first installation. All of the woodwork is original, including the mantel reminiscent of the British Adam brothers’ shallowly carved ornament of simple, neo-classic motifs. The theatrical niches on either side of the fireplace echo the oval motifs of the mantelpiece, and contain a pair of Boston gilt gesso looking glasses made circa 1795-1810. Many ornaments that were traditionally produced in plaster are carved in pine in this fine room.
A stunning Baltimore dining table with bellflower inlay on the legs stands in the center of the room, surrounded by square-back chairs of southern or mid-Atlantic manufacture. The horsehair upholstery fabric and reproduction floor cloth are typical of the period. The most spectacular piece of furniture in this room, however, is the highly decorated mahogany sideboard, a relatively new form when this house was built. It features striking inlaid griffin and swag designs at center which are flanked by silver and eglomise panels, which make it one of the grandest examples known. By tradition, the sideboard was made for General John P. Van Ness, who commissioned Benjamin Latrobe to build his 1813 Washington, D.C., house.
The Renaissance Revival Parlor – Meriden, Connecticut – 1870
Jedediah Wilcox’s ‘princely residence’ was located on 816 Broad Street in Meriden, Conn. The house was purchased by the Mobil Oil Corporation, who intended to raze the structure to build a gas station and 75-unit motel in its place. Local preservationists, led by their mayor, fought a good battle to save this piece of American heritage, but failed to raise enough cash, so the house was torn down. Today, the lot is weed-covered; nothing was ever built there.
During the struggle for preservation, the Metropolitan Museum asked if it could purchase some of the interior elements in the event that the house could not be saved. The American Wing was able to acquire the front parlor, the rear parlor and the formal front hall with its magnificent staircase, as well as the rear parlor’s suite of furniture. The front parlor was later sold to Yale University and the remaining architectural elements were sold at auction.
“Aside from their rich ornament, the rooms of the house were particularly desirable because they were among the first known nineteenth-century American interiors that were clearly overseen by a single designer who had maintained a consistent idea in every aspect of their decoration,” Amelia Peck said. “The fittings of each room were en suite, in that the overmantel mirror, window cornices, lighting fixtures, marble mantels and furniture all matched.” Somehow, the house had remained intact into the 1960s, so today this room comes very close to looking exactly as it did when built. There has been very little speculation in this installation.
The rear parlor has heavily fringed and tasseled draperies, and a reproduction wall-to-wall carpet appropriate to the period. Wilcox’s furniture is attributed to John Jelliff & Co., a popular Newark-based cabinetmaker. The suite consists of a sofa, two armchairs and a pair of side chairs. The center table is in the Egyptian Revival style by Pottier and Stymus, New York, but was not part of the original suite. The room’s crowning touch is the magnificent 12-armed chandelier with matching wall sconces by Mitchell, Vance, and Co. of New York.
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The Verplanck Room – Coldenham, New York – 1767
In 1939, the wealthy Verplanck family offered the American Wing many of the eighteenth-century possessions once owned by Samuel Verplanck (1739-1820) with the stipulation that the collection be exhibited in a room specifically set aside for that purpose. As no eighteenth-century New York parlors have survived, this room from the Orange County Colden house was purchased for its fit in terms of date and New York associations.
“This is a room that started life in the original Metropolitan American Wing,” Peck said. “In 1980, we moved it to the new building; it’s one of our best rooms and it really got lost there.” Moved again to better advantage, the room has had its dimensions restored to almost square, which is more true to the time period. Recent paint analysis suggested a change from blue to a wonderful grey-green color. The paneling has been repainted using ground pigments in a linseed oil base applied with bristle brushes. Both the type of paint and the technique illustrates eighteenth-century methods to wonderful effect.
The outstanding exhibit in the room is the only known set of American Chippendale parlor furniture, which originally belonged to Verplanck; the artist’s portrait by John Singleton Copley hangs on the wall. The other notable piece is a red and gold japanned William and Mary secretary desk from 1700-1720.
The furniture in this room was originally used in the Verplanck townhouse at number 3 Wall Street in New York City. It’s interesting to note that the house was taken down in 1822 to make way for the building of the Branch Bank of the United States. The façade of the bank became the front of the American Wing in 1924.
The New York Dutch Room – Bethlehem, New York – 1751
The newly installed Dutch Room was taken from the timber-framed house of tenant farmer Daniel Peter Winne in Bethlehem, New York, about five miles south of present day Albany. Originally located on Rensselaerswick Manor, dendochronology on the oak floor joints dates the house to 1751.
This fully framed room was the “dwelling chamber” of the farm house and represents “New World” Dutch building traditions. The room contains much of museum’s rich collection of New York Dutch decorative art objects including silver, furniture, Hudson Valley portraits and an extraordinary painted window dated 1656 by New York painter Evert Duyckinck for use in the Dutch Reformed Church of Beverwyck (Albany).
The key features of the room are the original oak floor and the hard pine beams. Never painted, but beautifully patinated with smoke and soot, the hand-planed beams form the Dutch-style “anchor bent” frames that support the floor joists and roof above.
The splendid furnishings include two of the rarest and greatest kasten surviving anywhere. One, produced in New York City between 1690-1720, is grisaille painted with pendant fruit. The second example is an oak joined kast dating to 1650-1700. Other joined and turned furniture is placed in the room along with a case of New York silver in the Dutch tradition (see NEAJ, January, 2009 for more on this room and its contents.)
The Richmond Room – Richmond, Virginia – 1810
The architect of Richmond’s governor’s mansion (1813), and probably of the William Clayton Williams House (1810) from which this room was saved, was Alexander Parris, a native of Maine. One of his best known commissions was Quincy Market (1825) in Boston. In his later years, Parris became known as one of the leading practitioners of the Greek Revival style.
This superb example of the style comes complete with scenic wallpaper entitled “The Monuments of Paris,” designed in 1814 by Xavier Mader for the French manufacturer Joseph Dufour. The wallpaper was copied from an existing parlor in Effingham, NH, for the Metropolitan Museum. The name “Theo. Nash” is carved into the top of a mahogany door frame in this room. It is likely that Nash, of whom we know little, was the master carpenter who worked on the main rooms of the house. What is remarkable about the woodwork is the quality of the imported Caribbean mahogany. Not only are the doors made of of finely carved mahogany, but so are the window surrounds and wainscoting. Few other rooms of the period were finished in such expensive wood.
Some of the finest pieces in the American Wing’s collection furnish this room. They include the work of New York City cabinetmakers Duncan Phyfe and Charles-Honoré Lannuier. The elegant mahogany and rosewood pier table with its marble top supported by gilt swans was made by Lannuier. The figured wood surface is embellished with gilt bronze mounts and brass inlay banding. The table bears the remnants of three Lannuier labels. A card table with bold spread wing caryatids is also attributed to Lannuier, and is often considered his best form. The suite of chairs, two footstools and sofa in the room are thought to have been made by the workshop of Duncan Phyfe. The “Grecian-cross” legs (as they were called in period) are referred to as cirule-form today. The French Aubusson carpet with its classical medallion design underscores the curves of the furnishings to beautifully finish this magnificent room.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Room – Wayzata, Minnesota – 1912-14
The American Wing entered the twentieth century both chronologically and philosophically in 1982 with this installation. The earlier rooms were selected because of their historical associations. However, the criteria for collecting rooms had changed by the time the Metropolitan Museum acquired the Frank Lloyd Wright room. The museum recognized that “modern” rooms were as historically important as those of previous centuries.
Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the truly great architects and interior designers of the twentieth century, and this room provides museum visitors with the opportunity to experience a Wright-designed domestic space, a treat rarely available to the general public.
Frank Lloyd Wright designed this living room and its furnishings for Mr. and Mrs. Francis W. Little, a banker and avid amateur musician, respectively. He had built their home in Peoria, Ill. in 1903, so they asked him to design their new country house in 1908. After a series of design issues between the architect and client, the finished house was a resounding success. This room was created as the most important and largest space in the house – a place for the family to gather and a room that could be used as an informal concert hall for Mrs. Little’s piano recitals.
“The room exemplifies one of Wright’s most important contributions to modern architecture: the idea of dynamic spatial continuity,” Amelia Peck remarked. “In the soaring glazed pavilion, the division between interior and exterior has been minimized and the room itself is not a single volume but a series of levels.” The composition of side walls, the lower band of casement windows, long oak shelving, an upper band of clerestory windows and oak trimmed panels that integrate the surface of wall and ceiling carries the viewer’s eye upward to the leaded-glass ceiling light. All the furnishings are of oak and have been installed using the floor plan that Wright made for the room. To this architect, the exterior and interior design as well as the furnishings of a house were all part of an integrated whole.
American Wing Renovation, Phase II: The Charles Engelhard Court and Second and Third floor Period Rooms open May 19, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028-0198, (212) 535-7710, www.metmuseum.org
This article was based in part on Amelia Peck’s descriptions in Period Rooms in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York, 1996
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