Fig. 1. Boscobel, built in Montrose, New York, 1804–1808, and moved and reerected in Garrison, New York, 1957–1961. All photographs are by courtesy of Boscobel, Garrison, New York. Fig. 2. Sofa probably by Duncan Phyfe (1770–1854), New York, c. 1815–1820. Mahogany and cherry; height 32 ½, length 85 ¼, depth 24 ½ inches. The brass feet are replacements; the modern …
The Moores
Fig. 1. Slingshots carved and painted by members of the North Carolina Cherokee tribe during the first half of the twentieth century for the tourist trade (see also Fig. 6). Fig. 2. A rare nineteenth-century gourd fiddle and two banjos by African American maker Bill Plummer (1873–1942), of Chilhowie, Virginia, hang in the den (see also Fig. 10). Fig. 3. …
One House Two Worlds
Fig. 1 A “Z” stool designed by Gilbert Rohde (1894–1944) c. 1935 for the Troy Sunshade Company, a cone chair designed by Verner Panton (1926–1998), 1958, and two recent examples of his stacking chair of 1960 provide seating in the kitchen. On the top wall shelf are examples of the Diplomat coffee service designed by Walter Von Nessen (1889–1943), 1932, and of …
Eames House tour contest
The Delaware-based type foundry and design firm House Industries is offering three lucky individuals a chance to win an exclusive tour of the Eames House (Case Study House #8) in Pacific Palisades, California, where the dynamic design duo lived from 1949. Although the grounds of the Eames House are open to the public, tours of the interior are usually only …
Great Estates: Davenport House in Savannah, Georgia
Completed around 1820, Davenport House, located in the historic port city of Savannah, evinces the post-Revolutionary American taste for contemporary European design. Isaiah Davenport, a master carpenter by trade, looked to the classicizing mode that had become prevalent in residential architecture throughout England and Europe when he constructed Davenport House for his growing family. Today, visitors can experience the excitement …
Museum accessions, part 2
This short list of notable acquisitions began with a request to decorative arts curators in major American museums to choose and discuss a favorite recent gift or purchase. The design of this elegant Gothic revival center table is attributed to the renowned Alexander Jackson Davis. The leading advocate for the “pointed style” in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, …
Pennsylvania style
Photography by Gavin Ashworth | It took knowledge—knowledge and taste together,” according to Harry Hartman of Harry B. Hartman Antiques and Interiors who helped to form this exceptional private collection of American furniture and folk art and American and Chinese export paintings. For nearly fifty years, the Hartman name has been synonymous with purveying fine antiques from southeastern Pennsylvania. This …
European elegance in San Francisco
Photography by Aya Brackett | One of California’s finest collections of eighteenth-century English and European decorative arts is to be found in San Francisco in a large Queen Anne revival house in Pacific Heights. Carefully chosen to evoke the atmosphere of an English country house or a French château, these objects shine brilliantly against the dark brown paneling in the …
The legacy of Henry Davis Sleeper
December 2009 | November 1915. On “one of those autumn days when the darkness comes so suddenly that one seems to bump one’s head against it,” a small party departs from an unnamed city. Wrapped in furs and nestling into blankets, they huddle in the back of the open car to ward off the chill. Soon paved roads give way …
The Hidden Magic of Henry Davis Sleeper’s Beauport
December 2009 | Beauport, with its labyrinth of small rooms, layers of objects, and false doors, is a playhouse and a place that exists as a dream. The small rooms change shape, lead one to another without a quickly understood plan or even a simple hallway. There are doors, windows, paneling, tables, chairs, and art taken from long-gone houses, different …