Historic Homes of New EnglandNorthend, Mary Harrod
History
Historic Homes of New England
Northend, Mary Harrod
Architecture, Colonial; Historic buildings -- New England
The upper hall has an elliptical arched window and a hand-carved
balustrade. It is of the same proportions as the lower hall, and it,
too, is fitted up as a living-room. Beautiful pieces of furniture are
well chosen and well placed. A large bookcase showing torch
ornamentations contains rare books that cannot be duplicated. In each
one is a bookplate, the work of Henry Middleton. A certain charm
pervades the second story of this mansion, which does not lie in the
furnishing but in the architectural details of the window, the
pilasters, the hand-carving of the balusters, all of which are simple
but unusual.
Large, square chambers open from either side of the hallway, and like
the rest of the house are furnished in seventeenth-century pieces. The
fireplace, decorated with bow and arrow design, is of Scaglioni
composition and was found in an Italian palace. The furniture of this
room is unusually rare. There is not a single piece of ordinary make.
The bed is a fine example of Sheraton, showing a tester, and decorated
in gilt bows and arrows brought out clearly on the white enamel. This
bed, showing the cupid pattern, was purchased for the first bride of the
Middleton house. It has within recent years been repainted, but the
pattern kept intact. Unique are the drapings of this bed, the
counterpane being very rich gold and white satin lined with white and
edged with French lace. The same idea has been carried out in flounce
and hangings. The chairs are also rare examples of Sheraton, and follow
the color scheme of the room.
[Illustration: PLATE XCV.--Bridal Chamber, Middleton House.]
A second chamber in this house has a fine four-poster imported from
Leghorn at the time when the house was built. It is a Chippendale and
one of the best examples of that master's designs. A painting in this
room is very valuable, being a picture of Lady Mornington, the mother of
Wellington. It was painted by her daughter, Lady Berghurst, who posed
her model with a gazette in her hand containing an account of the battle
of Waterloo.
A most interesting collection of furniture belonging to the deWolfs
shows earmarks of the old masters' designs kept in the group of houses
that were built by this distinguished family. The most prominent being
the house of Charles deWolf. It was a large, square structure with roof
sloping on all sides, and containing low-studded and spacious rooms that
were heated by fireplaces only. An odd feature of this house were the
hallways, running at right angles and meeting in the center. Spanish
furniture, richly carved and showing odd patterns, vied with French
pieces in magnificence.
The walls of the double drawing-rooms were hung with paper showing birds
of paradise in brilliant plumage. Between the two rooms were gorgeous
portieres of gold and silver damask. On state occasions the table bore
solid silver candelabra and goblets of gold, spoils of the early siege
of Oyapoc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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