I was looking at the photos of the double parlor at 1239 First Street that had been taken in the 1930s and in 1964 earlier. Every detail I focus on says even more that houses like this one are unique. Even though they're something of an architectural polyglot. Even the fireplaces are interesting!
Some of the fireplaces in the house were described in The Witching Hour as having been fitted for gas. The ones in the double parlor seem to have been coal burning fireplaces. In the picture from 1964, there is what looks like a coal bin by one of the two fireplaces. And it showed how it is that one can have a working fireplace right next to a tall window with very elegant drapes RIGHT next to it.
The walls sticks out a bit. Oops. Fixed that.
I managed to get the crown mouldings around the wall that extends out a bit for the fireplace. More specifically, the chimney behind the wall. I took out the wood and flames as these fireplaces don't seem to be for burning wood. If I'm not mistaken, the fireboxes would be a lot bigger than they are.Creating the arch that partitions this long, cavernous room into two sides, hence the name "double parlor", has been something of a challenge. This, too, is ornate, and upon closer inspection, one detail goes even further to make this arch somehow divide the room is the fact that the crown mouldings run along both sides of the arch.
Like this:
Look in the top right corner of the image above.I've added a chandelier as a sort of place holder, but the actual chandeliers and medallions are larger than the ones you see in the model so far. Finding mirrors massive enough was another challenge, but hopefully, I can modify these or make mirrors that will be closer to the ones in the actual house.
The mirrors seem to be part of the house, since they seem to have remained in it despite the house having had several owners over the course of its existence. They make me think of the "white ballroom" at Nottoway Plantation. As I understand it, John Randolph had had the ballroom painted white so that, like a modern art gallery, the colorful gowns he anticipated his daughters wearing to what sounds like a debutant ball would be more obvious and dazzling.
The mirrors were so that his daughters and/or other guests could discreetly check themselves to make sure nothing was out of place and they didn't look ridiculous. Obviously, this house is a townhouse in the Garden District, but looking closely at old photos of the double parlor tends to say a lot about the function of the room.
One can see a couch and chairs around a coffee table in one corner of the room, and a small table and chairs at another part of the room. There is what could possibly be a writing desk, a shelf for displaying knick knacks... For the Mayfairs, one end of the room would have a Bösendorfer piano.
Just reading accounts of Stella Mayfair's Roaring Twenties parties, and Rowan and Michael's wedding reception sixty years later both being held in the same double parlor says this is a room meant for entertaining. With that many people coming and going, it makes sense for those massive sash windows to also function as doors if necessary.
As I was looking at the pictures of the double parlor from the 1930s, I decided I wanted to really look closely at the pictures to see what sorts of items had been in the room. And where.
There seems to have been furniture arrangements like the more orderly photos from 1964, but I got the impression that the room hadn't really been used much by the time the pictures were taken in the 1930s. I could be wrong, but it looked to me like there was something of a hoard of things just set in the room and left wherever they were thumped down first. Looking at the history of the house, the pictures would have been taken at or about the time Pamela Clapp passed away (1934).
Her husband, Emory Clapp, had purchased the house for her as a wedding gift around 1869. He had bought it from Elizabeth Brevard, the daughter of Albert Hamilton Brevard, who was the original owner. Emory Clapp died around 1884, and Pamela, who apparently loved her home, remained in it until her own death decades later. Considering her advanced age at the time of her death, I can see how she might not have been able to manage the house as she once had.
If you look at the image of the double parlor taken from the entrance closest to the front door in 1964, look carefully at the picture on the wall. The one by the fireplace. There is something very interesting that I had never realized was there before. It looks like it might be a portrait of a woman standing beside what looks like that same fireplace the portrait hangs next to.
Pictures like this are excellent for giving us a better idea of the scale and proportion of the house. Anyone know if this is a picture taken in 1239 First Street's double parlor?
