Stored Treasures
The North Tower Room at the Biltmore
House is restored thanks to previous 'pack rats.'
By Patricia Sprinkle
The North Tower Room
in the historic Biltmore House in Asheville, NC, is shaped in a
graceful oval and is decorated in a mixture of styles from the late
18th and early 19th centuries. Furnishings include a 19th-century
balloon clock, delicate armchairs and a languorous chaise longue
whose lions’ paw feet are modeled on a classical motif.
This elegant guest room is a part of a suite of four interconnected
rooms. Given their grand size and prominent location—directly
above the Vanderbilts’ own bedrooms and sitting area—these
guest rooms were probably among the most elaborate in the house.
The suite could have been shared by a family or groups of guests
visiting together. The North Tower Room, like all the guest bedrooms,
is elegant but also designed for comfort.
FAITHFUL AND TRUE
The North Tower Room opened to the public in April 1995 after two
years of exhaustive research and restoration. The original fabric
in this room was still left on the wall. “This allowed us to
do an accurate reproduction,” says Ellen Rickman, director
of museum services and floral displays. “In storage we also
had all the furniture from this room which still had remnants of
the original fabric.”
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TOTAL EXPERIENCE
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This
is the fifth in a series of articles featuring the Biltmore
House and Guest Cottage on the Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC.
The home was built by George Vanderbilt between 1889 and 1895.
The Custom Home Furnishings School in Swannanoa, NC, has had
a long-time relationship with the Biltmore Estate and is running
an educational program called “The Total Experience at
the Biltmore,” offering five-day classes that take students
out of the workroom and on location, and from concept to completion
shows students how to work with a real client in a real environment,
including design, fabrication and installation of a window treatment
for the home. Next month The Total Experience class creates
window treatments for two bedrooms and a hallway at the Guest
Cottage. |
From the drapery fabric on the walls to the border fabric and even
the trims, a faithful and true reproduction was created. Even the
upholstery trims on the furniture were authentically reproduced.
“We also had in storage just the headers on a couple of the
drapery panels,” says Rickman. “Again we were lucky that
not only did we have the fabric, but we knew exactly what the drapery
looked like.”
During the depression, the butler at the time had taken the draperies
down from this room, had cut them down and they were sewn to fit
another room. “This was a way to economize back then,”
says Rickman.
“Fortunately, the butler saved the top heading. The neat thing
was that when we started doing this project, we found these in storage,”
she adds.
The drapery headers still had rings on them and the hooks were still
in place on the window alcoves. “And surprisingly, the hooks
still fit,” says Rickman. “We knew with certainty that
they belonged in this room.” The draperies were then accurately
reproduced.
Fortunately, there were people way back then that were “pack
rats” because there was a tie back also found in storage. “So
we knew how to make them just like the original ones,” says
Rickman.
Patricia Sprinkle is the managing editor of Sew WHAT? Magazine
published monthly by Professional Drapery Seminars Inc., Swannanoa,
NC. Its mission is to help drapery, slipcover and upholstery professionals
with all of their fabrication and design needs.
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