The Opulent Interiors of the Gilded Age by Lewis Arnold; Turner James; McQuillin Steven

Author:Lewis, Arnold; Turner, James; McQuillin, Steven [Arnold Lewis, James Turner and Steven McQuillin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2016-03-17T16:00:00+00:00

40. Dining room, Julia T. Harper house, 4 Gramercy Park West, New York, New York; architect unknown, 1847; standing. Julia Thorne (1821–1902) married James Harper (April 13, 1795–March 27, 1869) in 1848, a year after his first wife of 24 years, Maria Arcularius, died. Their residence overlooked Gramercy Park, one of two fenced parks in New York City to which only the owners of surrounding houses had keys. In front of the Harper house were two wrought-iron lampposts, mayor’s lamps—symbols reminding pedestrians that he had held the highest office in the city (1844–45). The lamps, as well as the iron portico of the porch, still stand in front of the relatively unchanged four-story exterior.

After an apprenticeship to a printer, James, with a younger brother, formed the printing firm of J. & J. Harper in 1817. In 1833 it became Harper & Brothers, one of the most successful publishing houses in the United States in the nineteenth century. Historians credit James for conceiving of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, which appeared in 1850. Mrs. Harper was not philanthropically active after his death, in part because she was an invalid for most of her life.

In 1879 her son, James Thorne Harper, and his wife commissioned Stanford White to create this dining room at the rear of the house. Solid and unpretentious despite an abundance of whatnots, it attracted Sheldon by its moderation and cohesiveness. “A fine sense of repose belongs to surroundings in perfect accord with the desires of a cultivated taste, and full of evidences of a sensitive observation at the disposal of a trained and knowing hand.” The principal woods—mahogany for the wainscoting and oak for the paneled ceiling—were choices often seen in elegant dining rooms of the period. The embossed leather, covering the wall between the wainscoting and ceiling, was another material considered quite proper though also quite expensive. This leather was a discreet blue-green, highlighted with touches of bronze paint. Like the walls, the chairs were mahogany padded with embossed leather. Sheldon appreciated such a carefully coordinated unit: “Nothing glares; nothing stares.” The dark propriety of this dining room was distinctly unlike the rooms of the Tiffany (nos. 13–16) and Colman (no. 29) houses, in which the decorative means were varied and competitive and their impact less subdued and stable.

On the other hand, the Harper dining room was not featureless. Above the table the splendid chandelier of cut glass that concealed the gas jets was set in a coved octagonal recess. At the side wall were windows of intricately leaded glass, partially veiled by the thin curtains. Warm, serious and protective, this dining room was a formal expression of the sentiment cut in the marble over the fire opening, “Tis Home Where The Hearth Is.”

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