Edith Wharton slept here, and wrote here, and bathed here...

Over the last few weeks I've been indulging in a pretty detailed series of posts on Edith Wharton's Berkshires home The Mount out in Lenox, MA. I've never spent so much time and thought on one property - ever. It's been a fascinating journey for me and I hope for you too!

We're ending up today with EW's most personal spaces - her boudoir, bedroom and bathroom. According to the tour information, her bedroom suite (on the second floor on the right, when facing the house from the rear) were the most significant rooms in this house filled with significance. Several of her books were written here and the design and decor epitomized her closely held precepts of interior design. Although her boudoir had a desk, she primarily did her writing in bed in the morning. The suite was the most private group of rooms in the house and servants could come and go from the various rooms without bothering her, regardless of which room she was occupying.

Here is a doctored floor plan - sorry it's a bit of a mess, but it's my recollection of the layout of the second floor, written over the Main Floor plan.


EW's Boudoir is an ornate jewel box of a room. The Boudoir is the room where she would have visited with close personal friends and handled the household business. Accordingly, the decorative detailing was quite high. Gorgeous, no? Ogden Codman, Jr. designed this space which included eight floral still-life paintings brought over from Milan. The original furnishings included a desk, a sofa, and a daybed, with toile curtains and upholstery. The original paint color has been restored and the room will eventually be re-decorated as it was in EW's time.





The cover of my edition of DoH, which was the first book assigned to us when I entered design school.EW's bathroom features wallpaper reproduced (by Scalamadré) from the original found in situ. Interestingly, EW was actually against the use of wallpaper as she felt it was unsanity and obscured architectural detail. And yet - wallpaper was used in both the bathroom and her bedroom. However, in keeping with her design theory, these two spaces - being private and not public - were very simply fitted.


Imagine, EW sitting in bed, in her bedclothes (aka jammies) with a lap desk and pen in hand - writing. I'm telling you, if she were here today, she'd be a blogger. Now, all I need is a secretary to pick up my pages as they float to the floor, and type them up for me! The bedroom wallpaper, which has also been reproduced from remnants found on site, is a soft felted paper. Note the complete difference in level of detailing between this room and her boudoir.

And the lovely lady herself. This is a photo I took of her photograph so much of the detail is lost. This dress and the jewels are every bit as stunning as the home itself. I hope you've enjoyed my visit to The Mount over these last few weeks. You can see all my posts here.

Click here to view a large scale slideshow of all my photos taken at The Mount.

A big thanks to the Edith Wharton folks for giving me a shoutout on their blog this week! I'm flattered by your kind words!

And finally, this special place is a true American treasure of both the decorative and literary arts. It's so important that the amazing restoration work being undertaken by the wonderful folks at EdithWharton.org continue. A year ago they were on the precipice of foreclosure. While the year was good to them, the difficult work of fund raising is never ending. Please consider making a donation in support. Thank you!

Today I am Hooked On Edith Wharton - join me at Julia from Hooked On Houses Friday Hooked on Party. What are you Hooked On?

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Upstairs Downstairs at The Mount

Continuing on with my Edith Wharton extravaganza, we will visit some of the servant spaces of this amazing home. The service functions of the home were primarily located in the south wing of the house.

The ground floor of the house contained the kitchen, scullery, servant's dining room and the laundry room. The image below shows the rear of the house. These working rooms were basically on the lowest level behind the stone foundation. There are, in fact, lots of windows and natural light. The Bookstore is now housed where the original laundry room was, at the end of the building. I didn't take any photos on this floor as the rooms have not been updated or restored (aside from the Bookstore) yet.

The Main Floor includes a Buter's Pantry, brush room for cleaning shoes and outerwear and offices for household management. Appropriately, the Butler's Pantry is adjacent to the Dining Room and would have contained the china, silver and linens and been the staging area for serving meals. I assume there must have been a dumbwaiter to bring up the food from the kitchen, but I didn't see it. The two photo's below are how the Pantry looks at this time. The marble counters and center island are, in fact, quite contemporary looking. I didn't know much about this room, until...



Is saw this postcard in the bookstore and realized that the Butler's Pantry had been fully stocked and staged at some point. This decorating was done by Susanna Stratton-Norris and Sheila Chefetz.

Photo credit: Pieter Estersohn, Edith Wharton Restoration at the Mount

On the bedroom floor was a sewing room, a closet for EW's dresses, a linen closet and her maid's bedroom. The image below is the Linen Closet, which included storage as we see here and linen presses on the other side.

According to the Tour Guide, EW was a caring and considerate mistress of the house to all her household staff. She'd grown up with servants and had seen all to often how they were often mistreated. I believe the guide said that her head butler (or some similar position) actually gave one of the eulogies at her funeral.

I'll be finishing up my Edith Wharton posts later this week with EW's Boudoir and Bedroom. EW really did write here!

The Edith Wharton Organization, which manages The Mount, was facing foreclosure just a year ago. A bank restructuring and much needed donations has kept the doors open, but money is still needed to continue operations and much needed improvements. Please consider making a donation to this treasure of American Arts and Architecture.

Click here to read all my Edith Wharton posts.

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Charlotte and Bunny do Edith proud

Since I started this series of posts on The Mount, I've been so excited to share the photos of the Drawing Room and Dining Room, which were decorated in 2002 by Charlotte Moss and Bunny Williams, respectively. These are the only fully decorated rooms in the house currently and while it's wonderful to be able to focus on the walls, floors and ceilings of the empty rooms (and this house does NOT disappoint in that regard!) it's also fun to see fully decorated rooms. And making it even more of a treat is to be able to see Charlotte and Bunny's work in person. Being from the hinterlands of Massachusetts, this is a rare treat!

Here is the Drawing Room as decorated by Charlotte Moss. Well, first let me say that I nearly swooned. And I rarely say things like that! Second, let me say how sad I am that my photographs of this room are not better. It's a relatively dark room, with windows only the back, which look out on the veranda, under a large awning. So, natural light being limited, my photos are a little grainy and do not do the room justice! First off, what can one say about that ceiling? Like God's own wedding cake. Consistent with EW's views that decorative detail match the room - the drawing room is the most formal, largest and the only room that boasts an elaborate treatment on the ceiling. The floor is terrazzo, under a rug, which was likely an Aubusson from France.
Here is an image showing the condition of the plasterwork before the restoration began, plus how the roses look now.

This room is so warm and inviting - I just wanted to have a seat and take it all in. That sofa looked so comfy! But, I figured all manner of bells and whistles would go off, so I just looked longingly...

The original tapestries (Brussels, 1710) were auctioned off in 1935. They have been recreated for the home. Charlotte Moss has donated the furnishings to the Edith Wharton Organization.

Moving along, we are now in the dining room - as decorated by Bunny Williams. This room, being on the corner, benefited from a much brighter light and was much easier to photograph! What I love about Bunny's design were the contemporary touches of modern art and a hand painted sisal carpet. She is quoted in the program book saying "Edith was a modern lady who never lost her traditional roots".


Another view...
Here is a photo of EW's own decor circa 1905. Bunny certainly took her cues from Edith's work here. Look closely under the table and you will see the cushion on the floor for EW's beloved dog. Bunny includes a cushion by the table (top pic) in homage.
A closeup of the table. Note the name on the place tag.
I just adored this mirror!
The plaster work, designed by Ogden Codman, was in the style of Grinling Gibbons, an 17th century English wood carver. The ornamentation in the room includes fish, birds and nuts - fitting for a dining room.
Simple, elegant and unfussy - these window treatments are extraordinary!
I don't know for sure, but my guess is that Bunny also donated the room decor to The Mount as well, as it's been there since 2002.

The Edith Wharton Organization, which manages The Mount, was facing foreclosure just a year ago. A bank restructuring and much needed donations has kept the doors open, but money is still needed to continue operations and much needed improvements. Please consider making a donation to this treasure of American Arts and Architecture.

Click here to read all my Edith Wharton posts.

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Edith Wharton did not write here

Despite the fact that there was both a Den that belonged to Teddy (EW's husband) and a Library for Edith, the word at The Mount is that EW did not actually do her writing in the Library. (Our gal did most in her bed, papers flying!).

The Main Floor Gallery, which I profiled yesterday, leads directly into Teddy W's Den.


The Den, where Teddy kept his office, was designed by Ogden Codman, Jr., EW's co-writer on The Decoration of Houses. While the Den is not currently "decorated", it does boast some exquisite plasterwork and a gorgeous marble fireplace with mirror and classically inspired overmantle. The doors on either side lead out to the terrace on the side of the house. The room is so bright and lovely! The door hardware was imported from France. Le sigh... C'est si joli, non ??

A note from Pres. Teddy Roosevelt to EW:
This is one of two original paintings installed over the doors in the Den depicting a satyr. Unfortunately, my photograph came out way more yellow than the actual walls and painting. You can actually see this painting reflected in the mirror over the fireplace.

Edith Wharton's Library sits directly under her bedroom in the rear left corner of the house. She believed that the books in a library should be the primary focus and provide a decorative element and that the book cases should be recessed into the walls, not free standing. While she has been photographed at her writing table in the library, she was most likely to write in bed and use the library for study and entertaining close friends with readings. The most exciting part of this room is that her book collection was returned to The Mount in 2006. This was the one room that was roped off - no peeking through the books! When the house was decorated a few years ago, the library was done by Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill. The rendering in the Centennial Celebration program book shows a room with significantly more furniture, so it's clear that much as been removed. Some of the pieces here may be hold-overs, however, I'm not really sure.

EW at her desk. The paneled door over her left shoulder in the image below is likely the door to TW's Den. It has the same molding detail as the door in the image above.image of Edith Wharton, courtesy of EdithWharton.org

The Edith Wharton Organization, which manages The Mount, was facing foreclosure just a year ago. A bank restructuring and much needed donations has kept the doors open, but money is still needed to continue operations and much needed improvements. Please consider making a donation to this treasure of American Arts and Architecture.

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Edith Wharton: Entrance and Galleries

Continuing our tour of The Mount, Edith Wharton's home in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, we are now stepping inside to the ground floor entrance hall and main stair. One might expect that this magnificent, classically inspired home would have a grand staircase. However, EW believed that the transition from outside to inside should be as smooth and easy as possible.

This is the forcourt space - a walled outdoor space that feels indoors when one passes through the main gate.
In through the front door...

And into the grotto-like Entrance Hall with stylized plaster work that emulated mossy walls and dripping water. The terracotta tile floor brings a definative Italianate feel to this space. The arched ceiling is simple and elegant, as is the softly glowing color palette.
Straight in front of the door is a statue of Pan by the sculptor Frederick MacMonnies. This bronze sits on the original fountain in the Entrance Hall. There's an excellent article here on this sculpture and other works at The Mount.

Through the double French doors to the right is the main staircase of the home.

The lantern lighting continues the outdoor feel...The Main Staircase begins quite simply and becomes more elegant as one ascends. During the restoration and decorating of some of the public spaces, designer Libby Cameron was selected to do the Main Staircase. Note that the ground floor landing and first level of the stair is relatively simple, with horizontal panels painted a sunny yellow. However, the sassy leopard print carpeting on the stair hints at the extravagance to come!


We are now on the Main Floor Staircase landing and you will see that the wall moldings, the lighting and other details are now significantly more formal. Here is a view through the arched door that separates the working areas of the Main Floor (Butler's Pantry, service stair case that is adjacent to the Main Stair, etc.) You can see through the Main Stair landing into the formal Main Gallery.And the glorious main Gallery, designed recently by Geoffrey Bradfield. Also based on Gallery spaces EW had seen in Italy, this is a space that allows access to all the main rooms on the Main Floor as well as provides excellent cross ventilation from front to rear of the house.

The terrazo and marble floor were polished to a high shine. The room straight ahead was Teddy Wharton's Den and beyond that is the terrace on the side of the house.

How glorious is this light fixture?A genteel place to rest.
And an image of the Gallery from EW's day. Continuing in the Italian style, EW used this space as a display for her art and objets collected from her world travels. Note the crystal chandelier. This view is looking back towards the Main Staircase.

Click here to view all my Edith Wharton posts. And coming up - the individual rooms with the drawing room decorated by Charlotte Moss and Dining Room decorated by Bunny Williams! To die!

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