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Colonial Homes and Their Furnishings

Chapter 7 OLD-TIME WALL PAPERS

Word Count: 2623    |    Released on: 01/12/2017

lving into the past secures facts that differ materially from those obtained by some one else who has spent a like time in research, and thus accounts of varying dependency ar

rs of their craft, and who, while lacking the advantages afforded the designers of the present, nevertheless achieved results that have never been surpassed. This fact is especially noteworthy,

an, while Holland boasts the distinction of having first introduced them into other lands. We know for a certainty that wall papers fashioned in strips three feet long and fifteen inche

was to be seen until within the last few years in a colonial house on Essex Street, at Salem-the Lindall-Andrews dwelling, built in 1740 by Judge Lindall. This wall paper, printed and hung in squ

ng during his pastorate, and on the walls of the hallway he caused to have painted by one Bartol of Marblehead, father of Dr. Cyrus Bartol, a serie

o be sure, this type had been used much earlier by the Chinese, but machinery for its fashioning was not invented until the latter half of the eighteenth century.

d resulted in the adoption of printed wall paper throughout England. From that time on, as their cost grew less, wall papers were extensively used in the motherland

ll papers were first brought to this country in 1735, though, owing to their expensiveness, they were not used to any extent until many years later. The frugal housewife preferred to paint the walls either in soft gray tones, with a mixture of gray clay and water, or with yellow paint, ornamented with a hand-painted frieze of simple design, often supplemented by a narrow border stenciled above the chair rail

are many left, each rich in memories of bygone days. The stories connected with them will never be known, save the legends which have been handed down from generatio

ully selected in accordance with previous instructions. Often special patterns were purchased for a

never used. To the student and dreamer such a discovery is rich in association, and even to the practical home maker it is fraught with sug

to be the Don Quixote pattern, one of the three rarest types known, depicting the story of this quaint character from the time of his leaving his home accompanied by his faithful squ

and Psyche paper

es a contrasting background for the red coats of the hunters who, on prancing steeds, with yelping hounds grouped about, are ready for the start. Then follow the run over hill and dale, past cottages where wondering peasants g

Behind this mirror, a short time ago, when the room was to be repapered, a panel of the first wall covering was discovered, as distinct in coloring and detail as the day it was placed there. It is one of twelve panels,-consisting of twenty-six breadths each five feet seven inches long by twenty inches wide, f

monious coloring. Contrasted with present papers, depicting designs figured or flowered, they show their worth, and it is little wonder

ents, and the colors were selected with a view to the best effect, so that the soft white of the woodwork might be in keeping with their pictorial value. Consistency is

paper in Wheelwright

inished than the English. When the colonist became prosperous, and the newest fashions of the motherland were eagerly copied, wall papers of both types were imported; many of these are

r is thought to have been fashioned in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, and in type it is like that found on the hall of the "Hermitage," Andrew Jackson's residence near Nashville, Tennessee.

the home of Major George Whipple at Salem, having been imported about 1800. These show differe

se in Newburyport, a fine, colonial dwelling, built a hundred years ago by an ancestor of William Wheelwright, whose energies resulted in the fir

Ruins paper, Lee M

coloring are no doubt responsible for this popularity, and then, too, no other subject could better bear repetition. Other favorite views were scenes of Fra

specimens have been taken as models and copied with faithful exactness. Such instances, however, are rare. The best exam

the two windows in the upper hall was peeled off, and on the back was found the following inscription, "11 Regent Street, London. Between windows, upper hall." They are all excellently preserved, and constitute probably the most remarkable set in America. For the most part, they are done in gray

res of Telemachus pa

The room that it adorns is set apart, and the pattern depicts galleys setting sail for foreign lands, while to the music of the harpsichord, the gentry dance upon the lawn. In its prime this estate

ght to be representations of fur traders of early times; but the rest of the series was lost to view for a long time until about sixty years ago, when the hall was repaired. During the process of renovation, four coats of paper that had accumulated were removed, and as the last coat was being torn off, the picture of a horse's hoof was disclosed. This led to further investigation, and soon a painting of Governor Phipps, resplendent in scarlet and yellow, seated on his charger, was brought to ligh

again it is the coloring, or it may be the effect, but in any event each and every one serves the purpose for which it was int

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