Wednesday 16 February 2011

House Tour in Illinois

The William Howard Thompson House was built in 1868 and renovated in 1901 in the Beaux Arts style by the Chicago architecture firm Watson & Hazelton. Located in Jacksonville, Illinois, the stately, six-bedroom house is a landmark of that city's historic district.




Beneath a crystal chandelier, a small table off the kitchen provides an intimate dining nook.


The straight lines of the bookcase offset the curves of the carved and gilded sofa. A painting hangs somewhat eccentrically above.The sofa is upholstered in linen, similar to the linen-bound volumes on the shelves. Silk pillows.


Tasseled, buttoned "ball-gown slipcovers" dress up gilded dining chairs. Their opulence is underscored by the bare oak floor, outlined in walnut parquet. The Drexel claw-foot table was dark brown until owner Annie Brahler coated it with Sherwin-Williams "Pulmonaria" semigloss paint, deliberately avoiding a precise match with the slipcovers.




Eight-year-old daughter Isabel's bedroom has a bedstead that belonged to Princess Lillian of Belgium.


A slipper tub in the master bedroom.

All images and information from here.