Petit Trianon, 2

I was so excited about the Petit Trianon that when I got home last night I took out my book on Petit Trianon right away and had to scan some of the images in to share with you. The book is the 1913 Boston Architectural Club Year book. The Boston Architectural Club was sort of like an AIA - it was a continuing eduction type of club that architects could belong to. They produced a yearbook every year on a different subject. In 1913 it was on the Petit Trianon.

About 225 pages are devoted to it - first a brief history, then site plan and floor plans (pictured ), some photos, detailed drawings of every room ( you could practically build it! ) and then some furniture working drawings of Marie Antoinette's furniture! The rear has a few envois drawings of students ( I'll do a posting on these drawings later ) and then some really interesting ads. You can find the book around through some antique vendors ( I did a quick froogle of it and found 2 up for sale on the WWW ).section, plan and elevation of stair hall
a typical window detail and elevation - mirrored side panels!

drawing showing the detailed flooring and paneling of the dining room

While the first floor has a very logical and well thought out floor plan, the '2nd' floor is a warren of little bedrooms. I was surprised to read that the 'closets' off the bedrooms were actually where servants slept! How awful! I mean -these literally ARE closets!

detail of 'MA' monogram on paneling in stair hall

The main room is the dining room, with the secondary main room being the salon ( isn't that backwards?? ). I know that these names are merely just terms and furniture in the 18th century was built to be moved around -so basically any room could be used for any purpose. Hence the light weight and delicacy of 18th century furniture. In the days before air conditioning and heating, you just stayed in the most comfortable room based on natural conditions and had servants bring in the dining table, sofa, dressing table or whatever piece you may require.

dressing table at Petit Trianon

Marie Anoinette's bedroom (s) were the small ones off the salon shown here. They are only 1/2 height and have another set of bedrooms right above her ( for her closest friends! ). The section shows this relationship more clearly.

section - on the right hand side of the lower one you see MA bedrooms off the salon with lower ceiling

I hope you enjoyed this 2 part lesson on the Petit Trianon!site plan of petit trianon ( square on the right side ), gardens and auxiliary buildings

Petit Trianon

Like a Palladian villa, the Petit Trianon is perfection of architecture. Nestled on the grounds of Versailles, the Petit Trianon was built by Louis XV from 1762-1768 ( don't you always need to use the roman numerals for the french kings, haha ) first for his Mistress Madame du Pompadour and later after her death for Madame du Barry ( to whom i'm distantly related! ).

The architecture is Neoclassicist that at the time was taking hold over the formerly popular rococo style. As precise as a calculated formula, strict rules were followed for porportions and the Corinthian 'orders' of decoration. This was then set into a 'natural' english garden. The plan of the building is square similar to the other 'perfect' neoclassical building, the Villa Rotunda by Palladio.

When Louis XVI took over the throne when his grandfather died, he gave the jewel to his wife, Marie Antoinette in 1774. Marie used the petit trianon as a refuge from court life ( which she hated ) and to escape with her friends into a world of flowers and fun. Even her husband the king wasn't allowed except by invitation!In the movie 'Marie Antoinette' (which you can read a bit about in my posting on the subject) you see Kirsten Dunst channeling Marie and having dinner parties with friends, roaming its gardens with her daughter and lounging with lovers in the secretive interiors ( she had mechanical mirrors installed as 'blinds' to keep people from peering inside ). The privacy was so intense that even servants couldn't observe her as the dining room table came up through a hole in the floor and they weren't required to serve the meal!
some interiors at P.T.; notice the lack of gilding on the boiseries leaving it simple and elegant .

All these interior photos were taken on the Piano Nobile ( the main floor with largest windows ) and it leaves me to wonder what the spaces are like on the top floor -whether they are similar or even more simple. All the lighting is from lanterns because the globes protected the candles from the open windows. No chandeliers here, function first! This was mainly a summer-time retreat, although Marie Antoinette was a year-round occupant, spending more time here than with court at Versailles up the street, especially after giving birth to her 2nd child.the stair hall with lantern

The Petit Trianon has been copied and referenced endlessly, and recently this 'copy' sold for $20 million!!!! It's sort of tacky and right on a city grid, but goes to show that everyone ( good taste and not ) appreciates the Petit Trianon!The bad copy -but nice landscaping

One of my prized possessions is an antique book about 200 pages thick and a huge coffee table size that has detailed drawings of all the plans, elevations, interior elevations and details of the millwork. I'll have to scan some of these in to post at a later date. The Petit Trianon is currently being renovated ( from profits from renting it out for the movie perhaps? ) and its contents have been in San Francisco and I'm so disappointed I never got to see them there. Hopefully one day soon I'll be able to visit and see them in their own restored home. a garden pavilion on the grounds of the petit trianon

Newport, RI

The Elms

In my last post about Newport, RI, I want to talk a little bit about my favorite house there which was not even designed by R.M.H.!! I'm talking about 'the ELMS' - a truly elegant estate. Built from 1899-1901 by the coal baron, Edwin Berwind, the mansion cost ONLY 1.5 Million ( compared to marble house and the breakers, it was a steal! ) and was designed by the prominent architect Horace Trumbauer ( what an unfortunate name ).the rear facade of the Elms

Now, it's not facing the ocean nor is it on a very private lot in a quiet part of town like many of the mansions. The elms is right off the secondary main street in the middle of town! However, it has the most open feeling of any of the mansions due to it's siting. Because of it's more-urban-than-most location, the 'cottage' is built nearly right on the street.

front facade and detail of statue

This leaves the yard in the back to be totally free and open creating a huge open lawn.

the fountain in the middle of the huge back lawn

At the rear of the lawn is a beautiful architectural garden with fountains, beautiful tea pavilions and a caretaker's cottage / carriage house seen below( when I was there a party was getting started! I was so jealous I wasn't invited! ).

The funny thing is, I actually took clippings from an architectural magazine of these same gardens when I was probably about 10 years old ( yes I started my clipping file at age 10 -I was a freakish boy ) not knowing what it was and I still have these same clippings!

here I am in front of one of the beautiful tea pavilions

Adding to the scenic estate was the fog that was drifting in at the end of the day -very romantic :-)

a bizarre lactating fountain - ew!

To end my Newport Posts, I thought I'd include this photo of this unusual house built on a rock in the middle of the bay about 100 years ago. Talk about a postage stamp lot! This house was recently restored and is owned by a local Newport Architect - the only way to his house is by boat! Forget pizza delivery!!

I hope you enjoyed your virtual trip to Newport, RI as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you!

Brasserie Beck

This is not something I'm going to get into the habit of posting about, but I couldn't resist. I love french food -and apparently...now..I also love Belgian food! I'm not quite sure where the difference lies, though. Well the restaurant I'm talking about is Brasserie Beck ( http://www.beckdc.com/ ). The restaurant is charming and only a few blocks from my home. It has a Vienesse / hoffmanesque feel to it - a real charming bistro from Vienna in the 1920's transplanted to Washington, DC! Beautiful woods, high ceilings, large windows with a modern lace covering, white marble and blue upholstery complete the looks.

The food was a heartattack on a plate -but it's worth it. I had poached eggs over gruyere cheese over serrano ham with a light hollandaise sauce and some mesclun greens on the side. Now - grueyere cheese, poached egg yolks and Ham are probably my favorite foods, but I've never had them THIS GOOD before. The portion was small but very filling but unfortuantely I think I could have had about 6 more plates worth.

The most charming part was the copper pan it was served in, similiar to the one seen below! BEAUTIFUL presentation! I read that they serve a lot of their entrees in copper - purely for presentation -not the pans that are actually used to cook the food with. I really have a thing for copper pans and wish I hadn't already started my collection of the stainless all-clad. Too late to switch now ( besides, copper is a lot more expensive and high maintenance!) My mom used to polish her copper pans with ketchup, I guess the acid takes away the tarnish? I always thought it looked really gross though, like giving birth to a shiny copper kettle.

Back to brunch and away from births. Of course, the best part of brunch is generally the cocktail (no disapproving looks, please). Insead of the obligatory mimosa, I tried a Crevecour which is champagne (naturally) with citrus chamomile tea. It was really delicious - a great way to start a Sunday!

their famous pea soup

If you live in the DC area, check out Brasserie Beck. I can't wait to go for dinner now! I generally like to test out a restaurant with something hard to mess up like brunch - they passed with flying colors!

They bloomed!

Well,I guess I'm not all black thumbs - I got my paperwhites to bloom and they look ok. Why do they grow so tall and weedy though? they like to slump over sometimes too - i'm not a fan of that. But here they are in all their glory!

they bloomed!

Here are my baked pears from the other week too -just so you can see mine are just as pretty as the photo I posted!

so good - all gone!dining by candlelight

Richard Morris Hunt, Part 5

MARBLE HOUSE

The most opulent house in Newport is probably 'Marblehouse'. Built between 1888 and 1892 for William Kissam Vanderbilt ( yes, another one, they must have bred like bunnies ), this was the first newport 'palace' - before this most of the mansions were very informal in nature -more like true beach houses. The house was $11 million to build ( yes, that much back in 1888 ) and $7 million of that was in marble alone. When you visit you can see why - every square inch, interior and exterior is covered in exquisite marble! It's like a big tomb on the beach -but I imagine in the pre-air conditioning days this really was a great way to stay cool.

two photos I could find of the interior, it gives you an idea of the grandness and the acres of marble! Looks more like Versailles than a beach house!

Just behind the house in the backyard is a really marvelous chinese tea house! It had just recently been restored when I saw it 2 years ago.

the teahouse which is just off the back of the house, pictured

Now, something upsetting is that RMH supposed based this on the Petit Trianon at Versailles. Hmm....I don't think so -but it's still nice. I'll do a posting on the P.T. next week so you can see how that is SOOOO different than Marble House - even its function was different, not to mention that Marble House was built to impress while the Petite Trianon was built as a refuge away from court life at Versailles ...don't get me started....... I'm getting upset...........This is NOT the petite trianon......... It's not even the Trianon!

a sitting room off a bedroom -what, no marble?

I was pretty sick of taking photos by the time of this house ( plus it was raining ) so the photos are courtesy of http://www.galenfrysinger.com/newport_marble_house.htm

a view of the ceiling of the portico- marble marble everywhere!