The “Secret” Symposium was held on January 22 to bring together the construction team for the Secret Rooms Project and to introduce the next steps to prepare for the room’s opening in 2018. Special Projects Manager Julie Arrison-Bishop shared the tale of wallpaper selection for the Accounting Room portion of the project.
Richard Nylander, a world-renowned expert on historic wall coverings, consulted with The Gables as part of the project. He analyzed a dozen different paper hangings found in both the Dining Room Chamber and Accounting Room. The wallpapers dated from the late-eighteenth to the early-twentieth centuries. The wallpaper pictured here, Diana, has a long history with the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion and was the suggested choice for reproduction.
Diana was found on some of the earliest layers of the Accounting Room and matched samples found in the archives—helping to solidify the history of it in the house. It was covered by another pattern in the early-nineteenth century. In the early-twentieth century it is presumed that Caroline Emmerton had this wallpaper reproduced for the parlor at The House of the Seven Gables. Her reproduction was done by the Birge Company out of Buffalo, NY and was a popular paper purchased for private homes in the same time period.
In 2017, we’ll come full circle with this historic treasure. Thanks to a partnership with Adelphi Paper Hangings, LLC we’ll soon be installing this handcrafted wallpaper back to its rightful place in our nearly 350-year old mansion.
