Continued, from Part I…
In the meantime, we had met a new friend in the process of buying the cast iron fence that surrounds our home. Gladys Janecek, the main character in a previous blog post, was prepared to move in with her daughter and son-in-law and was selling the treasures she had accumulated in her home over the years. One of these treasures was the chandelier that she had hanging in her dining room, and it was a thing of beauty, indeed.
Traces of gilt remained deep within the crevices of the piece, and the sheer number and variety of flowers was astounding. This piece was dripping with vines, flowers, grapes, leaves, and other natural-form decoration.
Atop each arm, a tiny little putti sat cross-legged, a quill in one hand and an inkwell in the other, a parchment balanced on one knee, and intensely focused on the task of composing some great literary work. I suppose this to have been a library chandelier because of the symbolism in the piece. It came from the Wilcox-Parker mansion in Meriden, Connecticut, from which it was purchased and removed by Gladys herself. The home was slated for demolition, and was torn down to make way for a gas station that was never built. Given the details of the piece of lighting, I wish I could have seen what that library had looked like. Other remnants of the home live on in various universities, the most accessible is the complete Renaissance Revival Parlor in the American Wing at the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art.
So far, the only clue to the maker we had were the curious faces peering from the gas valves. There are both male and female faces, somewhat indistinct. We began suspect that this piece came from a Boston manufacturer, after seeing a chandelier from the Boston workshops of Henry Northey Hooper at Winterthur one weekend when visiting family in the area. The Winterthur chandelier had so many of the same characteristics that it simply had to be from the same hand. It was time to do additional research…
Upon arriving at Gladys’ home, I had arranged for a crew to help me with removal of the chandelier, as I could never have lifted the piece by myself, let alone maneuvered it into place and rotated the awkward bulk of it within the crate in order to secure it into the firm grip of the threaded pipe.
Without another word, the guys moved back in for a second attempt, this time, they added another pillow to the pile I had already created below. The second time, it held. With the arms tied to the frame to prevent movement or rotation, it was ready for the ride home. The pillows stayed put for the ride, just in case.
When the day finally came to install this piece in its’ new home, Tom and I were confident that we could do it together. My arms may not be the strongest, but I can lift almost anything using my legs. Believe it or not, I’m actually stronger than I look. Tom was on top of the scaffolding, and I was on the ground with the chandelier. Getting my arms up underneath took some maneuvering, in order to avoid putting stress on any of the more fragile decorative elements, but I found some comfortable points to hold onto and stood up with the piece. With help from above, I was able to then get it onto my shoulder. After spending years waiting tables, you learn how to use your shoulder and arm to balance heavy trays laden with food; with the right technique you can carry enormous loads, no matter how small you are. It was basically the same technique here.
Next came the heave-ho, where I was to push, and Tom was to pull, and the chandelier would end up on the scaffolding platform. It was useless. No matter how much I tried to get my arm muscles to obey, my biceps simply refused. When they began to tremble, I knew it wasn’t going to work as planned. It suddenly became clear that we had a bit of a predicament. I had the chandelier — a top-heavy beast, mind you, balanced on one shoulder and held with one hand. Tom was preventing the entire thing from pitching over with his grip from above. We could abandon the plan, and I could crouch down, but I could not maneuver the piece to the floor using my arms, it was just too heavy, and Tom couldn’t let go from above to climb down and help me or the entire thing would would topple over. We stood there contemplating, discussing, thinking, and then my legs began a slight tremble. It was an “oh shit” moment, and I realized that I only had a few minutes before my legs would give out from fatigue. I had now been carrying this massive weight on my shoulder, struggling with various attempts to lift it for 20 minutes to no avail, and my muscles were just about done.
Fortunately, my cell phone is usually in my back pocket, and fortunately, I had a free hand. Our neighbor, Bob Morrison, is on my speed dial, and he was quickly on the line. All I said was Bob, I need help over here in the dining room NOW!, and he replied “on my way” and hung up. In less than a minute Bob was in the house, at my side, and lifting the chandelier the rest of the way up onto the platform. He even clambered up after it and helped Tom to rotate it into its new home.
I guess this is simply the repeat of a pattern that we have established from the beginning. When a local individual with strong ties to the local bank conspired to buy our house out from under us after we were the high-bidders at the real estate auction, Bob Morrison put on his lawyer hat, walked down to the bank offices and set them straight on fiduciary duties, auction contracts, and the like. He did this without even knowing us, and he did it for free — it was the principle of the thing, he told us. When a chandelier threatens to topple, Bob Morrison is there to secure it. When a tenant at our 841 Main Street project tries to pull some craziness on us, Bob Morrison is there to help me navigate the legal system and keep me from falling apart. When ADT calls in the middle of the night for an intruder alarm, and we are not at home, Bob Morrison is there to let the police in and help them identify the rogue bat intruder.
The list of occasions where Mr. Morrison has been there just when we needed him is long, and it never ceases to amaze me that he is always there at the ready, gung ho and eager to tackle the next challenge. Its no wonder he and his wife, Cheryl, are such close friends of ours that they are actually Family now. Another treasure that our adventure in Danville has brought us.
It was some time later, when I was looking through our digital inventory of sconces for a three-arm sconce that we had bought. I was scrolling past all of the sconces we own, and stopped suddenly on the image of a sconce we had bought on eBay years ago. It had long since been duly photographed, catalogued, and boxed for safe long-term storage. Given the craziness of our lives, the vast amount of house parts that we have to keep track of, and the tenuous nature of my haphazard memory, I have come up with a system to catalogue and find loose parts. It consists of metal rolling shelving from Costco and see-through plastic storage boxes, numbered and indexed.
Parts come in, they are placed in the current box. The boxes are numbered consecutively — I think I’m up to box number 72. The item is photographed, listed on the index (facing out), The index is also photographed, and the photos and index are stored on my computer. The boxes are stacked in numerical order on the rolling shelves and the shelves pushed up against the wall, one in front of the other.
This way I can quickly roll through the boxes, physically, seeing everything that is in each box easily on the index, or I can scroll through the folders on my computer and search the index and photos electronically to find what I want.
This may seem excessive, but it is imperative to maintaining my sanity. After all, how am I ever going to find the faucet that we purchased on eBay for the second floor North East bathroom ten years ago when the time comes to put that bathroom together? How will I ever keep track of the myriad of antique glass shades we have bought over the years for the chandeliers without having to open up box after box, unwrapping bubble wrap and newspaper cushioning, in order to see what’s inside? All of the parts and pieces are carefully photographed, labeled, catalogued, and indexed.
And yet, somehow, I am still missing the entire set of crystals for the chandelier hanging in the Music room. Sigh! So it’s not a perfect system, but it yielded some results this time…
The photos of the sconce I was looking at (the actual sconce sitting somewhere in a labeled box 250 miles away) had a familiar face imprinted upon them. With a jolt, I realized that this was what I had been looking for.
These were the same faces as the ones on the chandelier from the Wilcox-Parker mansion. Since I also store the original Ebay listing in the electronic file, I went back to that listing. It stated with confidence that this sconce was made by Hooper, as they were known for these faces that they put on their gas valves. This prompted some more focused searches; and what do you know…chandelier after chandelier identified as being manufactured by Hooper had the same valves! We had our answer.
Hungry to know more, I dove in to find out about this particular manufacturer. It turns out that this Massachusetts native was descended from a long line of silversmiths. Henry Northey Hooper was originally trained to produce nautical equipment. Seeking a different path, he eventually became an apprentice to a well-known silversmith, Paul Revere. He worked in, and eventually purchased, Paul Revere’s Boston foundry, and began producing lamps, lighting, and bells.
His most prestigious commission, however, was the decorative chandelier for the United States Hall of the House of Representatives, hung in 1840. This outstanding piece of lighting was hailed by those who saw it as “exceedingly beautiful and extremely brilliant” “without exception, the largest, most elegant, and splendid chandelier we ever beheld.” Unfortunately, the masterpiece only lasted a single day, as it crashed to the floor less than 24 hours later due to a defective suspension chain.
Fortunately Congress was not in session at the time.
That puts the little 9-inch plunge onto a bed of pillows, that our chandelier took, in a little bit of a different light. Perhaps Hennry Hooper was looking out for us, protecting one of his little treasures so that it could survive to brighten a home for yet another generation.
In all, we have re-hung this chandelier two more times for various reasons. It is the way of old houses. You do a thing, then you do it again and again and again. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had to take it down and hang it yet a fourth time, though I sincerely hope not — the darned thing is just so heavy. At least now we know how much muscle it takes to do it right.
On another note, a pair of interesting chandeliers came to us at one point from Stair Galleries, an auction house in Hudson, NY. This pair was ready for battle. The top is adorned with heraldic shields draped with scarves and held upright with battle axes. The two-toned surface treatment giving the decorative elements a stark contrast to the base structure, so that they stand out even more boldly than if the entire thing had been gilded. It was outstanding!
Atop the base stand three warrior putti, spears at the ready, and sporting plumed helmets. Below them, hang spiky maces swung by gilded chains. The six arms fan out, each decorated with angular elements woven through the curve of the arm, which is otherwise quite sparse, flaring out at the end.
The gourd-form of the base, also in black, alternates two sets of coats of armor around its’ circumference. The first set is very much of an ancient Armorial style, with a suit of armor and Spartan helmet in the center below an imposing battle axe. Behind it are crossed spears and a large shield, swords, and other implements of war.
The second is very Native American in style, with a more free-form shield, in front of a spear and quiver of arrows. The center of the shield sports the head of a Buffalo, its enormous tongue lolling from its open mouth. The entire composition is draped in the animal’s pelt with the corners of the pelt coming together below the trophy head, held in place by the cloven hooves of the beast crossed and tied in into a knot.
The second chandelier in the pair incorporates those same Armorial Warriors with their Roman and Ancient Greek elements, alternating with a different set of Native American themed decorations, these are Indian warriors, flanked by a shield decorated similar to shield on the Buffaloes. The fierce countenance of the braves is enhanced by the spear, clubs, and arrows above, and the myriad of Native American artifacts below.
The dark and heavy execution, and powerful symbolism make these chandeliers particular favorites of mine. There are no curlicues or smiling putti here. I loved this pair from the moment I saw them. The sense of aggression and strength they exude is in such contrast to the typical fluid and fanciful “happy” pieces that one usually finds in lighting of this period. We speculated that this must have come from some armory building somewhere. Where else would the heraldic and military regalia be more at home.
The treatment reminded us very much of the chandeliers we had seen at Stanton Hall in Natchez, MS. Many of the chandeliers in that house were done in the bright/black treatment, but more interestingly, many also had buffalo, Indians, and Native American themes such as these. They also were done with a heavy hand, powerful and imposing.
Though the Stanton Hall lighting was known as “French Bronze” style, they had no elements in common with French chandeliers being produced during that period, and more fashionably resembled pieces coming out of Philadelphia at the time. In fact, all of the major chandeliers in the home at Stanton Hall appear to have been done by the same manufacturer, and together they tell a story, as each refers to one or another event or period in American history. Other minor lighting fixtures in the house are marked Cornelius and Baker, and there has been much speculation that the major fixtures in this house are also of that firm.
In doing further research, I discovered a remnant from the U.S. Capitol building also done with the black/bright “French Bronze” treatment and in the armorial style, positively identified as Cornelius & Baker. It too has many decorative elements in common. I await better photos from the Curator of the Capitol, and each piece of evidence strenghtens the argument for these pieces having originated from the workshops of Cornelius & Baker.
The question that plagued me more than anything, however, was the whereabouts of the crystals from the music room chandelier. This was another purchase which led to a fast friendship of like souls. While looking for lighting years ago, we got a lead from a dealer who gave us the number for an individual in Baltimore with some spectacular pieces that we might be interested in. The photos he showed us were intriguing, and the style certainly fit the time period we were looking for. We contacted Darrell Strader, and I went up to Baltimore one afternoon to see the lighting in person and take additional photos.
Though that was the end of the pursuit of the chandelier, it was the beginning of a great friendship. Darrell, and his friend Ethel, were happy to visit with us as we came to Baltimore for one reason or another. Soon, our Baltimore trips were exclusively to visit with them, take in a museum with their company, or join them in exploring the many excellent restaurants in the city. Darrell, an avid Anglophile, would take Ethel out in one of his three 1960s Rovers for a spin, and would meet us for a home-cooked meal at our house in Falls Church or to take in a museum with us in in DC.
Carla Minosh
While I am new to Blogging, I have always enjoyed sharing the stories of my crazy life, so this is simply another medium to share, and hopefully entertain and enrich others. Perhaps you can feel thankful that your life is so steady and predictable after reading these, perhaps you can appreciate the insanity and wish you had more of it in your life. Either way, the crazy tales are all true (to the best of my spotty recollection) and simply tell the tale of a life full of exploration, enthusiasm, curiosity and hard work. I hope you all enjoy being a part of the journey.
Once again, you have the ability to make my lungs seize up, my eyes tear up, and my heart soar.
Wow.
Geez.
Love you guys!
Ross
FYI: It took six attempts before my comment above was published.
Ross, thank you so much for your kind words. I gues this is not only free psychotherapy for me, but others seem to enjoy it too…go figure. I think I'll keep on writing, then. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Carla, Your attention to detail is astonishing and proves what your mom told you years ago. You ARE a GENIUS! We are honored to be counted among your FAMILY and to play a role in the remarkable restoration of the Sublett-Miller House. You and Tom are to be applauded for your tireless efforts, long-suffering, patience, endurance, brilliant problem-solving, and endless financial support of such a vast,complex undertaking. Cheryl & Bob Morrison
Very nice collection, thanks for sharing…
Aluminium Scaffolding Manufacturer In Pune
Insulation Gold Coast Professional Insulation Supply and Installation Services for homeowners and builders throughout Southeast QLD and Northern NSW
I player professional wrestling matches in my state. The Custom Wrestling Uniforms I ordered arrived in the best condition.
You make so many great points here that I read your article a couple of times.check out Roofing Company Kendall
After being in relationship with Wilson for seven years,he broke up with me, I did everything possible to bring him back but all was in vain, I wanted him back so much because of the love I have for him, I begged him with everything, I made promises but he refused. I explained my problem to someone online and she suggested that I should contact a spell caster that could help me cast a spell to bring him back but I am the type that don’t believed in spell, I had no choice than to try it, I meant a spell caster called Dr Zuma zuk and I email him, and he told me there was no problem that everything will be okay before three days, that my ex will return to me before three days, he cast the spell and surprisingly in the second day, it was around 4pm. My ex called me, I was so surprised, I answered the call and all he said was that he was so sorry for everything that happened, that he wanted me to return to him, that he loves me so much. I was so happy and went to him, that was how we started living together happily again. Since then, I have made promise that anybody I know that have a relationship problem, I would be of help to such person by referring him or her to the only real and powerful spell caster who helped me with my own problem and who is different from all the fake ones out there. Anybody could need the help of the spell caster, his email: spiritualherbalisthealing@gmail.com or WhatsApp him +15068001647 blog: spiritualherbal.blogspot.com you can email him if you need his assistance in your relationship or anything. CONTACT HIM NOW FOR SOLUTION TO ALL YOUR PROBLEMS
Very interesting, Good job and thanks for sharing such a good blog and you can get it from here House sort.