Parlor - House of the Future
In addition to art, the Parlor also contains interesting modern concepts.
Hearthstone is not only beautiful. It is technically innovative. For example, the exterior walls are hollow: There is an exterior brick wall, an air gap, and an interior brick wall around the entire perimeter of the house. This helps insulate the home, keeping it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.
This design also provides other benefits.
The hollow walls and double windows also help deaden outside noise. Notice that you can barely hear the cars on the busy street just outside. When the house was built, the source of noise was the river. The mills were pounding away seven days a week and steam ships were docking just below the house 24 hours a day. Waters’ innovative design had a practical effect on the daily lives of everyone in the house.
The massive, single pane, double hung windows, which are a hallmark of Queen Anne Style architecture, that are located at each end of this room are actually patio doors. They are “pocket” windows. This means that both sashes can be raised up into the wall to create a doorway. This permitted guests to effortlessly walk from the parlor to the veranda and back again, creating a functionality that was particularly useful when entertaining.
Even the wall paint in this room is a very modern approach. Though it looks normal to our eyes, it was anything but normal for the time, as it was an utterly new way to decorate.
Prior to this, Victorian homes were decorated almost exclusively with wallpaper. However, in 1882, a gentleman named Sherwin got together with a gentleman named Williams and they invented a brand new paint technology that kept pigment in solution. This made possible the manufacture of paint on an industrial scale, lowering cost. Using railroads, the paint could be shipped all across the country, to households like the Rogers, from the Sherwin-Williams operations in Philadelphia.
For the first time, customers were assured of getting paint that matched the sample at the store and was consistent from gallon to gallon. This made possible the broad use of paint, replacing wallpaper, and becoming another element of the “Aesthetic Style.” Even in matters of interior decorating, the Rogers are cutting edge.
This room, like all in Hearthstone, has been restored to its original paint color - still using Sherwin-Williams paint.