Parlor - Art and Architecture

Parlor - Art and Architecture

The Parlor is simply filled with art.

The architect of Hearthstone was William Waters, a native of Oshkosh Wisconsin. Very well-known, his works include much of downtown Appleton, Oshkosh, and Neenah as well as other cities across the state.  He created stately homes, commercial and civic buildings, as well as schools.

The artist J Frank Waldo worked closely with Waters, decorating many of the buildings that the architect created.  The painting on the ceiling and frieze is attributed to Waldo.  The room was redecorated for Kitty’s wedding in 1889.  The landscape over the mantle is also a Waldo as well as the oil painting over the piano.  This latter painting depicts the dam controlled by Henry Rogers, which still there, and the two papermills that were also originally lit, along with Hearthstone, from the first ever Edison hydroelectric central station.  In the center is the Appleton Paper and Pulp Company (owned by Rogers and his partners) and to the left is the Kimberly and Clark Vulcan mill.  Both mills were located below the bluff, to the east of Hearthstone.

The other oil painting, a romantic depiction of Yosemite, is by Olive Hamar Correy.  Works by female Wisconsin Victorian artists are exceptionally rare.  Hearthstone is fortunate to have two female artists represented.  The other is Frederika Crane.

Crane painted the stunning tiles that surround the fireplace.  These are different than the other tiles in the house.  The white ware "blanks" were imported from Limoges France then hand painted by Crane.  Hand painting was again part of the Aesthetic Movement.  

Frederika Crane was known not only for her exceptional talent but also as a female artist who lived independently, under her own name, earning her own living.  This made her virtually unique in Victorian America. 

The tiles, a signed work, depict a scene from "Evangeline," the popular poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  We will see more of Crane's works upstairs.

The furniture pieces here are not original to the house but are excellent examples of 1880s Renaissance Revival.

All of the woodwork in the Parlor uses magnificent old growth bird’s eye maple and it is again done by William Van Stratum.  Use of the bird and flower motifs is not only a nod to the material but also to the Arts and Crafts Movement.  The beautiful parquet floor incorporates all three woods on the first floor - cherry, white oak, and bird's eye maple.