Fireplace Mantels & Surrounds · Victorian (Queen Anne, Eastlake)
Thorne Miniature Room: "Middletown" Parlor, 1875–90
A 1:12-scale Thorne Room of a typical American parlor of the 1870s and 1880s, with a painted mantel, patterned wallpaper, a tall secretary and mixed Victorian furnishings.
Design characteristics
This Thorne Room represents an ordinary middle-class parlor rather than a mansion, which makes it especially useful for owners of modest Victorian homes. The fireplace has a simple painted mantel with an overmantel mirror, the trim is moderate in scale, and furniture of several revival styles shares the room. It shows how Victorian rooms were actually lived in: layered, eclectic and personal. A mantel of this type is one of the most achievable period upgrades for an older house.
Classification
- Category
- Fireplace Mantels & Surrounds
- Material
- Mixed
- Motifs
- Eastlake
- Model made
- c. 1940
- Maker or designer
- Designed by Narcissa Niblack Thorne American, 1882–1966
- Recorded medium
- Miniature room, mixed media
- Dimensions
- External: 45.8 × 162.6 × 97.8 cm (18 × 64 × 38 1/2 in.); Internal (main room only): 26.1 × 53.4 × 46.4 cm (10 1/4 × 21 × 18 1/4 in.)
- Evidence
- Museum miniature room (scale model)
- Source
- Art Institute of Chicago
Architectural context
Carved mantels, layered trim and dark, decorative hardwoods. Britain and the United States · c. 1837–1901.
