Hewitt House / Inn Buffalo - Table of Contents

Formal Parlor / Library / Music room
Herbert H. Hewitt House - Inn Buffalo/Off Elmwood
  619 Lafayette Avenue, Buffalo, NY

Inn Buffalo/Off Elmwood - Official Website

2015 Photos

Formal parlor






Fireplace




Foliated silk damask wallpaper stretched over felt(?) and  tacked on furring strips ... Note tacks which were spit out of the artisan's mouth onto a magnetized hammer and then tacked




Fireplace:  onyx detail




Fireplace onyx head (top) and jambs ... Original gas logs ... Hexagonal mosaic hearth




Pocket doors




Red mahogany pocket doors  and baseboards with a French rub finish




Pocket doors




Kittinger Jacobean Revival table features elaborately turned legs and X stretchers on loan from the J. J. Marotto collection





Library



Bookcases are not original, but this was the original library.  Evidence (not illustrated) is that the quarter-sawn oak flooring stopped a foot or so away from the wall indicating that there were original built-in bookcases.




Looking into the front hall ... Wainscoting




Facing the street




Stenciled medallion on gilded ceiling ... Process:  Plaster walls covered with canvas while the plaster is still wet ("tender.") The canvas is either painted or gilded - as in this room - or has furring strips added in order to tack on silk damask wallpaper - as in the formal parlor illustrated above - or tapestry - as in the music room illustrated below... Empire style Swedish chandelier is not original to the house



Stenciled medallion on gilded ceiling - detail




Stenciled medallion on gilded ceiling - detail




Stenciled medallion on gilded wall




Oak wainscoting




  Gas radiant heater  probably not original ...  Glazed brick hearth




Adjustable music, lectern, book stand made of oak and brass with metal wheels




2015 photos except where noted

Music Room
Evidence that this originally was the music room:  The scenes in the tapestries involve music



2014 photo ... Artisans removing white paint to reveal the original stenciled gilding.
Photo courtesy of Ellen & Joseph Lettieri



2014 photo ... White paint being removed to reveal the original gilding.
Photo courtesy of Ellen & Joseph Lettieri



2014 photo ... Artisans removing white paint to reveal the original stenciled gilding.
Photo courtesy of Ellen & Joseph Lettieri




Coffered ceiling ... Three details below:




Paneled ceiling detail #1: Uncovered stenciled  lower section ... Wooden rosettes




Paneled ceiling detail #2




Paneled ceiling detail #3: Uncovered stenciled middle section




Note tapestry at right (in center, below:)



Note center tapestry music scene, detailed below:




Note bottom and top plain sections where tapestry is tacked onto furring strips









Closeup showing furring strips, canvas, and tacks




Walls were originally plastered, then covered with neutral colored canvas, and then painted or gilded ... Note unglued canvas




Identical tapestries with music scenes on opposite wall



  
1871 Boston Chickering piano made of rosewood ... This style piano was a precursor of the grand piano ... Style: Rococo Revival












Special thanks to owners Ellen and Joseph Lettieri for their cooperation and assistance in 2015.
Photos and their arrangement © 2015 Chuck LaChiusa
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