Filling in the Gaps

It’s been sometime since we first posted about our ever-growing staircase gallery wall and as you can see it’s really starting to fill out.

Brooke Astor’s dog portrait still holds pride of place at the base of the stairs but plenty of other pieces have come and gone in this ever-changing display.

Many smaller pieces have been added above and below the larger ones to help fill in the gaps and emphasize the stepped diagonal lines of the total composition.

Among the little jewels that help to strengthen the visual diagonal are a small collection of handcrafted collages inspired by the decoupage panels we created to adorn our antique cabinet last year.

The collages include intricately hand cut illustrations and advertising imagery mixed with poetry and even sheet music, all taken directly from antique Harper’s Magazines dating from the 1860’s to 1880’s and decoupaged directly to the backside of the glass.

These completely one-of-a-kind works of art, reminiscent of the scrap folk art so popular in the Victorian era from which the magazines date, are currently available here in our eclectic online shop Knickerbocker Antiques and Vintage along with many other items seen along our gallery wall.

Photos by KS&D.

Porches, Piazzas, and Verandas

 It’s been a while since we last posted on the elements of Lambertville’s Victorian architecture, so with summer in full swing why not take a closer look at the part of the house where Victorians spent much of their summers. 

 We’ve looked at porches before from soaring verandas to elegant loggias, but no one experimented with this architectural feature with more gusto than the Victorians. 

 Perhaps it’s because each of the individual parts of the structure, columns, balustrades, brackets, corbels, and roofs, each allow for endless opportunities for decoration and ornamentation. 

 This was after all an era obsessed with adding as much carved wooden gingerbread trim as their houses could hold, and the porch provided the perfect place to hold it. 

 Even a small entrance porch was an opportunity for ornamentation.

 Take this neighboring pair of tiny twin porches, one in white the other full color, likely added onto the earlier townhouses at a later date.

 All of that intricate trim made for endless surfaces to paint and the color schemes around town run the gamut. 

 Painted all in white the gingerbread looks something more akin to a wedding cake frosting. 

 The architectural styles are as varied as the color schemes including everything from this angular Eastlake.

 To this eclectic Queen Anne featuring an unusual slate roofline.

 But not every porch was awash in lacy trim work as the classically elegant fluted columns here show.

 Here clustered trios of simple slender columns rest atop heavy rusticated stone supports illustrating the later influence of Craftsman ideals over ornate Victoriana.

 This example of simple columns on masonry bases is adorned with classical dentil moldings giving a hint of the Colonial Revival.

 The advent of air conditioning along with the rise of the backyard as the main outdoor family space would spell the end of the golden age of front porches, but what better place to sip an iced tea on a summer afternoon than the porch of this classic American Four Square decorated with flowers and wicker furniture and shaded from the sun by cheerful stripped awnings.

Photos by KS&D.

Summer by the Shore

With the summer season officially upon us lets have a look back at the lost summer cottage of one of history’s first interior designers.

This most eclectic seaside mansion once stood in a line of grand summer villas on the dunes of Monmouth Beach, New Jersey, long since reclaimed by the sea. Built for Christian Herter of New York’s famed Herter Brothers design firm in 1881, while in the midst of completing his most celebrated project, designing the lavish interiors of William H. Vanderbilt’s triple palace on Fifth Avenue. The designer’s less opulent but no less intricate summer residence is a study in Victorian eclecticism with the wall surfaces alone including brick, cement, wood paneled, shingled, and clapboard treatments, all wrapped up with a tall woodwork trimmed veranda lush with foliage.

Photo via American Country Houses of the Gilded Age

A Victorian Marble Topped Dresser

We’ve always had a thing for marble topped furniture.

So when an entire bed and breakfast full of antique furniture was closing a few blocks away we couldn’t resist bringing home a marble-topped dresser, as there were so many to choose from.

The heavy drawers with wonderful carved and inlayed wood detailing all stuck once filled with clothes, but after a little rubbing the bottom of the treads with a bar of soap they now open and close like new.

The entire mirror is easily removable if desired, but the molding around it has a bold almost baroque architectural influence that we played up by draping with antlers, one holding a charming vintage Bavarian boy’s hat.

On the smooth white marble top an unexpected pair of potted cactuses lend some texture and interest alongside a classical bust draped in beaded jewelry and a tiny antique child size shoe mold.

Photos and Styling by KS&D.

Victorian Towers and Turrets

Since A Victorian City was so popular we thought we’d take a closer look at some of the architecture around town with a series focusing on specific architectural elements.

 

Let’s start our series with those most dramatic of Victorian architectural components, towers and turrets.

This round brick tower features an interesting cornice of scalloped shingles and trim work.

A closer look shows an elegant decorative swag trim, as well as a charming finial that seems to give the conical roof the look of a giant hand bell.

Another round tower topped with a deep cornice of scalloped shingles, this time crafted in rough stone.

These wooden towers feature rows of varying styles of shingles separated by bands of stud-like wood trim in a deep golden yellow.

Towers and turrets are to be found in every shape and size from round to square and even octagonal.

And finally this round corner tower is anchored by another architectural element favored by the Victorians, a graceful wraparound porch. 

Photos by KS&D.

A Lot Like Christmas

With the first snow of the season falling yesterday and holiday decorations beginning to appear around town it sure is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

The lush window boxes from summer now sprout seasonal evergreens and crimson berries.

Another window box incorporates white branches for a wintery effect.

Downtown the shops are ready for the holiday season as well.

The lime green glittered pinecones are a fun touch to these garden urns of evergreens.

Up the street another cast iron garden urn is packed with a wide array of all natural elements.

This Victorian front porch looks especially charming trimmed with Christmas garland while snow covers the shrubs and lawn.

Couldn't this holly tree filled with berries framing the gothic stained glass window of a snow covered stone church be lifted from a Christmas card.

For unique antique and vintage gift ideas be sure to browse our online shop!

Photos by KS&D.