"We're in Craftsman Farms' Corners": Cabinets Return to Craftsman Farms

Craftsman Farms Foundation is proud to announce that the Corner Cabinets have returned to the Dining room at Craftsman Farms. On November 29, 1999 the two corner cabinets that Gustav Stickley custom designed for the dining room at Craftsman Farms, his home in Parsippany, New Jersey were sold at auction by Christie's, New York City. Craftsman Farms Foundation's Executive Director Tommy McPherson executed the two successful bids for lots 417 and 418. Amidst loud cheers from the audience, the hammer fell at $65,000 and $60,000 respectively for the two lots. With buyer's premium, the grand total came to $142,500.

Courtesy of Craftsman Farms Foundation, Parsippany, NJ

Craftsman Farms Foundation thanks the over 100 donors whose pledges and contributions have made the return of the cabinets possible. The cabinets arrived on site in time for "Christmas at Craftsman Farms" and can be viewed as part of the holiday tours.

Going, going gone. Saturday in December 9, 1989 the gavel hit the block at Christie's Auction house 23 times in New York City, dispersing the furniture which had remained with Gustav Stickley's Craftsman Farms for seventy-nine years. Enthusiastic collectors bid on these lots fully aware that this was Gustav Stickley's furniture. At the front a detailed floor plan pinpointed each pieces location within Craftsman Farms walls. Lots 4 and 5 were each titled, "An Important Oak Corner China Cabinet." And the pieces were noted to have been "produced by the firm of Gustav Stickley for the interior of his Craftsman Farms Home, Morris Plains, New Jersey, circa 1909." The cabinets, triangular in shape and with four static interior shelves and beautiful hand wrought copper pulls, were custom built for Gustav Stickley's dining room. But, in 1989 the recently incorporated Stickley museum -- The Craftsman Farms Foundation, Inc. -- was unable to bid on these cabinets.  And so the corner cabinets slipped into Barbara Streisand's Arts and Crafts collection. Ten years later the corner cupboards have come full circle. On November 29, 1999 they were once again in a Chrisite's auction. The Foundation marked its tenth anniversary as an institution by returning the pieces to their original location in the dining room of Craftsman Farms. The corner cupboards anchored Gustav Stickley's dining room and provided both a central focal point and useful storage and serving space. The cabinets contained a mixture of the family's glassware, dishes, linens, silverware, and trays. Some pieces are of Gustav Stickley's manufacture, such as the 20" #346 tray tucked on the bottom shelf, but many pieces simply reflect the family's taste. The cabinets also provided decorative space, adorned with two ceramic two handled vases, a Russian kettle, and a chafing dish among other small pieces. A November 1905 article in The Craftsman , "The Dining Room As a Center of Hospitality and Good Cheer," outlines the philosophy Gustav Stickley brought to life at Craftsman Farms "A well-arranged dining room, more than almost any other room in the house, rejects any but the absolutely necessary furnishings....the shining array of silver, glass, and china on sideboard, shelves or plate-rack leaves nothing lacking in the way of appropriate ornamentation." Each of the details is critical to the room's composition and to the interpretation of Craftsman Farms. Stickley's philosophy as put forth in Craftsman Homes put the dining room next in line to the living room, as "the center of hospitality and good cheer, the place that should hold a special welcome for guests and home folk alike."

"A Vision Restored": Celebrate the Unveiling of the Girls' Bedroom

Three years of research, construction, finishing, and furnishing have culminated in the first fully completed room at Craftsman Farms: the Girls' Bedroom. An example of the harmonious environment advocated by Gustav Stickley and other Arts & Crafts theorists, the Girls' Bedroom was intended as the ideal setting within which the Stickleys' teenage daughters were to become “modern young women.” It was unveiled to visitors on June 1, restored to its 1911 appearance and filled with mementos that suggest the personalities of its first residents. 

The restoration process began in 1998 with an in-depth investigation into documentary, photographic, and physical evidence. Layer by layer, the curator and conservators carefully examined construction materials, original paint colors, wall coverings, and wood finishes to identify the individual architectural components of the room. Paint fragments were matched using a colorimeter to identify the original paint colors. Finally, specialist-contractors executed the structural repairs and applied surface finishes to recreate and restore the light gray sand-painted ceiling, silver gray grasscloth walls, mahogany-brown stained floor, cream window sashes, brown-stained gum wood trim, to complement the dull blue Grueby tiled fireplace. The final effect is a cool and refreshing backdrop for one of Stickley's most delicate types of furniture, the Craftsman company's marquetry line.

One pair from the set of two beds and dressers is original, while the second bed and dresser, nightstand, desk, and piano are faithful reproductions, right down to the finish colors. To achieve accurate results, the curator and conservators took samples from various parts of the original furniture pieces—the brilliant peacock blue dyed holly, copper, ebony, and elm dyed yellow inlays, as well as the surrounding veneer of stained, weathered gray. Conservators studied the samples under visible and ultraviolet light, x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and scanning electron microscope (energy dispersive analysis by x-rays). Using the components identified through the materials analysis in conjunction with documentary evidence, Stickley's original finish formulas were assessed and then slightly altered in an attempt to insure that the reproductions will not suffer the same degradation as the originals. Visitors will have the unique opportunity to view the pieces as they were intended side by side with examples that have degraded over time. 

Accessories provide colorful contrasting touches and subtle insight into the Stickley girls' social lives. Books, tennis racquets, bridge tallies, dance cards, candy boxes, piano music, photographs, and a Cornell pennant from a beau arranged within silver gray and blue paradise of their bedroom, help paint a picture of active, lively young ladies living within their father's “Garden of Eden.” 
The Stickley Museum extends its deepest thanks to the donors who have contributed time, funds, and collections to the project. Particular thanks must be given to John H. Bryan and Gayle Greenhill for their generous contributions to the project. The room is dedicated to the memory of Paul Fiore, friend and donor to Craftsman Farms. Plase visit the museum and enjoy the first fully restored room now included on the tour of Craftsman Farms. 

Beth Ann McPherson, Curator of Interpretation