Furniture Style of the Grove Park Inn Arts Crafts
Mission Decor in a Carolina Inn
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May 14, 1989
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WE were on an unsteady course toward the lounge. A friend and I had stopped for a potable at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, N.C., and as we walked down a long, wide corridor, I was drawn left and then correct, again and once more. I wove this fashion toward a big hulk of an oak sideboard or that way toward a astringent-looking couch with wooden slats at its sides and back. I was fascinated by this simple furniture, all straight lines and correct angles. Though obviously old, it looked somehow modern.
Past the time nosotros reached the bar I had learned that I was admiring furniture of the Arts and Crafts movement, which flourished in this country in the beginning 2 decades of the 20th century. Unremarkably called mission article of furniture, it was designed in reaction to the ornate eclecticism of the Victorian era; its heft and careful adroitness were a response to the increasing affluence of cheap manufactured furniture. I found no shortage of people to explicate all this to me. The inn's guests included 450 dealers, collectors and scholars who were attention the first national Arts and Crafts Antiques Briefing.
Grove Park Inn was, in fact, the inspiration for that gathering. When it opened in 1913, the rustic stone hotel was busy entirely in the Arts and crafts mode. Although ii recent additions accept more than than tripled the size of the original 150-room construction, the inn retains much of its early on entreatment. Invitee rooms in the 1913 section contain their original mission-style furniture and copper calorie-free fixtures. The new wings, completed in 1984 and 1988, accept been decorated with the sideboards, bookcases and settles that first drew my attending, also as with period lamps, textiles and graphics. Grove Park Inn is said to contain the largest collection of Arts and crafts furnishings in the world.
In 1955, when Grove Park was purchased by its present owner, Charles A. Sammons, mission piece of furniture was the stuff of junk stores, non antiques shops. As Mr. Sammons began to renovate the hotel, he removed the lobby's wicker and sold the oak chairs in the dining room. Nonetheless he left the bedroom furniture and other pieces in place, largely considering they were comfy and sturdy and seemed to friction match the inn's informal atmosphere. In the early 1980's, when Craft had begun to make a comeback and the value of the inn's collection was recognized, more mission pieces were bought for the expanding inn.
Purists may not approve of the reproductions in the new wings, and they may at present notice the inn as well boldly busy past Arts and crafts standards. Yet fifty-fifty the most particular collector will enjoy seeing so many Craft objects assembled in a single place. And fifty-fifty people with an aversion to mission article of furniture should be enchanted past the pair of 12-human foot-wide fireplaces in the expansive rock lobby, and by the hotel's sweeping view of downtown Asheville and the Blue Ridge Mountains. The additions have made Grove Park a modern and comfortable hotel.
Grove Park Inn was built by Edwin Wiley Grove, a St. Louis pharmaceuticals manufacturer who made a fortune from his popular Tasteless Chill Tonic. Mr. Grove gave his son-in-law, Fred Seely, the job of overseeing construction of the inn, and though Mr. Seely had no training in the building trades, he served equally both architect and general contractor. He built the inn of granite boulders dug from the mount on which it stands. To help make the building fireproof, he designed a three-foot-thick roof composed of cement, steel rods, asphalt and cerise clay tiles.
Fred Seely was as ambitious in his search for furnishings for the inn. Some 400 rugs were made in France, and linen curtains and spreads were imported from Ireland. The dining room article of furniture, 600 copper lighting fixtures and the hardware for the guest room article of furniture were handmade by the Roycroft Shops in East Aurora, N.Y., ane of the best known of the American Craft workshops. ''This will exist the finest resort-hotel in the globe,'' wrote the Roycroft Shops' founder, Elbert Hubbard. ''It is minus the baroque, the tawdry, the flashily foolish.''
William Jennings Bryan, at that time the Secretarial assistant of Land, delivered an address at the opening ceremonies. Woodrow Wilson was a frequent visitor. Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone and Thomas Edison arrived together, and Bela Bartok began composing his Concerto No. 3 for piano and orchestra during a stay.
F. Scott Fitzgerald lived at the inn for about a year in 1935 and 1936, when he was struggling with tuberculosis and alcoholism and his wife, Zelda, was institutionalized with schizophrenia in an Asheville hospital. A plaque on the door of Room 441 commemorates Fitzgerald's residence but does not hint at the unhappiness of his time at the inn.
Mementoes of Grove Park's past are establish throughout the public areas. Photos of notable guests hang in one corridor, and such artifacts every bit bottles of Tasteless Chill Tonic and early on menus are on display in glass cases. The inn does non make much of a fuss over its collection of Arts and Crafts effects, notwithstanding. Guests may take to chase a bit to find the massive Roycroft sideboards and elegant corner servers from the first dining room. And it will take an skillful eye or a diligent search to spot the about important of the recent acquisitions, among them a few Morris chairs and box settles by Gustav Stickley's company and his that of his brothers, L. and J. G. Stickley. On the other hand, visitors will accept no difficulty finding the eight-foot-alpine clock fabricated by the Roycroft Store for the inn. With its hand-hammered face and oversized hardware, the clock may well be the most important object to come out of the Roycroft Shops. An Craft hunt may exist amusement plenty for some guests, but others may want more than conventional sport. For those people there are horse-drawn carriage rides, an 18-hole golf course, nine tennis courts and a fully equipped sports center, too as a nightclub and eight souvenir shops. Unfortunately, eating is non ane of the groovy pleasures of a stay at the inn; the food in the four restaurants merely occasionally rises above the standard quality of hotel fare. Recommended outings include a visit to Biltmore Estate, George Vanderbilt'southward 1895 mock chateau, or a drive on the Blueish Ridge Parkway; both are only minutes abroad.
Surely the about appealing activities offered at Grove Park Inn are the simplest ones, a meditation earlier a blazing fire or a long gaze into the view from the porch. Those mission rockers are more comfy than they look. ROOMS AT THE INN Reservations
Grove Park Inn (290 Macon Avenue, Asheville, Due north.C. 28804; 800-438-5800) is in the western side of the country. Asheville can be reached past Interstates 40 and 26, and its airport is served by iv national airlines.
People interested in the Arts and Craft move may wish to request a room in the 1913 section of the inn, where original furniture is nevertheless in place. These rooms are smaller than those in the 2 additions to the hotel, but they are still comfortable.
From April one to Dec. 31, the accuse for a double room is $155, plus an 8 percent tax. From January. ane to March 31, a double room is $115. A variety of two-night package plans, which include dinner, are offered.
The third Grove Park Inn Arts and crafts Conference volition be held Feb. 16 to 18, 1990. A package costing $260 for two includes 2 nights' stay, daily Continental breakfast, entrance to all seminars and to the antiques show. Dining
The Blue Ridge Dining Room and Carolina Cafe are open year round; the other two restaurants are closed in the winter. For dinner at the Blue Ridge Dining Room and the Dynasty Restaurant, reservations are required as are jackets for men.
At the Blue Ridge, the inn's master eating house, entrees run from $17.75 for mountain trout to $24.50 for spring lamb persillade. The eating house also offers a seafood buffet on Friday night ($18.25 a person) and a brunch buffet on Sundays ($14.95). At Dusk Terrace, on the porch, entrees are a bit less expensive and sandwiches are also served. The Carolina Buffet, open up all 24-hour interval, serves mainly sandwiches and salads. Dynasty Restaurant specializes in Oriental cuisine, at $14.75 to $xviii.75 an entree. A 15 percent service charge is added to all nutrient and potable charges. - R. M.
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