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THE MYSTERY OF FLORAL PAINTINGS ON WALLS OF THE HOUSE.
PAINT DECORATION AT SPILLIAN
If, when entering the parlor at Spillian, guests somehow fail to notice the unusual murals on the mellowed beadboard walls, they will likely stop and gape by the time they reach the open gallery at the top of the stairs. (See the previous story and photo, right.)
Here is a dazzling display of tea roses and hydrangea in full flower, shaded by palm fronds. Climbing and arching vines tended by butterflies adorn an enclosed flue. In guest rooms, wreaths of climbing roses or twining vines make backdrops for beds and fireplaces. Wisteria wends its way over a door in the hall.
“The paintings are a little mysterious, because they’re not signed,” says Leigh Melander, co-owner of the house. She suspects the murals may be the work of artists who worked in New York theater and opera, brought in by Anton Seidl, the artistic director at the Metropolitan Opera in the 1880s. “He was a very close friend of the Fleischmanns, who built this house, which is one reason why we wonder if the murals were painted by scenic artists. They have a kind of scenic artists’ feel, they’re very romantic.”
Leigh asked Jeff Greene, founder of Evergreene Architectural Arts, a mural and fresco restoration company, to come take a look. “He found them intriguing because they’re painted directly on the natural, shellacked pine. He’d never seen that before.”
Greene noticed that some murals are finer than others, and concluded that at least two artists, possibly more, contributed to the paintings. “We’ve not found any written evidence of who painted them or when,” Leigh says. “We know they were done early because they predate the gas jets. It’s a wonderful guessing game.”