This is an article continued from Part 1, containing photos from the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum in West Palm Beach, Florida. Part 1 featured photos from the exterior, the Grand Hall, the Drawing Room, the West Room, the Courtyard and the hallways. Now let’s go inside the rooms, to see how the New York firm of Pottier & Stymus did things in there.
Here’s the Dining Room, with its richly ornamented walls and ceiling. It’s a place that looks as if you won’t get up hungry from the table. Indeed, it looks as if you’ll be getting several courses every time you sit down.
The Breakfast Room comes next.
The Grand Ballroom definitely looks grand with those large chandeliers, and light streaming in through the big windows.
The Music Room is much more than that. It’s an art gallery, too, and it has even more ornate chandeliers than the Grand Ballroom.
The Library was also Flagler’s office.
It’s time to go up to the 2nd Floor. First up is the Colonial Chamber.
The Green Room.
The Heliotrope Room.
Closet for the heliotrope room, with period trunks. I’d love to travel with trunks like that these days, except I don’t think any of them will fit as carry-on luggage…
The Gold Room.
The Louis XV Room.
The Pink Room. I’d love to have one of these tables, it looks perfect for a laptop.
The Blue Room.
A typical guest bathroom. Notice the incredibly modern fixtures, even by today’s standards. Keep in mind this was 1902, and most people were still using outhouses. Also keep in mind Palm Beach was at the time undeveloped, which meant there was no running water, no sewer system and no electricity. The mansion had to generate its own power, filter its own water, heat it, pump it through its own pipes, then dispose of it properly after it was used, along with the waste matter. Amazing!
The Master Bedroom.
The Master Bathroom. Notice how large it was, and that it had a shower as well as a bath tub.
The Silver Maple Room. It is a striking color scheme. I wouldn’t normally go for red this deep, because I’d find it too jarring, but in this room, in combination with that dark brown maple, it works beautifully.
The Colonial Room, not to be confused with the Colonial Chamber.
The Morning Room, a great place to gather one’s thoughts in the morning, perhaps while enjoying a nice cup of tea.
The Servants’ Quarters, which if I may say so myself, are likely better than what the overwhelming majority of servants at that time got to have.
A little alcove with sofas and a porcelain elephant, found above the two branches of the main staircase, overlooking the Courtyard.
And that concludes my tour of the Flagler Museum. I’d like to thank David Carson, Public Affairs Director at the museum, for his helpful cooperation in obtaining the permit and allowing me to publish these photographs.
If you liked this, stay tuned for more. I’ll soon post photos from Vizcaya, and from other beautiful places around the world.
Raoul Pop 