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For more on The Mount, see the first post in this series. This post is available as a video at https://youtu.be/gyPVUmG8bEo .

Wharton and Codman’s The Decoration of Houses notes: “The main purpose of a door is to admit, its secondary purpose is to exclude.” The doors of The Mount’s main floor rooms are placed to allow a vista from one end of the house to the other. From his study, Teddy Wharton could see clear through the gallery to the stairs. From the library, Edith could see through the drawing room to the dining room. This is also great for air flow, of course.

Below: Teddy Wharton’s study. Huge windows, light colors, and decor that’s much less fussy than the Victorian style at Naumkeag and Ventfort. The Mount went through several owners before it became a museum. Like Ventfort, the present furnishings (including the leather chairs in this photo) were collected later.

Below: a poster in Teddy’s study. Imagine being a woman ca. 1900, who could earn or inherit money, but could not control it! Edith, who came of a wealthy family, married Teddy in 1885, when she was 23. He suffered from chronic depression, which proved to be incurable. She divorced him in 1913, at which point she began controlling her own finances. The Mount was Edith’s primary residence only from 1902 to 1911.

Edith Wharton’s library. The books are hers – they were recently purchased by The Mount and reinstalled.

Fantastic woodwork. When I talk about how seeing technical ability relaxes me, I’m thinking of this sort of thing. As I said in last week’s post, the Whartons were not as wealthy as the Morgans or Vanderbilts. The materials in The Mount are not extremely expensive, but the Whartons did find the money to pay for exquisite workmanship.

Look at that plaster ceiling! This is the drawing room. The veranda, overlooking the garden, opens off the french doors at left.

The dining room is also light and airy. It’s designed for small, convivial gatherings, rather than parties of a couple dozen.

I have never seen anything like these side-table ornaments. What are they? Who created them? They look like Art Deco style, which would make them somewhat later than Edith’s residence at The Mount.

Next week: the bedroom floor.

More

• Back in the summer of 2020, when most museums were still in lockdown or requiring masks, I discovered the pleasures of spending time in elaborate, exquisitely planned gardens. My first excursion was to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, where I visited the Gilded Age mansions of Naumkeag, Ventfort, and The Mount. Ventfort photos are here and here. Naumkeag is in 4 parts, beginning here.
• For more Gilded Mansions and their gardens, click this tag.
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