The Gilded Armory: Company Rooms A – E

Posted on 10/12/24

Authored & Curated By
M.J.G.

This week, we’re heading up to the second floor to explore the Company Rooms. The Decorator & Furnisher published a booklet that includes etchings and descriptions of many of these spaces, which have undergone numerous changes over the years. The building was electrified in 1896, prompting significant alterations to some of the designs.

Today, the Company Rooms have been somewhat restored and maintained in a rustic condition, preserving their historical integrity rather than restoring them to their original state. This preservation was carried out by Herzog & de Meuron.

Note: The quotations from The Decorator & Furniture are presented exactly as they were published, reflecting the grammar or "errors" of the 19th century, which I did not edit.

The Company A Room
IN this illustration of Company A (Fire Company) room, the very attractive wood and cabinet work is fully and cleverly shown. The entire interior fitting is in mahogany and was put up by a prominent New York firm in an expensive and thorough manner, and it makes one of the most effective of the very many rooms where the cabinet work so largely predominates. A military grate, with the proper accompaniments of andirons in the form of stacked muskets and miniature cannon-balls, is upon the Sixty-fifth Street side of the room. Two large mirrors face each other from either side, one over a handsome mantel and its companion behind a rich WEBER UPRIGHT PIANO, made especially for this room in mahogany, so as to correspond with the interior fitting. The window is protected with lambrequin and curtains, and the usual tables, chairs and other necessary furniture complete the room. A handsome painting of General Duryea graces the wall, while on the mantel is a pen and ink sketch, framed, recalling an incident in the experience of a well-known though somewhat abbreviated member of the Company. The room looks both upon the large parade room and, with side windows, upon Sixty-sixth Street.

This room is reportedly designed by George C. Flint & Co. Its perimeter is lined with numbered wood lockers, while gas lights perched atop the taller sections enhance the atmosphere, likely casting elegant reflections off the metallic elements on the walls. The wood is described as imported from Cuba. The Decorator & Furnisher provides further context stating the Two large mirrors face each other from either side, one over a handsome mantel and its companion behind a rich WEBER UPRIGHT PIANO, made especially for this room in mahogany, so as to correspond with the interior fitting.

The stenciling on the cove molding appears to be set against a metallic background. The visible portion of the ceiling reveals a complex, creative pattern of borders that playfully intersect with one another, overlaying another pattern beneath. It resembles a frame over the stenciled ceiling. According to the booklet, the ceiling is pale blue, covered with a delicate network and with heavy corner pieces. …There is a frieze of leather paper, and the wall is decorated in slight relief figures. Fragments of the original frieze were found and was gold embossed leather. Fragments of the wallpaper behind the door frame show floral pattern and garland of leaves also embossed green paper with pale green hues.

Don’t forget to click the images to study the patterns closer!

The Company B Room
IN this room we see the fine effect of a complete wood finish, the entire furnishing, lockers, mantel and ceiling being in rich mahogany, with a WEBER PIANO in the same wood, made expressly for this room, and embracing all the modern musical improvements. Three tall wardrobes at the end of the room, between and at either side of the windows, and a mirror surmounting a massive-looking mantel, are conspicuous objects. The list of heroes is headed by the name of Noah L. Farnham, Colonel Eleventh, N.Y.V. The standing of this Company in the athletic games is 107. The highest in the regiment, and if the usual college standard of excellence, marked by students’ proficiency at the bat or oar, prevails in military ethics, then this company must be entitled to rank at an elevation that places it for this year the least at the front. There are very few companies that have contributed their quota to the sacrifices mate in the late war, and none have more pleasantly embalmed their memory than this company by its very appropriate tablet.

This room was designed and decorated by architect Albert Wagner. Behind the chandelier hangs a portrait stated to be a portrait of Colonel Clark when Captain of this Company. It goes on to say a neat memorial tablet to the members of the Company killed during the Rebellion, has a conspicuous place in the room.

This exquisite gasolier is a masterpiece, featuring two tiers of gas jets with glass globes crowned by decorative metal elements, likely providing soft yet ample light to the room. The walls display a modest pattern described as dark blue ground with a gold figure or ornament upon it, while the frieze has a mechanical figure in the same colors. The frieze design that was stenciled on canvas was unique and quite simple, giving the frieze a somewhat unfinished appearance compared to others, but still retaining a sense of creativity.

This bold Eastlake table, paired with leather chairs, complements the room’s aesthetic perfectly. The tabletop, surrounding the leather insert, appears to be highly polished, adding to its elegance. The seat backs feature a subtle pattern, further enhancing their visual appeal.

The Company C Room
THIS is one of the noticeable rooms of the armory, both in decoration and furnishing. It is finished in oak, very rich in color and face;… The effect is fine. There is also shown here in connection with the general view of the apartment, a detail sketch of the mantel between the windows o the west end of the room. Against this mantel is arranged a trophy memorial to those of the company who fell in the war. This company contributed on Brigadier-General, two Colonels and a large number of minor officers. The memorial is well shown in our engraving, and consists of shield, sabres, spears and breast plates, surmounted over all by helmets and other paraphernalia of destruction or defense. The massive steel andirons at this mantel, bearing the fluer-de-lis and other Frenchy in construction, are suggestive of a good fire when the season demands it.

This room, designed by Herter Brothers, has a distinctive and bold appearance. Adorned with swords, statues, and additional lockers similar to those in the other company rooms, the decor creates a striking and memorable impression.

The walls feature an intriguing treatment and frieze. The heavy wooden frieze, with its stepped design, resembles something one might find in an Egyptian tomb. The stenciling on the walls captivates with its stylized patterns and checkerboard effects. The walls are described as blue, with festoons of oak leaves. The walls were repainted years later, and unfortunately, they were unable to delayer them to expose this original pattern.

The design work in this brass is stunning. But what is it? Fortunately, it is described in detail as Immense brackets project from the tops of the lockers, holding between them a gas-pipe plentifully supplied with burners from which a brilliant light is thrown upon the oak and richly colored plush upon the furniture and the bright ceiling. This fixture, like many of the fixtures in these rooms during that gas light era, were manufactured by Mitchell, Vance & Co. One can only imagine how striking and unusual this must have appeared to those in the room. Also notice the small helmet set into the arch of the woodwork.

The ceiling features a stunning blend of wood and stenciling. It is described as most noticeable, having a central panel bearing a large armorial design in brown, that is very impressive and very appropriate. The surrounding panels contain oak leaves.

The simple chairs and couches are described as being covered in terra-cotta plush.

The Company D Room
THE carved mahogany in this room is the most elaborate work probably that has been place in any of the rooms and reflects credit alike on the taste and skill of those who produced it. The roomy wardrobes and the lockers are all made excuses for introducing these beautiful panels of carving, and are decorative in the extreme. The most elaborate carved work is the pair of lions and spears, etc, with clock, upon one of the wardrobes, although it is rather suggestive of the British arms than our own. The free use of carving, when it can be indulged in as liberally as it is in this room, has an effect that no other form of decoration can create, and an effect that most is most powerful in the presence of high walls and massive surroundings, such as is found in the Armory… The doors contain two large mirrors, and the portraits of Colonel Lefferts and Captain Kip hang in suitable niches.

This room, decorated by Pottier & Stymus, is filled with elaborate and heavily stenciled walls, frieze, and ceiling. It is noted that the . cove and small border on the ceiling are dark blue…The ceiling shows a patch of blue sky seen through open arches of a balustrade, the other portion being laid out in panels, broken irregularly by painted design within them. This stile is somewhat Italian in its tendency, although the frivolity of that mode has been tempered so as to remove the violent contrast there would otherwise be with the furnishing.

This mantel is heavily carved, showing off its intricate details. The metal andirons are stunning, and the more you examine the firebox and the bin, the more detail reveals itself.

This table set is quite creative, featuring arch-back chairs and a stunning table.

A close-up view of the intricately patterned wall painting reveals that the wall, of which little is visible, is finished in a shade of terra-cotta, with a neat combed pattern.

A different photo of the room taken slightly more to the left. In the late 19th century the room was redecorated. Some of the ceiling was covered in plasterboard and then covered in a Adamesque plaster scrollwork.

A close up of the ceiling pattern exposed. During restoration the plaster Adamesque pattern was removed from the walls and ceiling. In some cases, the plaster was put right over the stenciling causing damage to the plaster. In other cases, like in this photo the original color was exposed almost unscathed.

A close up of the wood lockers.

The Company E Room
IN this room the pleasing effect of plainness is shown, as there is almost entire absence of carving or elaboration excepting upon the wardrobe and mantel, which latter is crowned with a wreath encompassing a helmet in relief… A feature of the room, which is no small item in its attractiveness and comfort, is a small apartment opening form it and looking out over the front or main entrance to the building, from which is a fine view of the avenue may be had both up and down. This apartment is a cool and delightful seclusion from the main room and separated from it by heavy portieres. Mirrors in the doors and opposite wardrobe and a handsome rug upon the floor aid in giving an attractive look to room and do much toward furnishing. A picture of zouave had, life size, and two capital bronze warriors on the lockers at either side of the entrance, comprise all the attempts at decorative attractions, though a miniature mitraelleuse in brass occupies the table and serves its peaceful purpose as a cigar and match holder, a mission violently in contract with its form and presence of warlike suggest that is centered about it.

This room, decorated by Pottier & Stymus, was described by our 19th-century contemporaries as having a “plainness” to it. However, by today’s standards, this room is anything but plain stylistically.

The Eastlake table is stunning, and the chairs are upholstered in a nice pattern.

The ceiling was described in The Decorator & Furnisher and stated the centre of the ceiling is terra-cotta in color, and the large corner pieces are worked over with a net in gilt linings ; a figured border surrounds this entre ornament, extending to a blue fringe and a wall in which red largely predominates.

Here is a photo of the room during the 20th century. This room went through radical changes in 1892. The original wood strap work on the ceiling and cornice was removed and the entire ceiling was covered with a plaster Tudor Revival plaster. In 1911 the ceiling was painted gold and remained that way until it was removed to expose the original stenciling.

In 2010 the strapwork was taken down, revealing the original stenciling on the ceiling in its current state. The paint is richer in color in the area where the Tudor strapwork was installed, likely closer to its original appearance. The exposed white plaster is where the original wood beams that were removed when the plaster Tudor ceiling was installed. The color scheme of the ceiling, with its brilliant blue flower centers, must have created a stunning visual effect. This would be a ceiling that would be stunning if fully restored.

A few things to review here: a captivating view of the frieze and wall fill, along with a beautiful chandelier.

An attractive and intriguing stencil pattern adorns the wall.

Exposed original wall stenciling exposes an elaborate design by Pottier & Stymus. This closeup view gives a view of how the layers were applied to the stencil and the effect it created.

Next week we will explore the remaining Company Rooms…

Previous Chapter:
The Gilded Armory: Exploring the First Floor

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