Bell Mansion: Dining Room & Parlor

4/11/25 28 Comments

Authored & Curated By

M.J.G.

Continuing from the previous chapter where we explored the Hall and Sitting Room, today we’ll step into the room located directly behind the Sitting Room—the Dining Room. From there, we’ll cross the Hall to visit the Double Parlors.

Some of the color images are thanks to Sabrina Hounshell of Seriously Sabrina Photography.
Website: www.seriouslysabrina.com
Instagram: seriouslysabrina

Historic photos property of University of Kentucky which have an extensive library that can be reached at exploreuk.uky.edu.

The Dining Room

Here we head to the room right behind the sitting room, which opens up and is shaded by the side porch and floor-length windows…

Before we look inside, let’s compare the photo to today. The porte-cochère and side porch remain largely intact, but the porch has lost its decorative railings and detailed trim along the top. Whether due to rot or shifting tastes, those ornate features have been removed. The new railings meet modern code in height but no longer align with the original columns. In the 19th century, there were no standardized safety codes for porch railings—visual appeal often took precedence. It’s common to see Victorian-era photos with people standing beside railings that barely reached their knees.

Here is a view of the Dining Room. Another room with beautiful woodwork but unadorned walls and ceilings, other than a very large plaster cornice. It is unclear who the people in the painting on the right are—perhaps younger photos of the current owners.

One thing you may notice in many 19th-century photos of dining rooms is that the chairs aren’t always tucked under the table. They are often scattered around the room. Only when the table is dressed for a meal do you frequently see the chairs placed around it. Again, even while this isn’t all photos, it is a good number to notice.

The architect’s notes stated the dado would be 6 feet tall. While I’m not sure if it actually ended up being exactly six feet, photos I’ve seen of people standing in front of it certainly suggest it was executed as planned.

A closer look at the very high wood dado in this room, inset with Lincrusta-Walton.

Lincrusta-Walton No. 1060 appears to be the pattern used in the dining room. It remains in situ in the dining room today.

A closer look at the table reveals an embroidered cloth and a tiered bowl of some sort. The furniture in this room is all early-style, either replicas or pieces salvaged from the house fire and reused.

All the windows in this home are devoid of window treatments, though the poles are installed. One wonders if the interior photos were taken during the summer months when it was warm and only the interior shutters were regulating the light, or if perhaps they chose not to install window curtains. In many of the exterior photos of the home, only the shutters appear to be in use.

The mantel etagere was built with delicate shelves and a large mirror.

Receipts from the collection show what was ordered for the dining room. Not all of the home’s contents were ordered from one place. This particular room had fireplace equipment ordered from J. S. Conover & Co. on Nov. 29th, 1884. There is no mention of the tile listed in the receipt.

The original 1880s mantels remain in place, and the tiles appear to be in good condition, showing typical wear for their age. The firebox appears to be closed off with a black board today.

The Double Parlors

This is the view the Double Parlor, looking toward the back of the room. It’s finished in light maple wood with a prominent, heavy cornice. The shuttered windows along this side face the back porch. The rooms aren’t as heavily loaded with the typical accoutrements you see in many homes from this era. Could it have something to do with the fact that a lot of personal items were lost in the fire?

The daughter Clara’s playhouse sits in the parlor—a rather substantial toy for her. One has to wonder whether the family allowed her to play in this room regularly or if it was brought here specifically for the photo. It’s likely this would have originally been kept in the child’s bedroom.

Here we have a very large framed rocking chair that appears to be well used. To the right is an ornate table with what seems to be a bronze statue and an ewer in the opening below. Behind the rocking chair is another table featuring a marble, plaster, or Parian statue, and behind that sits a sofa chair with a portrait resting on its back.

The glass finish on the table reflects its surroundings. In the background stands an Eastlake-style easel, and in front of it sits an Eastlake-style platform rocker.

The chandelier in this room has a style that could be typical of an earlier gas light. I could not find a receipt for fixtures in this room, which makes me wonder if it was salvaged from the fire. The stained glass windows remain in place today. Again, we see a wood drapery pole and rings installed under the stained glass. Though no draperies hang. Were the interior pictures taken in the summer? Did they choose not to have draperies?

The original glass remains in place, in good condition, and reflects the typical splendor of the 1880s.

The fireplace hardware for this room came from WMH Jackson & Co. A total of $270 was spent on two copper-framed metal fireplaces, onyx marble facings, tile hearths, and nickeled portable grates.

The Double Parlor today. Here, we get a clear view of the plaster and frieze details. The ceiling and frieze plaster moldings raise interesting questions—were these recreated after the fire as direct copies of the originals, or could some elements be surviving fragments mixed in? Or were they installed years after the historic photo was taken? They don’t appear in the old photo, at least from what we can tell. Could they have been added later?

The original 1880s mantels remain in the house, complete with their onyx details.

Some of the more noticeable changes over time include:

The fireplace mirror frames above the mantels have unfortunately been painted to match the walls.
A modern door has been cut through the center window, opening onto the now glass-enclosed back porch.
The woodwork around the doors and windows has been painted to match the cornice.
All of the interior shutters have been removed.
The original fixtures are gone.

This photo of a group of people during a birthday party in the home from April 15th 1939. None of the woodwork appears to have been painted yet in this room at this time.

Looking closer at the paint scheme in this room and the plaster details that were added later as well as on the unpainted mirror frame of maple.

You can see the original chandelier was still in place at the time of this photo. Though not totally identical to the back parlor, the shades were the same. This is the front facing portion of the parlor. You can see lace is covering the stained glass window here.

Let’s look at that window from the outside next…

… here is the front-facing window of the Double Parlor but from the back in the 1890’s.

In that front facing window, the original art glass windows remain intact, featuring cherubs surrounding a blue shell.

To be continued…

Previous Chapters:
Click the images below to go back.

Bell Mansion: The Exterior

Bell Mansion: Hall & Sitting Room

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