Today I visited the Hillwood Museum, the estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post. The Museum consists of her former home, Formal Gardens, Japanese-style Garden, Dacha, and Greenhouses that are home to her famed orchid collection. Mrs. Post, as she preferred to be known after her fourth and final marriage ended, was a masterful collector who focused her energies not only on her beautiful flowers but also Russian, French and Japanese art and decorative objects. The purpose of my visit today was to view the temporary exhibition of ceramics and pottery by Eva Zeisel, but I ended up discovering much more about this marvelous gem, hidden on the edge of Rock Creek Park on a side street in a leafy, quiet neighborhood of Northwest Washington, D.C.
My companion, who had a recently visited a month or two ago, claimed that the orchids, about half of which were in bloom, were predictably twice as dazzling in March (we made up for this early disappointment later in the gardens, which seem to be at the seasonal peak of their beauty). The orchids, that I did see, however, were very beautiful in their various shades of yellow, purple and white, and I am continually fascinated by them, or more accurately, other people's abiding obsession and the attendant subculture that comes with the territory.
I never noticed the smell of orchids before: the scent is faint but insistent and rather beguiling. It's also quite different to see them as omething more than the usual solitary houseplant; seeing several varieties grouped together under one roof does seem to reveal something of the plant's true nature. In addition to the industrial metal tables that display dozens of different pots and types of orchids, there are hanging pots at every turn, all softly swinging from their identical hooks like some kind of organic, kinetic sculpture. The overall effect in a greenhouse full of orchids is like spying some new alien beauty blooming in a mad scientist's laboratory.
The first word that came to mind as I stepped into the Entrance Hall of the main house was "GILDED" -- and that was even before I saw the rock crystal chandelier suspended over the entryway, dripping with fist-sized teardrops as it was. The perfectly preserved 1950s-era kitchen was enormous, and cheerily green and yellow. Most of the rest of the house was formal yet comfortable in a gracious, classic sense.
I was most charmed by the Breakfast Room, which seats four around a small table in front of a picture window full of orchids that also fill two elegant metal display cases on both sides. Nestled in the middle, just in front of a sweeping view of the garden, was a small fountain with a statue of a nubile nymph playing a pan flute. The lace tablecloth and green chandelier (which is from one of Catherine the Great's homes outside of St. Petersburg) completed the stunning effect.
Also just off the formal Dining Room is the Library, which clearly also doubled as a cozy parlor in Mrs. Post's day. In the glass-fronted case, amongst the many leather-bond volumes, I spied a six-volume set of D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy sandwiched between Lives of the English Poets and The Humourist. On a low side table nearby was a framed photo of a handsome couple posed in front of a stately fireplace, signed simply "Wallis" and "Edward" in two different, equally friendly yet well-practiced scrawls at the bottom.
Throughout the house there were all manner of ornate gold objects and pieces of furniture featuring that deep dark blue enameled surface that seems common to the Russian style. I really love that, and also deeply adored the Pavilion, a screening and entertainment room added in a 1950s renovation that sports walls covered in lavender velvet.
In an upstairs guest bedroom, I was initially bowled over by a Wedgewood fireplace, executed in white marble with the centerpiece in the mantel and side medallions done in iconic blue relief. It was only when I stepped back, and looked up and around, that I realized that it was a theme echoed throughout the room, from the ornate ceiling to the decoration over each of the doorframes. The blue and yellow color scheme is a current favorite of mine, and combined with the Spring-like theme of the Wedgewood details, the overall approach was very pleasing to the eye.
Mrs. Post's very Art Deco dressing room was covered nearly floor-to-ceiling with elegant framed snapshots (with one wall being devoted almost exclusively to wedding photographs). My favorites included a chic woman in a black turban, head cocked in a confident profile, and a lissome blonde posing in obvious homage to John Singer Sargent's Mrs. X.
The gardens were splendid, especially the broad, open Lawn just behind the house that practically wept with the memory of a thousand glamorous evenings spent by couples swaying to the music just beneath the trees and the endless starry night.
Next: Hillwood Museum Part II: Eva Zeisel.
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