reception hall

The Reception Hall
From the Vestibule, one enters the Reception Room through a screen of paired and fluted Doric columns. The flooring is of oak, in the parquet de Versailles pattern, and is covered with a large Neoclassical Aubusson rug. The two settees and twelve armchairs of the Reception Hall are considered to be “Adam style ballroom furniture”. They are unique because they are inset with panels of painted and gilded glass called verre églomisé. These furnishings are upholstered in a heavy terra cotta silk. According to curator, Lester Oram, a matching set exists in Buckingham Palace. In the center rests a table beneath a large English Regency chandelier. The walls are painted in a pale yellow hue. Acanthus leaf motifs and egged dart moldings are prominent in the ornamentation of this room. During the Annenberg period, two dark, abstract paintings flanked the entrance to the Reception Hall from the Vestibule. The Reception Hall is also decorated with fluted Doric pilasters, a Doric entablature complete with triglyphs and metopes, and detailed pedimented doors leading to the Family and State Dining Rooms, Garden Room, Gold Room and Stair Hall. The Reception Hall was remodeled in the Colonial Revival style with patriotic iconography.