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Lot Essay
Painswick House is a lovely Palladian villa that was built between 1733 and 1738 on the site of a medieval farmhouse by Charles Hyett (d. 1738), M.P. and Constable of Gloucestershire. It is likely that the present room formed part of the original scheme of the house (St. Claire Badderly, 'Painswick House, Gloucestershire', Country Life, 1 September 1917, pp. 204-207). The rich array of carved moldings punctuated by French picturesque details are representative of the decoration of this time. Painswick was extensively altered by Charles's descendent, William Henry Hyett (d. 1877), soon after he inherited the property in 1810 and it is feasible that the room could have been disassembled during this renovation. This room - likely the drawing room - was later hung with Chinese wallpaper; according to family tradition, this was a modification that may have taken place at an earlier date in the mid-18th century.
The Painswick drawing room and dining room were acquired by the London decorators White Allom & Co. in around 1915. William Randolph Hearst purchased both rooms from Charles Allom in 1924. The scale and diversity of Hearst's buying over a span of over twenty years is legendary and salvaged architectural fitments from important houses figure prominently in his purchases. Hearst acquired various spectacular properties in New York and California, as well as a five-story Bronx warehouse, in which he stored a vast quantity of objects. In New York, Hearst occupied five floors at Clarendon Apartments on Riverside Drive (purchased in 1913); in 1927, he bought for his wife Beacon Towers, the Vanderbilt beachfront estate (and model for the Great Gatsby mansion) on Long Island's North Shore. While it is not known where the room may have been installed, Beacon Towers is a likely possibility - the mansion was fitted with no less than 16 complete rooms, four of which were described as 'George I' (for a full discussion on Hearst, see J. Harris, Moving Rooms: The Trade in Architectural Salvages, New Haven, 2007, pp. 219-228).
Hearst eventually fell into bankruptcy and was forced to sell his acquisitions in the late 1930s and early 1940s, a low point in the market with the onset of war. The present room was included in a 1941 selling exhibition at Gimbel Brothers department store. The catalogue features two views of the room (reproduced here) installed and with a decorated plaster ceiling.
The Painswick drawing room and dining room were acquired by the London decorators White Allom & Co. in around 1915. William Randolph Hearst purchased both rooms from Charles Allom in 1924. The scale and diversity of Hearst's buying over a span of over twenty years is legendary and salvaged architectural fitments from important houses figure prominently in his purchases. Hearst acquired various spectacular properties in New York and California, as well as a five-story Bronx warehouse, in which he stored a vast quantity of objects. In New York, Hearst occupied five floors at Clarendon Apartments on Riverside Drive (purchased in 1913); in 1927, he bought for his wife Beacon Towers, the Vanderbilt beachfront estate (and model for the Great Gatsby mansion) on Long Island's North Shore. While it is not known where the room may have been installed, Beacon Towers is a likely possibility - the mansion was fitted with no less than 16 complete rooms, four of which were described as 'George I' (for a full discussion on Hearst, see J. Harris, Moving Rooms: The Trade in Architectural Salvages, New Haven, 2007, pp. 219-228).
Hearst eventually fell into bankruptcy and was forced to sell his acquisitions in the late 1930s and early 1940s, a low point in the market with the onset of war. The present room was included in a 1941 selling exhibition at Gimbel Brothers department store. The catalogue features two views of the room (reproduced here) installed and with a decorated plaster ceiling.