Tour of the Port Royal Parlor at Winterthur

Project: Modern Colonial, Episode 20, Part 1



Following a quick tour of the project house's front hall, Bob visits the Port Royal parlor and hall at Winterthur in Wilmington, Del., to see a classic example of a formal entryway. Bob returns to the North Bennet Street School in Boston to learn about one of the other unique skills taught there, the art of bookbinding. At the project house, Paul Andersen is hard at work installing the Wellborn cabinets and moldings in the kitchen, and custom bookshelves are underway in an upstairs bedroom.
Part 1: Tour of the Port Royal Parlor at Winterthur
Bob returns to Winterthur, industrialist Henry Francis du Pont's country estate, which is now a museum in Delaware's Brandywine Valley. The museum's Port Royal Parlor display was originally part of a country home in Philadelphia slated for demolition in the 1920s. A collector of American antiques and architecture, du Pont bought the entire home and moved it to Winterthur.

Pauline Eversmann, Winterthur's program director, joins Bob for a tour and recounts the parlor's history. The entryway opens onto the gardens, and in Colonial times, the doors would remain open to provide a view of the garden before guests proceeded to the parlor.

As an area of the home intended for formal entertaining, du Pont wanted this room to be functional, so he expanded the parlor from its original size. Among the period antiques on display is an antique high chest that du Pont purchased for $44,000 in 1929, setting a long-standing price record for early American furniture.
Part 2: Installing Corner Cabinets
Part 3: Installing Molding on the Kitchen Cabinets

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