The Center Hall

More than a passageway, the center hall was used as a sitting room, an informal playroom (even for ping pong!), and a sales gallery for art and antiques. Cooled by the cross breezes that passed through the shuttered doors, boarders read and relaxed on the mismatched furniture that lined the hall. Here, amidst her boarders at leisure, Miss Florence greeted the many visitors who stopped for a tour of the painted door panels with hopes of catching a glimpse of the artists at work. In anticipation of the visits, she filled the hall with historic furniture and collectibles and hung art colony paintings available for sale.

“And truly a transformation had taken place. No longer was there to be seen any wear or tear or wreckage or decay. Now nothing of the kind remained. All that worthless collection of tatters and rents and cracks and holes that had formerly infested the [Holy House], had completely vanished—just as though willed away by the touch of a Fairy.”

~ Artist and Author Arthur Heming in his unpublished
manuscript, The Lions in the Lady’s Den

The hall was one of the dilapidated spaces refurbished by the artists in 1910. Remembering his first impression of the hall, artist Arthur Heming recounted that “several cats and dogs slept soundly and breathed heavily among the chaos of faded and tattered cushions and ripped and gaping upholstery” and described “mildewy and tattered wallpapers of forty years old design.” Together, working in secret, the artists replaced the worn carpets with fresh wool runners, painted the trim, reupholstered torn cushions, and updated the walls with a woven grass cloth, a desirable backdrop for paintings.

During the first summer of the art colony, Henry Ward Ranger painted a moonlit image of the Bow Bridge on the right inset panel of the door to his bedroom. Then he challenged a fellow artist to paint a complementary scene on the other panel. This began a tradition of painting on the doors of the first floor that continued throughout the public areas of the house and culminated in a remarkable collection of painted doors and wall panels in the dining room.

Visit the on-line learning site In Situ: The Painted Panels for a more in-depth study of the individual painted doors and panels.

Learn more about the inside of the Griswold boardinghouse by clicking the choices below:

• Overview
• Bedroom
• Center Hall
• Colony Parlor
• Miss Florence's Bedroom
• Pantry / Back Hall
• Dining Room