chesterfieldavenue

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“This wallpaper is terrible - one of us will have to go!” Oscar Wilde

beachcomber australia One of my colleagues in Library towers made the following comment about the general decoration. Overwhelming thing that struck me on first view was that the then residents were enthusiasts of orientalism, the Arts and Crafts movement and Art Nouveau design. The dado wallpaper with its use of dawn and dusk symbols looks to be directly influenced by the stylized flower forms of C.F.A Voysey’s work and Alphonse Mucha’s “Documents Décoratifs” . The chairs have been loosely and not that expertly covered in a Japanese style design of cranes, peonies and quince or cherry blossoms. The rugs look to be near eastern in design and the firescreen shows a kingfisher (I think), reeds and waterlilies, which I think are painted, rather than embroidered. The panel could be closely woven silk or panel in Chinese or Japanese style, if not origin.

What is that bear think, above the chair? I have flipped it in this capture

DannyM8 ^ Weird ! Reverse view - catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000325954 - trying to find a calendar in all the clutter for a date.

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"1911 - In preparation for a visit by King George V, a new bedroom wing was built on the west side, on the site of a 19th-century service wing ... ... Electricity had been provided in 1908" From p. 61 of the flip-book here - www.president.ie/en/explore-visit Does not look like the west wing is yet built. Not sure about evidence of electricity ...

Streetview does not go there, but this might be helpful - www.google.com/maps/@53.3582854,-6.3176969,182a,35y,39.49...

Congratulation for your beautiful Album. Nice Week End.

www.flickr.com/photos/cassidyphotography/37017020793/

... his Wikipedia entry is fabulous... there are some in life who travel far and fast

Sounds like a 19th century version of Howard Hughes. “In 1868 Train was arrested while aboard the RMS Scotia in the port of Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland,[10] and held in custody. He had in his possession speeches he had given in the United States in defense of the Fenian cause of Irish independence. These documents were seized by a local magistrate. His release four days later was on condition that he disavow any intention of promoting Fenianism while in Ireland or England.” This article contains an amusing account of his arrest for Fenian sympathies headstuff.org/culture/history/1750ad-1900ad/george-franci... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Francis_Train

From that wiki:
He was also involved in the construction of a short-lived horse tramway in Cork, Ireland.:

Anglo-American Times of Saturday 22 February 1868 suggested that Blarney was a fitting venue for his speech

GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN AT BLARNEY. A specimen of George F. Train's oratory will not be without interest to many of our readers. He delivered the following lecture at Blarney, where he evidently found himself as much at home as any native. It was at Dr. Barter's Hydropathic Establishment, St. Ann's Hill, the ostensible subject being "The Laws of Health." Mr. Train, however, disdained all the conventional rules of oratory, and indulged in humorous digressions, keeping his audience in continuous laughter. Besides the patients sojourning at the rural retreat there were several ladies and gentlemen from town, and a tolerable contingent of the village oi palloi were also admitted to the room.

He wasn't afraid of publicity - it was suggested at the time that his arrest at Cork was exactly what he wanted. A search for his name in the BNA returns more than 12,000 entries.

In 1873 there were reports in the press that he had been committed to a lunatic asylum. The readers of the Edinburgh Evening News on Thursday 12 June 1873 were put straight on the facts- "the balance of evidence was slightly in favour of his not being cracked" . But only slightly.