Category: FDR Suite Renovations

Who said you couldn’t put Humpty-Dumpty back together again? Several day’s worth  of hard work later, the Suite has emerged with its new coat of paper, remarkably transformed, looking for the first time in over a century very nearly like a Victorian room:

What’s next? Window treatments, and – hopefully – more generous contributions from [...]

An epic campaign ended today as the first rolls of  historic wallpaper were applied to the walls of the FDR Suite study. You may remember all the trials and tribulations we had in piecing together the pattern from fragments I discovered last summer behind the large radiator. Then Kari Pei, Head of Design at Wolf-Gordon [...]

One of the things that amazes me most about this project is that every now and then, a piece of the puzzle drops mysteriously from the sky, as if by preordained writ. I noted in a previous post how a strange and unlikely attraction to a tiny spot in Big Sur led me to Lathrop [...]

I’m delighted to announce that New England’s premier bedding manufacturer, Gardner Mattress, has agreed to donate custom mattresses for the FDR Suite bedrooms. While this may not sound like a world breaking-news event, finding a qualified company to make mattresses for our period beds had turned out to be quite a challenge.
Why, you ask?
As Gardner [...]

Hello All!
Again I must offer apologies for being off-line for so long: the season dictates that the day job (landscape design) be all-engaging, and so this notice will be brief. But much good news: The FDR Suite was again in the New York Times; the manufacturing problems of the study wall paper have finally been [...]

We have a new arrival in the Suite this week. A wonderful burgundy and gold late 19th-century daybed that looks as if it were made and upholstered for the room. As beautiful as it is though, it almost didn’t make the cut: I had initially passed on the purchase two months ago. We did, after [...]

My apologies for not posting any news for the last several weeks, but these have been busy, heady days. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we’ve been able to begin the process of furnishing the Suite, slowing rolling back the years to May, 1904.
I thought you might be interested in seeing some of the [...]

Those of us fond of history (and I included myself in this group) often have a tendency to romanticize the past, or at least think that life today presents a certain level of crudity and barbarism lacking in more cultured times. Every now and then however, I am reminded that things weren’t always how I [...]

It seems like ages, but here, at last, are some of the first views, post renovations. The walls are still bare, and the furniture a bit sparse, but we’re getting there!
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A thousand thanks to all of you who have helped us move this project forward! Special kudos to our alumni donors  and project supporters (you [...]

Check out the great article in the Art & Antiques Section of the Times, published: March 11, 2010 online, and in the March 12 print edition!

THERE’S A NEW DEAL AT ROOSEVELT’S DORM