#carolands

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America's Castles: "BILTMORE ESTATE"

📺 America's Castles TV show episode:

George Vanderbilt wanted to build Biltmore Estate as his own French Château in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. To execute his dreams he chose the prominent American architect, Richard Morris Hunt, educated at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Landscape-architect, Frederick Law Olmsted who created NYC's Central Park & San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, was in charge of the 120,000 acres of formal gardens,, pristine forest and woodlands.

The video follows the history of the Gilded Age ~ Beaux-Arts Château from its construction in 1895 through its self sustainability usage today. 🇺🇸🇫🇷

⚜🇫🇷 Carolands architect, Ernest-Paul Sanson, designed this Salon Chinois for Harriett Pullman-Carolan as a delightful tea room in 1914. She was an avid Francophile and lover of all things French as well as their style of incorporating of Asain Art referred to as "Chinoiserie"

Without furnishings the room seems more a work of art as seen in the middle photos taken by Mick Hale for the 2006 book "Carolands"

The Salon Chinos is often called the Chinese Lacquer Room referring to the French technique of lacquer application that often is as rare and valuable as the actual Chinese panels themselves. The return of Harriett's original 16th Century woven Ningxia Chinese carpet for this room was found by a current Curator & purchased by the last owners of the Chateau.

⚜ 🇨🇵 Harriett Pullman Carolan lived half her life in France where they appreciated the beauty of Asian cultures so it's only natural for her to order the installation of her own "Chinois Salon" aka Chinese Lacquer Room in her 98 room French Chateau named Carolands. Constructed in 1915, the small Chinois Salon was furnished with an extraordinarily rare carpet from her own collection.

This Ningxia carpet is dated from the Kangxi period (1662-1722) and features in the center a wonderful mythical animal called a qilin, symbolizing among other things serenity and prosperity. This fantastic beast is surrounded by lion-dogs and other auspicious motifs.

This carpet was sold in New York City in 1957 a year after Harriett died, and was in several important collections until it was finally returned to Carolands where it resides back in its original location thanks to the generosity of the last owners of the Chateau.

⚜🇺🇸🏰 America's Castles: "CAROLANDS"

⚜ Circa 1922 photos of the 98-room Beaux-Arts French Château built in 1916 by Pullman Luxury Railway Car heiress, Harriett Pullman Carolan just south of San Francisco, California.

🇨🇵 Harriett Pullman Carolan was a lifelong Francophile who wanted to build Carolands as her own authentically French Château in the San Francisco Bay Area. She chose the most important French architect, Ernest Sanson and Landscape-architect, Achillès Duchêne, to execute her dream house on 554 acres of pristine suburban woodlands.

👑💎💍🇫🇷 The rare extant jewelry of the French Queen Marie-Antoinette will be auctioned off by Sotheby's in Geneva on November 14th just in time for Christmas delivery (HINT HINT!!!) lol The video explains the provenance and backstory but I know Harriett Pullman-Carolan, a Francophile that adored all things Marie-Antoinette especially pearls, would love those to be displayed at Carolands.

●Vivé-la-France🇫🇷

⚜👑💎💍🇫🇷 Portraits of the bejeweled Harriett Pullman-Carolan, a Francophile that adored all things Marie-Antoinette and was often portrayed in one of her dozens of pearl necklaces like her heroine who famously preferred them over diamonds. The French Queen's rare diamonds & pearls are soon to be auctioned in Geneva on November 14th, 2018, Harriett would have loved to have the jewels displayed at the Chateau she built with the French Queen in mind, Carolands. ⚜⚜⚜

●Vivé-la-France🇫🇷