The customary finish for these old halls was a landscape wall paper, a
painted wall broken into panels by molding, a high white wainscoting
with white plaster above, or possibly a gay figured paper of
questionable beauty. Mahogany furniture was characteristic of all these
halls--a grandfather's-clock, a turn-top table, a number of dignified
chairs, and a quaint old mirror. Sometimes there was a fireplace, but
oftener there were doors opening evenly into various rooms of the first
floor. These things are irreproachable to-day. Why did we have to go
through the period of the walnut hat-rack and shiny oak hall furniture,
only to return to our simplicities?
[Illustration: THE STAIRCASE IN THE BAYARD THAYER HOUSE]
When I planned the main hall of the Colony Club I determined to make it
very Colonial, very American, very inviting and comfortable, the sort
of hall you like to remember having seen in an old Virginia house. One
enters from the street into a narrow hall that soon broadens into a
spacious and lofty living-hall. The walls are, of course, white, the
paneled spaces being broken by quaint old Colonial mirrors and
appropriate lighting-fixtures. There is a great fireplace at one end of
the hall, with a deep, chintz-covered davenport before it. There are
also roomy chairs covered with the same delightful chintz, a green and
white glazed English chintz that is as serviceable as it is beautiful.
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