Claggett Wilson document
Claggett Wilson was "a dear friend" of the famed Broadway acting team, Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne. He designed the set and costumes for "The Taming of the Shrew" in which the Lunts appeared. Ten Chimneys, the Lunt's Wisconsin home, became the backdrop for Mr. Wilson's considerable talents as a decorator and muralist.
Production & Costumes by Claggett Wilson
Production & Costumes by Claggett Wilson
Production & Costumes by Claggett Wilson
Production & Costumes by Claggett Wilson
Production & Costumes by Claggett Wilson
Production & Costumes by Claggett Wilson
Postcard by Claggett Wilson
Postcard by Claggett Wilson
Colonial Theatre program
Colonial Theatre program
Poster by Claggett Wilson
Poster by Claggett Wilson, 1946
Article From Theatre Arts
From "Theatre Arts"
1958, Claggett Wilson Read went back stage and met the Lunts
1958, Claggett Wilson Read went back stage and met the Lunts.
The Visit was their final Broadway stage performance.
Town and Country article, November 1937
Town and Country article, November 1937
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A personal letter from Alfred Lunt to Claggett Wilson
A personal letter from Alfred Lunt to Claggett Wilson
(click image to view larger picture)
A personal letter from Alfred Lunt to Claggett Wilson
A personal letter from Alfred Lunt to Claggett Wilson
(click image to view larger picture)
The Lunt's New York City apartment. Town & Country article, November, 1937
The Lunt's New York City apartment. Town & Country article, November, 1937.
Ten Chimneys, Genesee Depot, Wisconsin
Claggett Wilson executed the murals, furnishings, and decorations
at Ten Chimneys, Genesee Depot, Wisconsin
Vogue article, May 1, 1940
Vogue, May 1, 1940
(click image to view larger picture)
Vogue article, May 1, 1940
Vogue, May 1, 1940
(click image to view larger picture)
Vogue article, May 1, 1940
Vogue, May 1, 1940
(click image to view larger picture)
Vogue article, May 1, 1940
Vogue, May 1, 1940
(click image to view larger picture)
Vogue article, May 1, 1940
Vogue, May 1, 1940
(click image to view larger picture)
Vogue article, May 1, 1940
Vogue, May 1, 1940
(click image to view larger picture)
The Lunts in the upper hall; walls are painted in grisaille with farm scenes
The Lunts in the upper hall; walls are painted in grisaille with farm scenes
Mural detail in the entrance hall.
Mural detail in the entrance hall.
Entrance hall
Photograph by Rick Wood
Entrance hall
Photograph by Rick Wood
Entry: antique porcelain stove imported by
special permission of Swedish government
Entry: antique porcelain stove imported by
special permission of Swedish government
Upper hall: the mirror (one of a pair) from the palace of Schonbrunn, Vienna
Upper hall: the mirror (one of a pair) from the palace of Schonbrunn, Vienna
Flirtation Room, 18th century Swedish chairs, the stove is from Vermont
"Flirtation Room", 18th century Swedish chairs, the stove is from Vermont
Morning room in yellow, white, gray and gold
Morning room in yellow, white, gray and gold
Library: Lynn's portrait by Alfred DeGlen was exhibited at the Royal Academy
Library: Lynn's portrait by Alfred DeGlen was exhibited at the Royal Academy
Dining room: Claggett Wilson designed the furniture,
rug, lighting, murals et cetera
Dining room: Claggett Wilson designed the furniture,
rug, lighting, murals et cetera
Dining Room - photo by Zane Williams
Dining Room - photo by Zane Williams
Dining Room: 18th century Delft fireplace tiles from Brunswick, Maine
Dining Room: 18th century Delft fireplace tiles from Brunswick, Maine
Lynn's chair, one of 12 Zodiac signs designed by Claggett Wilson
and executed by Lunt family members.
Lynn's chair, one of 12 Zodiac signs designed by Claggett Wilson
and executed by Lunt family members.
The Great Parlor: biblical scenes painted in the primitive Swedish manner
The Great Parlor: biblical scenes painted in the primitive Swedish manner
The Great Parlor - photo by Kate Roth
The Great Parlor - photo by Kate Roth
The Great Parlor: murals painted in the primative Swedish manner
The Great Parlor: murals painted in the primitive Swedish manner
The Lunts at breakfast in the Great Parlor
The Lunts at breakfast in the Great Parlor
The Lunts playing their newly painted piano in Claggett Wilson's studio
The Lunts playing their newly painted piano in Claggett Wilson's studio
(click image to view article)
Piano painted by Claggett Wilson for the Great Parlor
Piano painted by Claggett Wilson for the Great Parlor
The Lunts still enjoying the piano
Photograph by James Auer
The Lunts still enjoying the piano
Photograph by James Auer
The master bedroom
The master bedroom
Master bedroom: 18th century Swedish porcelain stove
Master bedroom: 18th century Swedish porcelain stove
The Lunts in the kitchen at Ten Chimneys
Alfred and Lynn in the kitchen at "The Hen House", formerly known as "The Honeymoon Cottage", where they lived as newly weds. Design and decoration by Claggett Wilson. "...It was Claggett Wilson who furnished the entire kitchen...utensils and all." (Reminiscences of Alfred Lunt & Lynn Fontanne by Carolyn Every, the Lunt's cook).
Kitchen design and decoration by Claggett Wilson
The Cottage Kitchen designed and decorated by Claggett Wilson
The Cottage Kitchen designed and decorated by Claggett Wilson
The Cottage Kitchen designed and decorated by Claggett Wilson
The Cottage Drawing Room designed and decorated by Alfred Lunt
The Cottage Drawing Room designed and decorated by Alfred Lunt
Claggett Wilson at work in the Great Parlor
Claggett Wilson at work in the Great Parlor
Claggett Wilson at work in the Great Parlor
Claggett Wilson at work in the Great Parlor
Claggett Wilson at work in the Great Parlor
Claggett Wilson at work in the Great Parlor
Claggett Wilson at work in the Great Parlor
Claggett Wilson at work in the Great Parlor
Wilson Clan at Ten Chimneys, October 2006
"Wilson Clan" at Ten Chimneys, October 2006
A beautiful star admiring a portrait of Alfred Lunt
A beautiful star admiring a portrait of Alfred Lunt
Queen Helen (Claggett Wilson's niece) and Alfred Lunt at Ten Chimneys
Helen W. Eckel, Claggett Wilson's niece, and Alfred Lunt at Ten Chimneys, 2006
Swedish Interiors
Visit www.evbantiques.com for book information and to view Eleish van Breems Swedish Antiques, Woodbury, Connecticut
Images from Swedish Interiors
(click image to view larger picture)
Images from Swedish Interiors
(click image to view larger picture)
Images from Swedish Interiors
Green-shuttered Ten Chimneys, as viewed from the side, has traditional Swedish board and batton siding. Alfred installed the eight-sided star window.
Images from Swedish Interiors
A rare eighteenth-century Swedish kakelugn stands at the end of the front hallway. A trompel'oeil proscenium with drapery frames the stove. Kakelugns can be tricky to install properly and usually an expert from Sweden needs to be sent in when reconstructing an authentic one.
Images from Swedish Interiors
Alfred and Lynn loved to rehearse for their latest play in the "flirtation room" because of its many doors. Note the Swedish tall case clock over-painted and embellished into a gilt confection, complete with grisaille French chickens and pastoral scene. The rooster on the top of the clock is made of brass.
Images from Swedish Interiors
From the "flirtation room" you have a clear view of the bedroom hallway and stairwell, complete with Claggett Wilson's portrait of Gustav III. The wall treatment is decoupage that Alfred and Lynn cut out and pasted there.
Images from Swedish Interiors
Alfred and Lynn had Claggett Wilson paint biblical scenes on the walls and ceiling of the great drawing room derived from paintings in Swedish manor houses and castles of the 1740s to 1780s. The paintings by Wilson are done in soft shades of apricot, pale yellow, and sea foam greens and blues.
Images from Swedish Interiors
A depiction of Jacob's Ladder is the focal point of the wall in the drawing room.
Images from Swedish Interiors
Alfred, a gourmet cook, would indulge his love of all things culinary in the spacious kitchen. He reveled in growing his own vegetables and berries and kept a creamery on the property. The red-checked curtain and charming scallop-edged wood valance lend the kitchen a Swedish air.
Images from Swedish Interiors
The cottage was known affectionately as "the Hen House" because it had once been the chicken coop and later was where Alfred's mother stayed. Painted red with crisp white trim, the cottage is the very vision of the Swedish countryside with the addition of some stylish 1930s-style red-and-white-striped awnings.
Images from Swedish Interiors
The kitchen in the cottage has theatrical borders painted on the walls as if to emphasize the stage-set quality of a Swedish stuga transposed to twentieth-century Wisconsin. A seventeenth-century Swedish hanging cupboard sits on a rare red-painted Baroque Swedish double trestle table. The lettering on the door is Alfred's grocery list in Swedish. The word fisk is painted in red...speculation on this abounds. Is it Alfred's red herring?
Images from Swedish Interiors
The corner stove has a charming faux backsplash in black.
Images from Swedish Interiors
A traditional nineteenth-century wood-and-wire chandelier hangs over the breakfast table in the kitchen. Cushions add comfort to antique Swedish pine farm chairs. The stencil border around the kitchen was painted by Alfred, who left all of the pencil marks from the outlines, as is done on stage scenery.
Images from Swedish Interiors
An eighteenth-century Swedish gate leg table sits in front of a bed decoratively painted by a Swedish-American artisan from the early part of the twentieth century. A beautifully made bed, resplendent with linens, was a sign of prestige in peasant homes.
Images from Swedish Interiors
Light streams through the living room windows of the cottage, which are softly curtained by Swedish textiles. All manner of built-in cabinetry was used in stugas. Typically, a long built-in bench was installed to provide seating and storage along the wall facing the kitchen table. Early nineteenth-century iron candlesticks flank a wooden bowl on the table. This kind of candlestick derives from medieval Swedish smith work.
Images from Swedish Interiors
The wall of the cottage living room is papered with turn-of-the-century wall paintings in the style of Sunnerbo, Sweden. Around 1875 paper became widely available and instead of painting on canvas the Sunnerbo artisans were able to produce decorative hangings in mass. These appear to have been bought by Alfred on his travels. There were not enough hangings to finish the room so Alfred painted the rest himself.
Images from Swedish Interiors
The hearth was the heartbeat of the stuga home, providing
necessary warmth in the harsh Swedish climate. In the cottage's library, Alfred had a fireplace built in the traditional Swedish manner of the nineteenth century -- built into a corner and sticking out at a diagonal into the room. Stylized kurbits patterns adorn the ceiling.
Images from Swedish Interiors
A grand metal chandelier ringed with bells hangs from the vaulted ceiling of the timber-framed studio. Plate racks line the walls as would be traditional in a stuga. A rare pair of Norwegian barrel chairs sits by the window. The pillows adorning the furniture are made of Swedish textiles.
Images from Swedish Interiors
Claggett Wilson designed this pool house, and the tower actually conceals a pump that carries water up to the cupola for showers. A group of nineteenth-century Swedish farm chairs, painted white and red, cluster
around a table for alfresco dining.
Images from Swedish Interiors
(click image to view larger picture)
Images from Swedish Interiors
(click image to view larger picture)
Traveling with the Lunts in the Basque Country, 1928
Traveling with the Lunts in the Basque Country, 1928
(click on image to view larger picture)
The Lunts & Claggett Wilson on a Basque Country tour, 1928
The Lunts & Claggett Wilson on a Basque Country tour, 1928
(click on image to view larger picture)
Claggett Wilson's design for Jane Cowl's Christmas Card
Claggett Wilson's design for Jane Cowl's Christmas Card
A concert program by Claggett Wilson
A concert program by Claggett Wilson
A concert program by Claggett Wilson
A concert program by Claggett Wilson
A concert program by Claggett Wilson
A concert program by Claggett Wilson
A concert program by Claggett Wilson
A concert program by Claggett Wilson
A concert program by Claggett Wilson
A concert program by Claggett Wilson
A concert program by Claggett Wilson
A concert program by Claggett Wilson
(Hans Lange)
Transcript of the address given at Ten Chimneys by Helen W. R. Eckel (Claggett Wilson's niece), October 21, 2006
Transcript of the address given at Ten Chimneys
by Helen W. R. Eckel (Claggett Wilson's niece), October 21, 2006
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Cover of Ten Chimneys Novel
Cover of the novel, Ten Chimneys
Alfred Lunt & Lynne Fontanne
Inside Cover
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Diana Enright
Diana Enright has lived in California for over forty years where she and her husband own Estate Mortgage Corporation. After retiring four years ago, Diana consumed herself in the writing of this labor of love. She will now focus on family, including five grandchildren, and dear friends. Diana will continue her yearly visits to Ten Chimneys.
A thank you note from Buckingham Palace.
A thank you note from Buckingham Palace. Queen Elizabeth's interest in a copy of the novel "Ten Chimneys" is linked to a request that Lynn Fontanne (A British subject) be posthumously honored with Knighthood for the contribution that she and Alfred Lunt made to the war effort while living and performing in England.
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