The Potomack Company to
Auction Historic Items from Dorothy Draper Era At The
Greenbrier Resort
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia, August
13, 2007 /The Potomack Company/ -- The Potomack Company
Auctions and Appraisals in Alexandria, VA, announces a unique
and historic auction on September 29 of furnishings and
decorative arts objects acquired from the recent renovation
of The Greenbrier resort, located in White Sulphur Springs,
WV.
Many of the furnishings
offered in this sale are original to the post-World War II era
of the historic resort when noted interior designer Dorothy
Draper was commissioned to decorate and furnish the newly
reopened hotel following its closing during the war.
The auction will be held at
The Potomack Company’s gallery, located at 526 North Fayette
Street, beginning at 10 a.m.
“Anyone who has fond
memories of Dorothy Draper’s cheerful and colorful ‘Romance
and Rhododendrons’ décor theme at The Greenbrier will
appreciate and enjoy these items that the hotel is selling,”
says Potomack Company president, Elizabeth Wainstein. “This
sale will hold special meaning for everyone who has visited
the marvelous resort – from couples who honeymooned there to
families who have returned year after year.
“This is a rare opportunity
for fans of Dorothy Draper’s interiors to purchase some of the
modern and reproduction furniture that she ordered to be
specially crafted for The Greenbrier.”
Included in the sale are a
white Draper bedside table with pink floral glass inset handle
and green trim, a white Draper round end table with scalloped
edge and a pair of monumental Regency style covered urns.
Among the other signature Draper pieces are white painted
beds with pink and green trim, vanities, lamps, chairs, tables
and other furnishings.
The Greenbrier has recently
undergone renovations to the historic resort property, which
dates to 1778. Among the famous guests who have enjoyed the
therapeutic benefits of the sulphur springs located near the
hotel are Gen. Robert E. Lee, William Corcoran, Princess
Grace of Monaco and her family, several American presidents
and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
The September 29th auction
comes 65 years to the month after another sale of the entire
contents and equipment of the hotel so that it could be
occupied by the U.S. government as a two-thousand bed military
hospital. Following World War II, the Chesapeake and Ohio
Railway repurchased the property and restored it to its former
use as a resort with the help of Mrs. Draper, who continued
her association with The Greenbrier for 20 years.
“Many guests thought Dorothy
Draper’s twin beds were too high, so six inches were cut off
the legs of the beds,” says The Greenbrier’s historian, Dr.
Robert Conte. “When the Duke and Duchess of Windsor visited
after the war, they were happy with the taller beds so theirs
were not cut down in size.”
Dr. Conte adds that C&O
Railway chairman Robert Young and his wife were pivotal in the
hiring of Dorothy Draper to decorate the resort after World
War II. “Mr. Young was influenced by his wife, Anita O’Keefe
Young, who was the sister of the artist Georgia O’Keefe. It
was considered quite a coup to hire the reigning diva of
decorating at the time.”
Among the most important
items and of particular historical interest in the sale are a
pair of three-panel screens that were used to disguise the
blast door leading from the hotel to a secret underground
bunker that was designed for use as a relocation site for the
United States Congress in case of a nuclear attack. Called
Project Greek Island, the bunker was a highly classified
thirty-five year partnership between The Greenbrier’s most
senior staff and the U.S. government – “the most tightly
guarded secret in America at the time” according to Dr. Conte.
“The screens were at that
critical point of transition from the hotel to the bunker,”
says Dr. Conte. “The most interesting contrast is that you had
this incredibly stark bunker designed by the Corps of
Engineers next to the incredibly lavish Dorothy Draper décor
in the hotel.”
Hours for the auction preview
at 526 North Fayette Street in Alexandria, VA, are: September
22 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sept. 23 from 1 to 4 p.m. and
September 24-28 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Potomack Company is an
antiques and fine arts auction gallery. For additional
information about this auction and other upcoming events,
please visit
www.potomackcompany.com or call 703-684-4550.
Source: The Potomack Company
CONTACT: Lucie Holland, The
Potomack Company
E-mail:
lucie@PotomackCompany.com
Website:
www.potomackcompany.com |
