The Dining Room and Ladies' Parlor
The Dining Room contains bracketed ceiling work and stained glass windows designed by J. & R. Lamb of New York.
The ceiling compliments the built-in furniture of Honduras Mahogany.
The walls are stenciled sand with a gold leaf overlay.
Although the Packers did not entertain very much, the table can comfortably seat eighteen to twenty-four guests. Once the table is extended, the gasoliers are centered above. The gasolier globes are of the finest Venetian glass.
The various pieces of fine china and glass were purchased by Mary Packer Cummings on her seventeen trips around the world!
Pocket doors carved by Swiss artisans and made of Honduras Mahogany separate the Dining Room and Ladies' Parlor.
After dinner, the gentleman would either stay in the Dining Room, or they would adjourn to the Library to discuss their business and smoke their pipes, while the ladies retreated to their room for gossiping and having tea.
The hand carved Honduras Mahogany woodwork continues in the Ladies' Parlor or Sitting Room. Pieces of interest include Mary Packer Cummings' Victor Victrola which was catalogue ordered from Sears & Roebuck, an impressive center table presented to Mr. Packer by Her Majesty Queen Victoria in 1865, and "The Italian Peasant Girl" (1882) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau.
Photographs Courtesy of Stephanie M. Borits
The Dining Room with a view of The Ladies' Parlor
