The Chestertown Room 1771 at the Baltimore Museum of Art

The Chestertown Room 1771

I have been fascinated with Antiques & Period rooms since I was very young. I thought at a young age “One day I will live in a home set up with period rooms full of antiques. I now do, But I still love visiting them in Museums, House museums and peoples private historic homes. Today I will share with you photo’s of the beautiful Chestertown Room set up at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

The room is elegantly furnished with Maryland and Philadelphia made Chippendale furniture

I was in Baltimore last October for 4 days for Good friends wedding. In-between the  Wedding parties I had a chance to visit some of my old stumping grounds including the Baltimore Museum of art. The Museum is a must for anyone visiting Baltimore as it has a world class collection of art. The best thing about the museum is it is FREE!!!!

The upper section of the chimneypiece with a imposing pedimented tabernacle frame with carved acanthus leaf scroll appliqués in the architrave, and floral and leaf rosettes in the corners of the crossetted frame.  The richly carved floral margents hanging on each side of the tabernacle frame and suspended from ribboned bows, are carved separately and attached with nails to the chimneypiece are from designs found in Thomas Johnson’s New Book of Ornaments publish in London in 1762

The Chestertown Room was installed in the Baltimore Museum of Art in 1932. It was taken from the Ringgold House on

Water Street

in Chestertown, Kent County. The Room can be dated to 1771 although the house is much older. When the room was being dismantled on back of the woodwork was scratched WB and 1771. WB has not been identified but this anonymous craftsmen’s wood work and carvings are magnificent!

The portrait is of Thomas Ringgold painted by Maryland Artist Charles Willson Peale. Ringgold was one of a group of Marylanders who had financed Peale's art studies in England.

The original house was built by Dr. William Murray about 1743. A rear wing was added to the house soon after it was bought by Thomas Ringgold, Sr. in 1767. After a  study of Maryland’s 18^th century architectural chimneypiece and interior doorway carvings it is thought that the Chestertown rooms carvers technique are similar to well-known Philadelphia carver Hercules Courtenay. Similar carvings in woodwork in the parlor of the Stamper-Blackwell House 1764 in Philadelphia is by the same unidentified hand.

The room is elegantly furnished with Maryland and Philadelphia made Chippendale furniture

Chestertown is only 70 miles down the road from Philadelphia so the woodwork in the Chestertown room could have also been imported from Philadelphia. Around the fireplace surrounds in the room is Pennsylvania King of Prussia marble a fashionable Philadelphia influence.

The richly carved floral margents hanging on each side of the tabernacle frame and suspended from ribboned bows, are carved separately and attached with nails to the chimneypiece

The beautiful delicate carved elements in the Chestertown room are the consoles and architraves of the entablatures over the doors, the upper section of the chimneypiece with a imposing pedimented tabernacle frame with carved acanthus leaf scroll appliqués in the architrave, and floral and leaf rosettes in the corners of the crossetted frame.  The richly carved floral margents hanging on each side of the tabernacle frame and suspended from ribboned bows, are carved separately and attached with nails to the chimneypiece are from designs found in Thomas Johnson’s New Book of Ornaments publish in London in 1762, as well as other elements within the room.

The top part of the rooms chair rail is mahogany

The original doors in the room retained there original Mahogany stain as well as there silver plated brass knobs and escutcheon plates. The locks are mortise rather then rim locks, and unusual feature for the period. The top part of the rooms chair rail is mahogany. The colors of the room or the original colors.

The room is elegantly furnished with Maryland and Philadelphia made Chippendale furniture

In May of 1773 en route to New York. George Washington with his stepson Jackie Custis made a note in his diary that he “Dined on Board the Annapolis at Chester Town, and supped and lodged at the Ringgold’s. So George Washington eat and slept here and saw this beautiful room. The house played host to not only the first president, but Benjamin Franklin, San Houston, Artist Rembrandt Peale  and other notables. It’s owners included a U.S. senator, James Alfred Pearce, and able diplomat who helped settle disputes between the North and South in the years before the Civil War. The Ringgold House is restored and maintained by  Washington Collage (Who George Washington gave his name and 50 guineas to) as the residence of it’s president. The original woodwork removed to the Baltimore Museum of Art in 1932 has been successfully reproduced in the home.

Around the fireplace surrounds in the room is Pennsylvania King of Prussia marble a fashionable Philadelphia influence.

The beautiful delicate carved elements in the Chestertown room are the consoles and architraves of the entablatures over the doors

The beautiful delicate carved elements in the Chestertown room are the consoles and architraves of the entablatures over the doors