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 .
Source: The Potomack Company
CONTACT: Lucie Holland, The Potomack Company
E-mail:
Website: www.potomackcompany.com
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