Imagine living life without color, what would that look like?
Hi everyone ken here welcome to this house.
Today we are exploring the home of George and Marguerite Westinghouse.
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In 1846, George Westinghouse was born in New York.
His Father was an inventor who manufactured machines, something that greatly interested
George.
At only 14 years old, he dropped out of school to work with his father, but the civil was
just about to break out, so he enlisted in the Union Army as Infantry, but was quickly
transferred to the Navy as an assistant engineer.
Just after his service, he moved to Pittsburgh where he made his first major breakthrough,
the invention of the Air Brake which used compressed air to push down on the brake shoe
creating friction to slow down and stop trains and automobiles.
He then shifted his focus to railroad signaling, believing there should be more efficient ways
for trains to operate on the rails.
He brought AC, or Alternating Currents, to the forefront of electrical engineering, going
head to head with Thomas Edison who was developing DC or Direct Current.
By 1886, George had established the Westinghouse Electric Company where he secured hundreds
of patents, being responsible for wiring the railways in cities as far away as London and
Paris.
He employed over 50,000 people and gained a networth of 120 million dollars or the modern
day equivalent of about 3.9 billion dollars.
With this money, he and his wife, Marguerite, set out to build their dream house.
Completed in 1893, the estate known as Erskine Park had been primarily designed by Marguerite
who was disgusted by the black soot that tarnished the buildings in the cities.
She wanted a pristine escape from the stains of oil and coal, so she became obsessed with
having a colorless house.
The Queen Anne style home sat in the middle of 600 acres in Lenox Massachusetts.
The exterior had been painted white, with a white driveway, and white swans brought
in to swim around the ponds.
Marguerite was known for wearing all white while out the house, with long flowing satin
gowns.
Walking inside you would see this theme carried on.
The sweeping stair case was upholstered with white carpet below a tufted white satin ceiling.
The rugs, furniture, and tufted wall treatments were all created from white fabrics contrasting
against the light wood floors and millwork.
To the side of the entry hall was the living room, once again furnished in all white with
the only color coming from the millwork and flowers which had been plucked from her gardens.
The dining room provided some relief from the stark interiors by incorporating floor
to ceiling built ins set against lightly stained wood paneling set below a tufted white satin
ceiling.
China displayed in the cabinets introduced an assortment of subdued colors.
Even the billiards table in the billiards room was finished with white velvet set above
a white rug and surrounded by white sofas.
The most colorful room in the house was the veranda with retractable screens.
Here we could find a brightly colored rug belo9w whicker and rattan furniture with flowering
vines growing around the posts.
From here you could enjoy views of the manicured lawns and see the swans swimming in the pond.
The pond featured a foot bridge, covered in ivy along with several fountains.
And surrounded by grassy lawns, broken up only by the occasional tree.
Even the stables were painted all white with a white gravel court set between them.
Though the interiors were finished out with dark wood, all the upholstery and rugs were
white.
Set beyond the stables was George’s favorite part of the estate, the Electrical Generator.
It was capable of powering over 1,500 lightbulbs for the estate.
He had connected every building on his with buried electric wires to preserve the natural
beauty of the landscape.
In his later years, George’s health began to decline, having heart ailments he was restricted
to a wheelchair and passed away in march of 1914.
Just 3 months later, a heartbroken Marguerite followed him to the grave, passing away in
their beloved home.
A few years later, in 1917, their only son, George Junior, sold Erskine Park to Maggie
Vanderbilt who had the home torn down, building her Colonial Revival style mansion known as
Holmwood in its place which persists to this day.
What did you think about the monochromatic decorations?
Could you live in a home devoid of color?
Let me know your thoughts down below in the comments section.
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