FURNISHINGS: R.J. REYNOLDS'S STUDY

  • <p>Most of Reynolda’s furnishings were made in a variety of historic styles by Wanamaker’s Department Store, Philadelphia.</p>
  • <p>R.J. Reynolds’s home office is unique among Reynolda’s rooms for its oak paneling and relatively simple fireplace surround in white marble.</p>
  • <p>Architect Charles Barton Keen designed an ornately carved cornice and a gentle curvature to the west wall of the study.</p>
  • <p>Thomas Jefferson is credited as inventor of the swiveling chair on casters, designed to enable access to the entire office without standing or walking</p>
  • <p>This smoking stand has several references to ancient Greece: archaic horse heads serve as cigarette rests, the shallow bowl is based on the kylix (wine cup), and a satyr dances above the smoke.</p>
  • <p>Smoker, detail of kylix-shaped ash bowl and horse head cigarette rests, 1930-40. Bronze (or possibly brass and other metals).</p>

R.J. Reynolds's Study

FURNISHINGS

The furnishings in the Study are original and arranged as designed. In 1916, Reynolda’s architect, Charles Barton Keen, created drawings proposing the interior schemes and placement of furnishings. These drawings, together with a 1922 inventory and some interior photographs, tell us where things were placed in the early years of Reynolda.

An old world eclecticism balances heavy oak furniture in European styles—including Gothic-Tudor panels on the desk—with East Asian ceramics and mirrors.