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Eastcliff Home

The Garden Room

Originally a screened porch, the Garden Room served as a retreat from summer heat, capturing steady breezes stirring high above the Mississippi River. In 1922, the porch's east wall stood in line with the east wall of the Living Room. In the early 1930s, a two-story addition was built expanding the space to its current configuration.

The Brooks' first furnishings were a pair of simple woven rattan armchairs and a matching settee positioned around and opposite the lion's head wall fountain. Following the room's expansion, two large box-spring "sofa" porch swings were suspended at either end; each mounded with large, colorful pillows. A comfortable and amply sized chaise lounge anchored one side of the space and, echoing the ornithological themes elsewhere inside and outside of the house, there were two large peacock-back stick-willow chairs. Most of the cushions were covered in a Chinese red "leatherized" fabric, a very moderne upholstery finish for the time.

We have chosen the style of the Arts and Crafts movement to furnish the Garden Room. The "honest" and plain style of American Arts and Crafts furniture emulates the simplicity the Brooks family sought when they built this room as their original screened porch. The furnishings include an Arts and Crafts tile-top tambour table and Gustav Stickley reproduction wicker seating pieces. The two table lamps, one a Belgian Art Deco ceramic and the other a hand-painted ceramic base from Gouda, Holland, are both from the 1920s. Also of the period is the hanging five-light ceiling fixture with a hand-wrought surface and pewter finish. A Craftsman table was purchased in 2002 along with five chairs and a smoking table to match. The addition of this dining set completes the restoration of the Garden Room, making it a beautiful and functional space for meetings, entertaining, and relaxation.

Eastcliff recently acquired the coffee table, a Philip and Kelvin LaVerne. Composed of acid-etched bronze and pewter, the ovoid top is framed by and rests on dual tapered hollow bronze tubes. The legs are embellished with leaf decorations. The top displays an oriental genre scene of people, architecture, real and mythical animals, flora, and forest in a typical stylized nature. This example is rare and unusual in design and construction