MPF Conservation installed the conserved historic Imperial living room furniture in August of 2006, just before the grand opening of the Crater Lake Science & Learning Center located in the Superintendent’s Residence.
The long Imperial sofa with the drop leaf end table commands a centerpiece facing the fireplace, along with the comfy wing-back and footrest, seen in many images this page.
In front of the sofa sets a tilt-top table, with a hopper style lid and hidden storage, shown above and in images below.
NOTE: The rope shown in the images is not right for the Imperial furniture.
The image right shows a detail of the historic waxed hemp lariat (on the mirror). In all but two instances (mirrors and the small corner bench shown below), the historic rope was used only for decoration. A previous restorer threw away the historic rope, making it necessary to replace the rope. Unfortunately, as we only discovered this with a few weeks to spare, we had to suspend efforts to backorder the proper rope and make do with jute rope from the local tack shop, which we burned and waxed to make it look older. We would like to replace it with proper hemp lariat but the NPS needs to produce an order for us to do exactly that; the lariat rope is all wrong!
An upholstered reading bench sits in the far corner near lots of light.
Imperial Ladderback Paddle-arm chairs in red leather sit to one end of the living room in front of the tall bookcase, fifth image above and right.
To complete the ambiance and add to the scientist’s comfort during their stay, we created big floor pillows for informal meetings or curling up around the fireplace, and purchased inexpensive washable blankets to throw around shoulders on cold nights. Everything was in keeping with the colorful palette and ambiance of the period.
Even the old woodbox (which we understand was made by park carpenters) was lightly sanded and received a coat of paint and varnish to remove splinters!
For details on these items, visit the Superintendent’s Imperial Furniture Collection.
Other pages and projects are located below:
- Superintendent’s Residence (also the “new” Crater Lake Science and Learning Center)
- Superintendent’s Residence History
- Superintendent’s Residence Then and Now
- Superintendent’s Residence Design
- Superintendent’s Imperial (Not Monterey) Furniture
- Superintendent’s Imperial Furniture Collection
- Superintendent’s Dining Room
- Superintendent’s Tilt-table Sofa (coming soon)
- Superintendent’s Strapping Chair (coming soon)
and
To return to Crater Lake National Park home page, click here.
