To the Manor Borne, Part Two: Whitehern Manor

After days of erratic weather that ranged from thunder and lightening to rain to gusting winds to snowflakes to sunshine, le monsieur and I were able to venture out today for one of my favourite vintage-y days yet.  We decided to check out Whitehern Historic House in Hamilton, Ontario, which I had heard was a Victorian mansion once inhabited by the McQuesten family. The story of this family is fascinating but incredibly lengthy, so interested parties can follow the above link to the website devoted to them.

About the house:  the guides are dressed as 1930s butlers and maids and the rooms are recreated to represent the house as it looked in the 1930s: essentially the descendents of Calvin McQuestin kept most of the Victorian elements still intact, but with some distinctly 1930s touches to reflect how the remaining three children from this family lived around the time a 1930s back addition to the house was added (you can guess what my favourite part of the house tour was).

A note on my outfit:  I wore my amazing 1930s yellow crepe dress with attached capelet from Exquisite Bones on Etsy (stay tuned: I am going to do a more detailed post on this lovely shop tomorrow).  I made sure to wear my favourite brown 30s shoes since yellow and brown was such a fashionable combination in the 30s, dontcha know  (more on THAT subject later, too).  Anyway, here are a TON of photos of our fantastic day (sorry to inflict so many on you all, dear readers, but these are mostly for my mom's enjoyment!

The Manor

Oh my, I love this Pineapple post topper (Dreamstress it made me think of you)!

Amazing architecture...and is that ectoplasm I see?

Baroness and Butler (excuse my scary noctural animal eyes--we had just come in from the bright sun)

Whee, what a day what a day! When we rang the bell to be allowed into the mansion (yes, you have to ring the bell!), the butler absolutely gushed over my outfit ("you are SOOOO 1930s!!" he said.  "you're going to fit in here perfectly!!").  Aww, thanks, Jeeves!

Glorious staircase (this family kept ALL their furniture and accents in the attic through each decade's changing styles, so almost everything in the house is original)

Library filled with rare books, mostly signed first editions!!!

The lord of the manor's third wife was a shopaholic with expensive taste, so when she moved into the house, she had the plain original window replaced with a golden one (gold was added to glass to turn it red, while the blue is achieved with cobalt)

Family tree portraiture with view of awesome wallpaper

Ladies' Bedroom

Gentleman's Bedroom

Dining Room Side Board with Elk Skull Conversation Piece and Glimpse of Trompe L'Oeuil Wood Panel detailing that is actually painted on the walls

Back Sitting Room (evidence of more of a 30s style in some of the accents here and there, such as straw boater at right and 30s tea cups at left)

Now we're in the back 1930s addition to the house.  Kitchen = HEAVEN!!!

Nosey Baroness checks out fridge (with bad hat hair). What's in the fridge? Depression glass!!

Wow, even the items in the cupboard are period appropriate!

Try Young's Custard Powder! It's Baroness Approved!

Idea Gathering for my own 30s inspired kitchen

Depression Era Dream Bedroom.  Oh, gosh are there 30s hats in those boxes? It took all restraint possible not to get in there and rummage in the boxes, peep in the closet, and try on the shoes on the floor in the corner.

Luckily this barricade kept Baroness out of the bedroom! Swoon!

Drool....30s ephemera

Deco Dresser Details!!

Glimpse at Gentlemen's Smoking Room in Basement

Back Garden

No idea what this little building is or was.  Interesting, though....

Vintage shoes are great, but I need a little rest

Yep, I could live here.  Ta for now, dahhhhlings!