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Era: 1775-1800

Adena Pin Ring – Patrick Mele Colorway

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Adelphi Paper Hangings asked designer Patrick Mele to create custom colorways for five historical wallpapers.                 Read more about Patrick Mele and what inspired him to create the colorways.  This small figured pattern was installed in the library of Thomas Worthington’s house, Adena, in Chillicothe, Ohio in 1808. The … Continued

Ribbon Sprig – Patrick Mele Colorway

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Adelphi Paper Hangings asked designer Patrick Mele to create custom colorways for five historical wallpapers.                  Read more about Patrick Mele and what inspired him to create the colorways.  Ribbon Sprig was discovered in Concord, Massachusetts and may have originated in Boston, but it is of sufficiently high quality … Continued

Boston Floral Stripe – Patrick Mele Colorway

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Adelphi Paper Hangings asked designer Patrick Mele to create custom colorways for five historical wallpapers.                 Read more about Patrick Mele and what inspired him to create the colorways.  Found lining an early box from New Hampshire, this pattern was printed with a very small block measuring approximately 10″ … Continued

Diana – Patrick Mele Colorway

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Adelphi Paper Hangings asked designer Patrick Mele to create custom colorways for five historical wallpapers.                 Read more about Patrick Mele and what inspired him to create the colorways.  Examples of this pattern have been discovered in Acton and Plymouth, Massachusetts, Suffield, Connecticut as well the House of the … Continued

Old Manse Vine

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The delicately undulating vine design which still lines a bedchamber closet at The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, was installed between 1790 and 1800. The house was built by Reverend William Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s grandfather, and his wife Phoebe who chose this wallpaper for the upstairs bedchamber. Later, when writer Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife Sophia … Continued

Lear’s Folly

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Unlike other French wallpapers of this period, ones which receive accolades for the many colors printed with steady handed precision, this pattern – found in New Hampshire – was destined for a different market. The paints were thin. The printing registration was somewhat casual. Even the paper stock had been repurposed – the wallpaper was printed on the … Continued

Trophies

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This pattern is replete with juxtapositions. Not only do groupings of the tools of war – a shield, sword, flag and a quiver with arrows alternate with gatherings of flowers and foliage but the two muscular scaled and barbed stripes have to contend with a delicate shifting line of bell shapes. It is this last motif which frames … Continued

Votive Goddess

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Found in two front rooms of a 1777 Newburyport, Massachusetts house built for Captain William Pierce Johnson, this highly refined pattern reflects the taste for imported French papers in the early American Republic. The manufacturer has not yet been identified, although other examples of work attributed to the same maker are in the collection of … Continued

Urns and Medallions

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Although found covering an American made bandbox, the Urns & Medallion pattern was most likely printed in France between 1790 and 1810. Not only does this mid-scale paper include the neoclassical motif of urns placed in a formal frame, typical of French patterns of the period, but it employs a cross diagonal structure not unlike … Continued

Stars and Squares

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This Federal style pattern was one of many wallpapers discovered during the 1917 restoration of the first Harrison Gray Otis House, in Boston. According to Richard Nylander’s Wallpaper in New England, it was chosen by the original owners for a chamber over the office. This late 18th century geometric design appears at first glance to … Continued