Kitchen Garden
Kitchen Garden
Kitchen Porch
Kitchen Porch
Lawn
Lawn
Terrace
Terrace
Margaret and Friends
Margaret and Friends
Parlor Windows
Parlor Windows
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Servant's Wing and Upper Rooms

The rest of the rooms on the first, second and third floors are not currently on view to the public because they were modernized or changed by Margaret after her father's death in 1931.

FIRST FLOOR

On the first floor, the servant's wing of the house included a corridor, lavatory, bicycle room (for storing sports equipment), several closets, and the kitchen. A servant's dining room, food pantry and butler's pantry once adjoined the kitchen. In the kitchen, an electric annunciator system, still in working order, was used to summon servants to various rooms of the house. Originally, there was an iron wood-burning kitchen stove with a side tank for hot water. A coal-burning stove eventually replaced it, but by the 1930's, a large gas-fired model was installed. An icebox supplied refrigeration.

SECOND FLOOR

On the second floor, there were six bedrooms and three bathrooms used by the Frenches, two maids, and guests. The master bedroom was above the parlor, maximizing the southern view of the grounds and Monument Mountain. Its fireplace surround and mantel also came from the original Warner farmhouse. A passageway with cupboards and drawers led to a bathroom and dressing room. Next to the master bedroom suite was Margaret's bedroom. During her adolescence, Margaret covered its walls with framed reproductions of paintings, photographs and bric-a-brac. As an adult, Margaret used her childhood bedroom as an office.

After her parents' deaths, Mrs. Cresson used the best guest room, which was above the dining room, as her own bedroom. A fourth bedroom was the room in which William Brewster, French's lifelong ornithologist friend, stayed during his month-long annual visits. At other times, it was used as a family sitting room.

Two small bedrooms, a linen closet and a bathroom made up the servant's quarters, at the eastern end of the floor, above the kitchen. The servants accessed their quarters via a back stairway.

THIRD FLOOR

During French's lifetime, the third floor contained two guest bedrooms, a servant's room, and an unfinished attic. A bathroom was added in the 1930's by the sculptor's daughter, Margaret French Cresson.



Chesterwood, 4 Williamsville Road, PO Box 827, Stockbridge, MA 01262 Phone: 413-298-3579 www.chesterwood.org - This project was supported in part by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services - www.imls.org -  chesterwood@nthp.org