Art Colony Bedroom

After being used for decades as the Griswold family’s formal parlor, this large front room was converted into a bedroom to be rented to distinguished guests staying at the boardinghouse. Architecturally one of the nicest rooms in the house, it features a beautifully carved mantel and ornate scrollwork over the door. Papered in an elaborate Victorian pattern reminiscent of its earlier role as a parlor, this room is generously appointed with Griswold family heirlooms, paintings, and artist materials.

“The bedrooms . . . were spacious chambers, each with a fireplace and three or four long windows. They were furnished with four-poster beds, quaint tall mirrors, highboys, what nots, and curious old lambriquins and window decorations.”

~ Artist and Author Arthur Heming, in Miss Florence
and the Artists of Old Lyme, c. 1938

An artist staying here would inevitably begin by unpacking his trunks and settling into his room. Soon the room was cluttered with personal effects, along with magazines, art supplies, drying canvases, sketchbooks, brushes, and paint boxes. There was one other guest room on the first floor (currently an orientation gallery), five on the second floor, and a maze of makeshift rooms on the third floor. Room service was limited to the daily delivery of a fresh pitcher of water for washing.

Scrap of original parlor wallpaper from the 1880s

Learn more about the inside of the Griswold boardinghouse by clicking the choices below:

• Overview
• Bedroom
• Center Hall
• Colony Parlor
• Miss Florence's Bedroom
• Pantry / Back Hall
• Dining Room