Board of Officers Room

Designed originally by Herter Brothers and one of the few surviving interiors by the fabled firm, the Board of Officers Room was likened to a “royal apartment” by the press when it first opened to the public in 1880, but fell into disrepair due to poor maintenance and water infiltration in the decades since. The 2013 restoration, led by Herzog & de Meuron, infuses the room with a contemporary sensibility through a series of subtle and delicate interventions. Through close collaboration with expert conservators and skilled artisans, the revitalization breathes new life into the room and transforms this extraordinary space into a state-of-the-art salon for installations, intimate recitals and performances, and other contemporary art programs.

History

One of the largest historic rooms at the Armory, the Board of Officers Room was originally conceived as a meeting space for the colonel of the Seventh Regiment and his officers who oversaw the ten companies that made up the “Silk Stocking” brigade, as the Regiment was known.

The room was originally designed in 1880 by Herter Brothers, considered among the leading design and decorating firms of the Gilded Age and among the foremost exponents of the American Aesthetic Movement. With work spanning furniture, the decorative arts, and interior design, the Herter Brothers created some of the most celebrated interiors in the country and designed mansions for such prominent clients as William H. Vanderbilt, J. Pierpont Morgan, Darius Ogden Mills, as well as two rooms in the White House under Ulysses S. Grant.

At the time of its completion, the Board of Officers Room was described as a “royal apartment” by The New York Times. The focus of the room was the south mantelpiece with its affixed paintings, and the room was bisected by a major structural beam with two columns. The high-grade Honduran mahogany was finished in a blood-red hue above which the walls were painted a deep green with darker floral stencils. The ceiling was stenciled in a series of cream panels with blue borders. The room subsequently underwent two renovations during the 20th century: the first in 1906, by William Baumgarten, who had worked for Herter Brothers during the original design and who conducted a cleaning and renovation of the ceiling; and a second comprehensive—and poorly executed—“restoration” in 1932, by architects Irving & Casson/A.H. Davenport, which dramatically changed the look of the room and included complete over-painting of much of the walls and in-painting that altered the appearance of the ceiling.

Beginning in the 1980s, the room suffered from poor maintenance and water infiltration. By 1998, the room and the entire building had fallen into such disrepair that The New York Times featured an editorial calling it “a splendid crumble” where, in specific reference to the Board of Officers Room, the “ceilings were falling” and the “walls are drenched.” It was this editorial, in combination with its designation in 2000 among the world’s “100 Most Endangered Sites”—along with Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat—that encouraged the state to award stewardship of the building to Park Avenue Armory in December 2006.

Gallery

Photo: James Ewing

1/8
Photo: James Ewing

2/8
Photo: James Ewing

3/8
Photo: James Ewing

4/8
Photo: James Ewing

5/8
Photo: James Ewing

6/8
Photo: James Ewing

7/8
Photo: James Ewing

8/8

Revitalization

The Herzog & de Meuron design for the Armory is guided by the understanding that the Armory’s rich history and the patina of time are essential to the building’s character and that, when contemporary and historic design meet, there is a new dynamic established enriching the experience of both. A defining component of the design process for the period rooms, in particular, is the close collaboration between architect and artisan. Highly skilled craftspeople working in wood, paint, plaster, and metals were employed in the creation of the building’s original interiors, and the expertise—and hand—of similar artisans has been drawn upon for the renovation work throughout.

The revitalization of the Board of Officers Room encompassed both restoration work as well as the addition of new elements that complement the building’s original detailing. The walls, ceilings, and floors have been meticulously de-layered by conservators to remove the additions and dirt built up from over the years and to reveal the brush strokes and original color palette of the original artisans. The mahogany woodwork has also been de-layered to its original blood red finish. Missing elements in the painted surface patterns on the walls and ceilings have been filled in with a contemporary interpretation of the original stencil-work, which is clearly identifiable on close inspection but maintains a holistic appreciation of the original design from a distance. The 1897 chandeliers have been restored and retrofitted with contemporary light sources hung at the original levels. New metallic chain mail curtains and etched glass panels cover the five large windows in the room.

This design approach resurrects the Board of Officers Room to its original glory and re-imagines the revitalized room as one of the most distinguished artist salons in the country, with the pristine acoustics and intimate scale intended by many composers. Since 2013 the room has been home to the Armory’s Recital Series, lauded for becoming a “locus for important chamber music concert” (The New Yorker).

“Since its restoration and reopening in 2013, the Armory’s spectacular yet intimate Board of Officers room has become one of the city’s most essential recital venues.”

New York Magazine

In the News

The New York Times

Ornate Peek at a Refreshed Gilded Age

“The restoration of the Park Avenue Armory seems destined to set a new standard, not so much for its scale, but for its level of respect and imagination. The Head House, in particular, will be something very rare: a museum of quasi-period rooms that visibly straddle past and present while being actively used. It will be living, lived-in history.”

Read Article