cover image Beauport

Beauport

David Bohl. Preservation of New England Antiquities, $40 (112pp) ISBN 978-0-87923-873-5

From its perch on Eastern Point in Gloucester, Mass., juts an architectural pastiche of turrets and gables, complete with dovecote and belfry. Devised by the collector Henry Davis Sleeper with architect Halfdan M. Hanson, and constructed over a 27-year period that concluded in 1934, the year Sleeper died, the house comprises some 40 rooms, each one commenting on the decorating traditions of times gone by. Bostonian Sleeper, who had a prodigious talent in arranging objects and playing with color, used Beauport as a place to entertain. Every room is striking in some respect: the Golden Step Room is a dining room of sun-drenched tranquility, its green color scheme reflecting a panoramic view of the sea; Strawberry Hill Room and the Indian Room are bedrooms with deep-toned paneling, Colonial hooked rugs and patchwork quilts. This museum of American memorabilia is well caught by the lens of Bohl, staff photographer at the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, which maintains Beauport. Curtis is staff writer at SPNEA, and Nylander is curator of collections. (May)