Paignton
May 18, 2012
My kingdom for some white space
I was surprised to see all the brown marble when I entered the building. I'd pictured much less elaborate decor. The ceiling was difficult to photograph because of glare from a sunlight.
"I have a clear picture of walking into the entrance hall and looking up at the ornately decorated ceiling, two stories above. On the left was the grand staircase, a dual staircase in fact, going up both left and right to the gallery level which was a balcony extending around three sides from which guests could look down on the folks entering the building.
The gallery level was lavishly decorated to represent the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. I remember going up the right hand staircase and pausing half way up to peek under a large stretch of canvas hanging on the wall. Under it I could see part of a huge oil painting. Later I was to learn that it was titled 'A crowning of Josephine by Napoleon' and was painted by Lebrun. Kate was able to supply a lot of this information through the internet. Among other things was the fact that the original painting was sold after the war by the Torbay Borough Council and now hangs in the Palace of Versailles. A replica is in its place in the Singer Mansion. But I got a peek at the original!"
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