T Stands for Inside the Crane Manor

Hi everyone! Happy T Day once again. It is hard to believe we are just about at the middle of September already, isn't it?

Last week was a relatively quiet one for me after getting past the busy long Labor Day weekend.  Since there isn't all that much to share, I thought today for T I would take you on an inside tour of the Crane Estate. Last week for T I took you on an outside tour. Here's the link back T is for Spontaneity in case you are interested.

I'll warn you this post is a bit long. Sorry about that.

The Crane manor is a 3 story building that the Crane family first lived in in 1929. The first floor is (for the most part) is open to walk around whether you take a tour or not. The furniture there is not original and you can sit wherever you might like. Some of the rooms are even more or less empty to use for functions since you could , for example, host a wedding there.  I am assuming this first photo is of the family  library.

There are 2 tours to view the rest of the house. One tour is for the second floor, and the other tour takes you up to the third floor and to the cupola. The views from the third floor must be amazing, but unfortunately when we arrived, we would have had to wait longer to take that tour as the next available one was scheduled later in the afternoon.

There was a tour of the second floor bedrooms and bathrooms in 15 minutes after our arrival, and even though that didn't initially sound as exciting as going into the cupola, my friend and I decided to take that one.

I am glad we did. My friend and I were the only ones on that tour, unlike the third floor tour, which we saw heading off when our tour finished, that had around 20 people in it. (Masks were required inside the house.)

Our tour was also a bit more theatrical. Our tour guide was Mrs. Poppins (no not Mary), but a woman dressed up and playing the role as the head housekeeper in the house in 1929, who was a real Mrs. Poppins. My friend and I were each house guests. We each picked a card telling us our information as we paid for the tour. I can't remember my name on the card, but I was a middle aged woman who was related by marriage to a famous Bostonian, Isabella Stewart Gardner. My friend played a much younger woman whose fiance had just died. 

This was an excellent tour. 

First let me refresh your memory that the Crane family, who were from Chicago, made all their money in bathroom fixtures like toilets, showers and tubs, so seeing the upstairs private bathrooms was amazing. Mr. Crane was also into the latest 1929 gadgets, so there might be a few in my photos.

Each member of the family had their own suite, with a large bedroom, private bathroom, dressing room with closets, sitting room, and even a sleeping porch with a bed by a large expanse of windows so it would be more comfortable on those hot summer nights.  I can't say the porch was  what we think of a porch, but more of a heavily windowed hallway. And yes, for those of you who mentioned this in your comment last week, the rooms were basically from an English estate or house, taken apart piece by piece, and then shipped to the US and reconstructed in the house.

OK, photos.

It's not like we were allowed to wander so my photos are limited. You can at least get a gist from these.

First a few snapshots of Mrs. Crane's suite. That's Mrs. Poppins on the left in the reflection, and my friend Jo on the right.

I snapped this next photo as this is the young Mrs. Crane when she was still single, well before 1929, sketched by John Singer Sargent. He  is a major American artist, but was up and coming at the time he did this piece. 

This Delft tile in the son's (Cornelius Crane) tube was beautiful. It was also interesting only the men had showers. I guess in 1929 it was still improper for women to shower, and they were only suppose to bath in a tube. You can see the door to his shower on the right of the photo.

In 1929, the son was not with the family but in the south Pacific sailing on his private yacht, a gift from his dad. This is a model of it in this next photo.

Onto Mr. Crane's private bath.

On the left of the tub is his shower, and on the right is his toilet. I found it interesting all of the toilets were in their own little rooms. He was also the only one in the family to have a heated towel rack.

Here's a few glimpses into his room.

Then there was the daughter's suite.

I thought this painted glass was a bit masculine for a girl, but she also loved sailing. In 1929 she was an older teenager.

This is next photo is of her on her fireplace mantel. 

And here is an example of the sleeping porch I mentioned earlier. You can see the beach off in the background and the grass tennis court on the bottom right.

And how about this guest room?  Although I will say if you stayed here you didn't have your own sleeping porch or en suite bathroom.

And finally, we ended up in the first floor dining room where we could go back to being ourselves. This part of the first floor was not open to general public viewing.

I think you can just make out the glasses on the table, my connection to T this week. This next photo is a better view.

You can see them better here.

Don't forget to stop by Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog at this link to see what all the T ladies have been up to. 

Hope you enjoyed visiting the Crane mansion. If you want to learn more, here is the link to the Wikipedia page about the land, house and family: Castle Hill. 

Have a wonderful week ahead. And of course, thanks for visiting!