A12: Cape Cod Living Room, 1750–1850

Narcissa Niblack Thorne, creator of the Thorne Rooms, combined a deep knowledge of design history with a vivid imaginative sensibility. In the 1930s, she assembled a team of skilled artisans in Chicago to construct a series of intricately detailed interiors at the scale of one inch to one foot (1:12).

Conceived as a visual history of interior design, the rooms are at once scholarly and inventive. Meticulously researched and carefully composed, they balance historical accuracy with artistic interpretation. Each atmospheric interior feels like a stage set awaiting its occupants—two parts fantasy, one part history, and entirely absorbing.

Entry from Fannia Weingartner, Miniature Rooms: The Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago, 2nd ed. (The Art Institute of Chicago, 2004):

12: Cape Cod Living Room, 1750–1850
As a contrast to the interiors of houses of wealthy merchants and prominent lawyers designed by important architects, Mrs. Thorne decided to create a more modest interior reflecting the lifestyle of seafaring families. Lacking the wealth of their counterparts in the commercial ports of New England, the people of Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, built their houses on a different scale. Efficient and well-proportioned, with cleanly crafted interiors, Cape Cod cottages retained their essential character over the centuries, much like the weavers’ cottages of England’s Cotswold district.
Mrs. Thorne conceived of this room as “a typical example of a one-story cottage, small and [as] compactly planned as the boats built by the same craftsmen.” The nautical touch is certainly evident in the “companionway” stairway entry and the paneling of the chimney wall. Mrs. Thorne used a monograph series published in Pencil Points as her reference source, modeling the rear wall on one from the MacKenzie residence of Gloucester, built in 1760, and the stairway after one in a house called “The Cove,” in Annisquam.
The scale of the furnishings contributes to the cozy feeling of the room. Under the window stands a reproduction of what was known as a butterfly table, with drop leaves on solid swinging supports pivoted on the stretchers that join the legs. The hoop-back Windsor chairs reflect American-made models. The wing rocker reflects one illustrated in Samuel Chamberlain’s Beyond New England Thresholds (1937). Also used in Europe, rockers were especially popular in North America. The secretary is a modified version of an original dating from about 1700 from the Norwood house in Rockport. The portrait over the secretary is an antique miniature that was once part of Mrs. Thorne’s jewelry collection.
The rugs scattered on the floor, the wallpapers, and the carefully chosen prints and ornaments add a sense of warmth and intimacy, as do the child’s chair and stool carrying a tiny tea set imitating the adult service on the table by the window. The tray on which the set rests was made by adding a rim to a copper penny. Mrs. Thorne was particularly proud of the minuscule bottle enclosing a clipper ship, which graces the mantel shelf. Through the door, we catch a glimpse of hollyhocks and a neighboring house. The window offers a view of the sea.
This room measures 7 3/4 x 14 7/8 x 12 1/8 inches.