A19: Maryland Dining Room, 1770–74

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):

19: Maryland Dining Room, 1770–74
This interior follows rather closely the original dining room of the Hammond-Harwood house, Annapolis, built for Mathias Hammond, planter, lawyer, and later legislator, by William Buckland. The British-born master builder and architect first acquired a reputation for his work in Virginia (see A–20: Virginia Dining Room, 1758). Sadly, the prospective bride for whom Hammond had the house constructed turned him down, and he left Annapolis soon thereafter and became a recluse. Several generations later, the house became the property of William Harwood, great-grandson of the architect; it remained in the family until the death in 1924 of the last survivor, Harwood’s daughter Hester Ann. For some years the property of St. John’s College, Annapolis, the residence finally came under the care of the Hammond-Harwood Association, Inc., which was formed to maintain it. The house is now open to the public.
The dining room at Hammond-Harwood is the largest room on the ground floor. A comparison of the actual interior and this model yields a very similar overall impression, despite differences in detail. The original room is notable both for its grand scale and beautifully wrought wood and plaster ornaments in the Palladian style—elements that were fashionable in England in the mid-1750s when Buckland immigrated to the Colonies. Mrs. Thorne imitated these features in the elaborately carved chimney breastwork, in the door and window heads, in the cornice, and in the coffered paneling of the shutters.
To create a sense of the furnishings of such a house as Hammond-Harwood, Mrs. Thorne copied examples in museum collections of Maryland Federal furniture made in the 1790s. In general, the pieces reflect Sheraton models of the last decade of the eighteenth century, although the side table flanking the fireplace replicates Hepplewhite examples dating from between 1785 and 1790. Regional in form and probably reflecting a piece made in Baltimore about 1800 is the mixing table next to the door. The sideboard and side table also exhibit elements of Maryland Federal furniture. Flanking the silver serving dishes on the sideboard are two knife boxes in the shape of urns, a form that was popular in England (see A–10: Massachusetts Dining Room, 1795). The wine cooler to the left of the sideboard opens to reveal metal compartments for storage and cooling.
This room measures 14 x 27 1/4 x 19 inches.