#Henry Davis Sleeper

[benjhawkins]

“Bachelors” ;)

[noconcessions]

[ms-demeanor]

I see Behind the Bastards on your most played podcasts list, I’ve been listening to a fuckload of it recently! Any particular favs? Bonus points if they’re kind of unexpected- I tell new listeners to start w Henry Kissinger or L Ron Hubbard, but the Cambodian King was very much a sleeper hit kind of episode for me

G. Gordon Liddy, the Dulles Bros, John Wayne, Stalin, Libertarian Sea Nations, the British Genocide of Ireland, the John Birch Society, any episode with cracked alums (jason pargin, cody johnston and katie stoll, michael swaim, robert brockaway, seanbaby, daniel o'brein, soren bowie, etc) and anything with Billy Wayne Davis as a guest.

(Another throughline in podcasts i listen to is "are cracked writers involved?")

[nancydrewwouldnever]

Give me Antique, but make it Goth.

The Octagon Room of Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House, outside Gloucester, Massachusetts. Designed by Henry Davis Sleeper, one of America's first premiere professional interior designers, from the 1910s - 1934. Now run as a house museum by Historic New England.

[delicatuscii-wasbella102]

The house of Henry Davis Sleeper 

[detournementsmineurs]

Henry Davis Sleeper's "Beauport" house in Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA, for Frederic Magazine.

[door]

by request, here are some weird* queer houses off the top of my head! i have mostly come across these by reading a lot about houses, particularly houses in england between the wars, because that is an era of particular interest to me. that combined with the inherent privilege of 1) having a house, and 2) a house being considered significant enough to preserve, means that most of the people associated with them were wealthy and white.

E-1027 by Eileen Gray

1926-1929, Roquebrune-Cap-Martine, France

Eileen Gray was an Irish artist, designer, and architect. she designed and built E-1027 for her lover, architecture critic Jean Badovici. the name derives from both of their names: E=Eileen, 10=J (10th letter in the alphabet), 2=B, 7=G. she also designed the furniture and rugs for the house, which were groundbreaking in their use of tubular steel and that fact that many of the pieces were adjustable (this table is the most famous one). for decades, credit for the design was either exclusively given to badovici or split between badovici & gray. some people thought le corbusier had built it, because he sucked in general and was really fucking weird about this house in particular. i have a whole presentation i made about it. anyway the most recent scholarship attributes the entire design to gray (who was bisexual btw). there’s a LOT of stuff out there now about how this house in particular is queer, but i love eileen gray so i had to mention it. E-1027 is still standing and can be visited!

Beauport by Henry Davis Sleeper & Halfdan Hanson

1908-1930s, Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA

Henry Davis Sleeper started building Beauport in 1907 and continues to add rooms to it throughout the rest of his life (he died of cancer in 1934). he worked in collaboration with local architect Halfdan Hanson, and the house eventually numbered 56 rooms. the McCann family acquired the house after his death and left it primarily as he’d left it, including his collection of george washington memorabilia. sleeper was probably gay and (possibly) ace. he was in love with his friend and neighbor A. Piatt Andrew, who was a us representative. he designed the house in part for his mother, and after she died he incorporated elements from her house into beauport. he collected architectural salvage from all over new england and designed rooms on themes. Beauport is still standing and can be visited in the summer months.

Strawberry Hill by Horace Walpole

1749-1776, Twickenham, London, UK

Horace Walpole revived gothic LONG before the victorians got around to it. walpole was an earl and an art historian and collector who built the house initially to house his collections. we know what those collections were because he published a book of them, and then in 1842 his descendants (not direct) auctioned them all off. horace walpole wasn’t an architect (it didn’t fully exist as a field at this point in time), but like a lot of landed gentry who built grand houses, he directly supervised a builder, William Robinson. what we know about his sexuality is that he was uninterested in women and considered effeminate and queeny. strawberry hill still stands and is open to the public to visit, although it lacks its interior contents. it also guest stars in a lot of british tv.

St. Ann’s Court by Raymond Mcgrath

1936-37, Chertsey, UK

St. Ann’s Court was designed by Raymond McGrath for Gerald Schlesinger, a married stockbroker, and his partner Christopher Tunnard. the story goes that the house was designed specifically to maintain the illusion that the two men were platonic roommates when both were in residence, with primary bedrooms consisting of 2 single beds and a shared dressing room which could be transformed and the single beds combined. no photos exist of that transformation, but you can see the gorgeous state of the house in the 30s in an earlier post of mine. the house is still standing and sold a few years ago. afaik it’s not open to the public.

The Fire Island houses of Horace Gifford

1961-1981, Fire Island, New York, USA

Horace Gifford essentially created the vernacular architecture of the Pines community in Fire Island, a gay enclave. his style was modernist and naturalist, connecting the indoors and the outdoors in unique and queer ways which were utterly at home in the Pines at it most hedonist. gifford lived and worked in the Pines, sometimes dating the men he built houses for. he died of complications from AIDS in 1992. this is a great article about his houses, and i highly recommend the book about him.

*weird is a term of affection that i use to essentially mean “not boring”

fyi if you know about a weird house especially if it was built by or resided in by a queer person you are legally obligated to tell me about it. i know a lot of them but i could always know more. thank u

[pentecostwaite]

Henry Davis Sleeper was the kind of Historic Gay™️ who didn’t see any problem with spending good money on this garden sculpture of a very jacked squirrel and I really respect that

[cottagelf]

Attic room by Henry Davis Sleeper (American antiquarian, 1878-1934)

[anomalygal]

[benjhawkins]

History asks 10 and 16? 👀

10. Pieces of art ( paintings, sculptures, lithographies, ect.) related to history you like most ( post an image of them)

I already answered this one but I'll throw in another!

I've been following the story of Bélizaire for a while now and I'm very glad to see his portrait has been loaned to The Met.

16. Do you own some historical item? ( coin, clothing, weapons, books, ect) If yes which one is your favourite?

I own quite a bit of historical items! I have a handful of nautical antiques-- a couple nice fids, a belaying pin, and two sea chests and Pentecost is devoted to historical chairs. Our house is like Henry Davis Sleeper was Ballin on a Budget. My favorite are two, our 16thc. aumbrey and this wee bit of WWI trench art Pentecost got me for Valentines Day!

history asks!

[streetsofsalem]

Sweeping through Beauport

Historic New England offers comprehensive “nooks and crannies” tours through several of its properties occasionally, and I was fortunate to go on one of these basement-to-attic-and-all-the-closets-in-between tours of Beauport, the rambling Queen Anne “cottage” on Eastern Point in Gloucester, the beneficiary of a generous friend’s conflict! Beauport was built and decorated in great detail by Henry…

[lifestyleofluxe]

[mothsmoon-blog]

Beauport

[delicatuscii-wasbella102]

Henry Davis Sleeper Design

[detournementsmineurs]

Henry Davis Sleeper's "Beauport" house in Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA, for Frederic Magazine.