When the Colony Club was at last finished we discovered that the furnace
heat did not go up to the roof-garden, and immediately we had to find
some way of heating this very attractive and very necessary space. Even
from the beginning we were sadly crowded for room, so popular was the
club-house, and the roof-garden was much needed for the overflow. We
conferred with architects, builders and plumbers, and found it would be
necessary to spend about seven thousand dollars and to close the club
for about two months in order to carry the heating arrangements up to
the roof. This was disastrous for a new club, already heavily in arrears
and running under heavy expenses. I worried and worried over the
situation, and suddenly one night an idea came to me: I remembered some
great porcelain stoves I had seen in Germany. I felt that these stoves
were exactly what we needed, and that we should be rescued from an
embarrassing situation without much trouble or expense. I was just
leaving for Europe, so I hurried on to the manufacturers of these
wonderful stoves and found, after much difficulty, a model that seemed
practicable, and not too huge in proportion. The model, unfortunately,
was white with gilded garlands, far too French and magnificent for our
sun-room. I persuaded them to make two of the stoves for me in green
Majolica, with garlands of soft-toned flowers, and finally we achieved
just the stoves for the room.
But my troubles were not over: When the stoves reached New York, we
tried to take them up to the roof, and found them too large for the
stairs. We couldn't have them lifted up by pulleys, because the glass
walls of the roof garden and the fretwork at the top of the roof made it
impossible for the men to get "purchase" for their pulleys. Finally we
persuaded a gentleman who lived next door to let us take them over the
roof of his house, and the deed was accomplished. The stoves were equal
to the occasion. They heated the roof garden perfectly, and were of
great decorative value.
Encouraged by this success I purchased another porcelain stove, this
time a cream-colored porcelain one, and used it in a hallway in an
uptown house. It was the one thing needed to give the hall great
distinction. Since then I have used a number of these stoves, and I
wonder why our American manufacturers do not make them. They are
admirable for heating difficult rooms--outdoor porches, and draughty
halls, and rooms not heated by furnaces. The stoves are becoming harder
and harder to find, though I was fortunate enough to purchase one last
year from the Marchioness of Anglesey, who was giving up her home at
Versailles. This stove was of white Majolica with little Loves in terra
cotta adorning it. The new ones are less attractive, but it would be
perfectly simple to have any tile manufacturer copy an old one, given
the design.