~filoli dining room~

The Dining Room was used for both family dinners and for formal dinner parties. The dining table can intimately seat as few as two guests at its smallest round or be extended to seat up to 14 guests at its full 12 foot length. Additional tables and chairs would be brought in for larger parties. Historic photographs of the room show dinners with as many as 22 guests seated in this room. Larger parties were normally held in the ballroom or front courtyard. On more than one occasion during the Roth era, the entire western side of the house was cleared of furniture so thatdozens of round dinner tables could be distributed throughout the dining room, drawing room and library.
The room is paneled in dark-stained oak with carved moldings and a faux painted cast plaster cornice. Eight Dutch Baroque styled brass sconces on the walls match the central chandelier. The quarter sawn oak wood floor has a wide edging band of parquet in a basket weave pattern. The large fireplace has alpha grade French Escalette marble. This high-grade marble is no longer available but was used in the building of Versailles, Malmaison, and The Petit Trianon. Carved by Italian craftsmen, the belicion-mold design mantel has carved belicion return corners. This design required a much larger block of marble but has the advantage of having no mitered separations. The 1917 curtains are Italian silk in a floral pattern; originally they were a darker purple but have faded to their present silvery mauve.
Nearly all of the furniture in the dining room is original to the House and pictures of the room over the last hundred years are nearly indistinguishable. Unfortunately, the twelve original needlepoint dining chairs were sold at auction in 1975 and have not returned to Filoli. The large three-paneled gilt screen dates to the Bourn era and hides two swinging doors to the Butler’s Pantry. The screen was sold in the 1975 Roth Auction, but, as it turned out, the winner was only interested in the original French tapestry panels. Bill Roth, son of Mrs. Roth, purchased the screen frame and gave it to Filoli Center. The original panels have been replaced by three needlepoint designs depicting scenes from the gardens of Filoli done by the Tuesday Stitchers of the Assistance League of San Mateo County. The incredible artwork reflects more than five years of work by the Stitchers. Many of their names are stitched on a panel hung on the back of the frame. The china cupboard on the western wall once belonged to Mrs. Roth’s mother, Lillie Matson. The painting above the fireplace is titled Still Life with Dead Game by the Dutch artist, Jan Weenix, painted in 1703. Still life paintings from this period are steeped in symbolism and were meant to show the bounty of the owner’s table and estate. Weenix painted a number of similar paintings; one of which is in the Queen’s art collection at Buckingham Palace and another at Harvard. Many of his best works still reside in private residences.
The wool Isphahan style palace carpet was originally hand-woven in Agra, India, for Queen Victoria’s home, Osborne House, on the Isle of Wight. It was purchased in England by the Bourns and kept in the Library for nearly 95 years. The rug was recently relocated to this room to protect it from foot traffic. During a recent room restoration Osborne House had a copy of the carpet rewoven which is currently on display at Osborne House.
Read less