“Rosedown Plantation”; St. Francisville, Louisiana; 1950s.

Artist/Designer: McMillen McMillen Inc.

Project Location: United States

Figure 1: The Dining Room of Rosedown Plantation at St. Francisville, LA. "Most of the furniture in the dining room was original to the house, although many of the chairs, assumed to be Duncan Phyfe, and part of the table, had to be rebuilt. The punkah frame is also original, but part of the needlework eagle was reworked; it follows a design by Audubon, who tutored the children of William Turnbull and his wife, the builders of the house. The original mirror over the fireplace reflects one of the two Sully portraits of the Turnbulls in the room." page 85 of The Finest Rooms by America's Great Decorators. ( Source | Accessed : October 10, 2017 )

Figure 2: The Dining Room of Rosedown Plantation at St. Francisville, LA. "Most of the furniture in the dining room was original to the house, although many of the chairs, assumed to be Duncan Phyfe, and part of the table, had to be rebuilt. The punkah frame is also original, but part of the needlework eagle was reworked; it follows a design by Audubon, who tutored the children of William Turnbull and his wife, the builders of the house. The original mirror over the fireplace reflects one of the two Sully portraits of the Turnbulls in the room." page 85 of The Finest Rooms by America's Great Decorators. ( Photographer: photographer Tom Leonard, published 1964 in The Finest Rooms by America's Great Decorators )

Figure 3: The Music Room of Rosedown Plantation at St. Francisville, LA. "In the blue and gold music room, a rosewood piano made by Chickering stands under a portrait of a member of the Turnbull family painted by Audubon. The harp is of honey-colored maple, striped in gold and black." page 85 of The Finest Rooms by America's Great Decorators. ( Source | Accessed : October 10, 2017 )

Figure 4: The Music Room of Rosedown Plantation at St. Francisville, LA. "In the blue and gold music room, a rosewood piano made by Chickering stands under a portrait of a member of the Turnbull family painted by Audubon. The harp is of honey-colored maple, striped in gold and black." page 85 of The Finest Rooms by America's Great Decorators. ( Photographer: photographer Tom Leonard, published 1964 in The Finest Rooms by America's Great Decorators )

Figure 5: The Entrance Hall of Rosedown Plantation at St. Francisville, LA. "Blue and gold wallpaper, made by Dufour and Leroy in France in 1828, duplicates the old paper, which was damaged beyond restoring. The paper dado is a copy. The stair, made of Santo Domingo mahogany, stands as firmly as it did over one hundred and twenty-five years ago." page 85 of The Finest Rooms by America's Great Decorators. ( Photographer: photographer Tom Leonard, published 1964 in The Finest Rooms by America's Great Decorators )

Style/Period(s):
Revival Styles

Primary Material(s):
Fabric, Wood

Function(s):
Residential Structure

Related Website(s):

website for Rosedown Plantation | Accessed : October 10, 2017

McMillen, Inc. website | Accessed : October 10, 2017

NYSID press release for exhibition of 90 years of work by McMillen, Inc. | Accessed : October 10, 2017

The New York Times-obituary for Eleanor Brown, founder of McMillen, Inc. | Accessed : October 10, 2017

Significant Date(s):
20th Century, 1950-1959

Additional Information:
Brown, Erica. Sixty Years of Interior Design: The World of McMillen (New York: The Viking Press, 1982).

Tweed, Katherine, ed. and Russell Lynes. The Finest Rooms by America's Great Decorators (New York: The Viking Press, 1964).

Viewers should treat all images as copyrighted and refer to each image's links for copyright information.