T HIS that we 
have called 
the Italian Style in 
room decoration is 
notan historic style 
in the same sense 
as the Adam or the 
Jacobean. It was 
developed here in 
New York and is 
perhaps as dis¬ 
tinctly American as 
a ny m anner of 
room decoration; 
we call it Italian 
because in spirit 
and in ornamental 
detail it follows the 
work of the early 
Renaissance o f 
Italy or the Roman 
work of the classic 
Imperial Age 
whence came the 
inspiration of the 
Renaissance. 
Its origin is in¬ 
teresting. T wenty- 
five years ago or 
more, wealthy 
Americans travel¬ 
ing in Italy began 
to buy and bring 
back with them old 
furniture and 
carved marbles, 
chimney- pieces, 
candelabra, tapes- THE ITALIAN STYLE AS DEVELOPED IN AMERICA TO HOUSE FOREIGN i s stronger; more 
tries, hangings, ANTIQUES—BEAMED CEILINGS AND THEIR MODERN CONSTRUCTION— expensive., too, un¬ 
bronzes or wood- VENEERING—CHEAPER SUBSTITUTES TO CREATE ITALIAN ATMOSPHERE less the finishing 
carvings, and these wood is very rare, 
exquisite objects Alfred Morton Git hens It stands to reason; 
required a suitable wood shrinks and 
background in the new house of their purchaser. This the archi- curls in one direction, across the grain, not appreciably in the 
tect set himself to find; they must, of course, dominate the room direction of its length; a wood panel three feet wide, if not 
This type of room is called Italian, because in spirit and in ornamental detail it follows the work of the Early 
Renaissance of Italy or the Roman work of the classical Imperial Age whence came the inspiration of the 
Renaissance 
thin as a sheet of 
cardboard; some¬ 
times the log was 
steamed or boiled 
in water until 
spongy and then 
sliced with a huge 
knife, a cheaper but 
inferior process, as 
a warpe d and 
twisted veneer re¬ 
sulted that was 
more difficult to 
handle and not so 
enduring, though 
far more so than a 
panel would have 
been if cut from a 
single piece. 
Veneering 
is much maligned 
and m isunder- 
stood; “Veneer" 
seems, in the aver¬ 
age mind, to imply 
something ignoble; 
the furniture sales¬ 
man of the depart¬ 
ment store takes 
pains to explain 
that this piece is 
“solid" mahogany 
or oak, not ve¬ 
neered ; but every 
carpenter knows 
that a veneered 
and built-up piece 
that was to hold them; the wall should serve as background 
merely, but must avoid a museum-like bareness. If the objects 
were of light stone, gilt wood or rich in color, what could be 
finer than dark wainscoting with the great veneered wood panels 
our carpenters were just then learning to construct? Complicated 
mouldings in the new work were eliminated, and, of course, all 
unnecessary carving, for the grain of the wood was of sufficient 
richness; the more beautiful its convolutions and the rarer the 
wood, the better. Our own White Oak was excellent, but better 
still the darker knotted English Oak or the Betula or Circassian 
Walnut. 
So the veneered or built-up panel was developed, or, more 
properly, revived; for something similar had been used before in 
the mahogany cabinet work of the early Eighteen-Hundreds. 
Sometimes the precious wood was cut in thin slices by a rotary saw, 
veneered, would curl and split to pieces. 
A wide panel is built up of five layers, the inner three in the 
best work of White Pine or Chestnut, for these two are the least 
given to warping or twisting. The center layer is about as thick 
as one’s finger, the grain running lengthzvise of the panel, and is 
itself glued up of several strips laid edge to edge. Next it on 
each side is glued a layer about as thick as a book cover, the 
grain running crosszvise of the panel. This makes a firm core, 
for any tendency of one layer to twist in one direction is counter¬ 
acted by the tendency of the next to twist in the opposite way. 
On one side of this built-up core is glued the thin sheet of finishing 
wood, with a strip of commoner wood of equal strength on the 
other. 
The carpenter receives the finishing wood from the mill already 
cut in sheets, but they are kept together in their proper order; 
348 
