To
William B. Franklin 12 May 1877 • Hartford, Conn.(MS, correspondence card: Ct, UCCL10581)
May 12.
We have 3 rooms in our house which will prove to anybody that Marcotte knows his business
thoroughly.2explanatory note If you have occasion to say any word about the furnishing, I wish you would remember
that Marcotte in New
York & the Household Art Co in Boston are furnishers who ought to have a chance to
bid.3explanatory note But thunder
& blazes! these folks can never are bound to go to the
wall before the gaudy rubbish of — — — never mind, I won’t mention names,
though I could. New York is full of bastard furniture-constructors & decorators.
Ys Truly
S L Clemens
letter docketed:12th May, 1877. | S. L. Clemens. | Recommending Marcotte.
Textual Commentary
Source text(s):
MS, correspondence card, Capitol Commissioners, Records Group 27, Box 5, Letters Received
1877–May
1878, Ct.
Previous Publication:
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Explanatory Notes
1 Franklin (28 Apr 1876 to Franklin, n. 2) was superintendent of construction of the
Connecticut State Capitol, in Hartford, which took seven years (1872–79) to complete
(Gray 1994, 70, 72 n. 32; Remetta and Vallera 2018).
2 Leon Marcotte (1824–87), born in France and trained as an architect, was an interior
designer and furniture maker, with shops in Paris and New York. According to a biographical
essay published in 1994, his New York location was in “an elegant beaux arts building
located on Union Square just off Fifth Avenue, a fashionable address for the period.”
Specializing in interpretations of the Louis XV and Louis XVI styles, Marcotte was
“renowned for the quality and artistic integrity of his interiors, furniture, and
decorations, his awards at international expositions, and his work for many of America’s
wealthiest and most socially prominent families.” Among his clients was Samuel Colt,
the arms manufacturer, whose showplace Hartford home, Armsmear, he had decorated and
furnished in the mid 1850s (Gray 1994, 49, 51–55, 61, 69–70, 72 n. 32).
3 The Household Art Company, on Tremont Street in Boston, opened in 1873. It offered
art works, furniture, tiles, imported English pottery, and decorations to customers
of moderate incomes, not just to those wealthy enough to patronize establishments
such as Marcotte’s (Brandt 2009, 71; Zukowski 2006, 73–74; “Decoration,” The Nation, 9 May 1878, ii).
MS, correspondence card, Capitol Commissioners, Records Group 27, Box 5, Letters Received 1877–May 1878, Ct.
MicroPUL, reel 1.