Memory Post Card
Early views of this space show a green lawn dotted with sculpture. It later became the Fountain Restaurant one of the grandest spaces in New York for people on a budget to enjoy.
For all its glamor it was a reasonably priced cafeteria with a difference. When you reached your table uniformed staff helped you off load your food and then whisked away your tray. It was a feel good moment that I still fondly remember.
The entire area inside the columns was a pool and fountain showcasing “Aganippe: The Fountain of Muses” by Carl Milles 1951-55. The fountain did not pass the curatorial sniff test (the common folk delighted in it so something had to be wrong with it) and in 1982 was sold to Brookgreen Gardens, South Caroline where it is exhibited outdoors.
"Once upon a time, tucked away in the grand halls of the Greek and Roman Wing of New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, was a technicolor oasis worthy of Emperor Augustus—dreamed up by none other than the legendary Dorothy Draper.
Standing in the current iteration of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Roman Court, it’s hard to envision it as anything other than an impressive limestone-and-marble backdrop for the ancient art it holds. But from 1954 to 2003, the area all the way at the end of the McKim, Mead & White-designed classical wing served as the museum’s main watering hole, and the restaurant was designed by Dorothy Draper, just one of the many boldfaced commercial projects the self-trained decorator completed in the Big Apple over her impressive forty-year career.
Nicknamed “The Dorotheum” with some derision by the museum’s then-director and conservative all-male board of directors, the soaring sky-lit room nevertheless delighted the public, and the New York Times referred to it as “one of New York’s most beautiful dining rooms.” With her signature theatrical touches and saturated palette, Draper coated the walls, ceiling and column bases in a decadent blackberry hue. Banquettes and chairs popped in vibrant coral and electric aquamarine, and oversize birdcage chandeliers hovered overhead. Every detail was chosen to reduce the room’s vast scale and make it more human.
Eventually the pool was drained for more seating (interesting note: the former pool was a more expensive sit down restaurant surrounded by the original self serve restaurant. To avoid having the sit down folks stared at by the self serve folks portable dividers were put between the columns making for a very them and us landscape) the furniture was swapped out and only the fanciful lights from the original scheme remained, until the museum restaurant was relocated and the Court underwent a four-year restoration, reverting it back to a gallery."
Memory Post Card
Early views of this space show a green lawn dotted with sculpture. It later became the Fountain Restaurant one of the grandest spaces in New York for people on a budget to enjoy.
For all its glamor it was a reasonably priced cafeteria with a difference. When you reached your table uniformed staff helped you off load your food and then whisked away your tray. It was a feel good moment that I still fondly remember.
The entire area inside the columns was a pool and fountain showcasing “Aganippe: The Fountain of Muses” by Carl Milles 1951-55. The fountain did not pass the curatorial sniff test (the common folk delighted in it so something had to be wrong with it) and in 1982 was sold to Brookgreen Gardens, South Caroline where it is exhibited outdoors.
"Once upon a time, tucked away in the grand halls of the Greek and Roman Wing of New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, was a technicolor oasis worthy of Emperor Augustus—dreamed up by none other than the legendary Dorothy Draper.
Standing in the current iteration of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Roman Court, it’s hard to envision it as anything other than an impressive limestone-and-marble backdrop for the ancient art it holds. But from 1954 to 2003, the area all the way at the end of the McKim, Mead & White-designed classical wing served as the museum’s main watering hole, and the restaurant was designed by Dorothy Draper, just one of the many boldfaced commercial projects the self-trained decorator completed in the Big Apple over her impressive forty-year career.
Nicknamed “The Dorotheum” with some derision by the museum’s then-director and conservative all-male board of directors, the soaring sky-lit room nevertheless delighted the public, and the New York Times referred to it as “one of New York’s most beautiful dining rooms.” With her signature theatrical touches and saturated palette, Draper coated the walls, ceiling and column bases in a decadent blackberry hue. Banquettes and chairs popped in vibrant coral and electric aquamarine, and oversize birdcage chandeliers hovered overhead. Every detail was chosen to reduce the room’s vast scale and make it more human.
Eventually the pool was drained for more seating (interesting note: the former pool was a more expensive sit down restaurant surrounded by the original self serve restaurant. To avoid having the sit down folks stared at by the self serve folks portable dividers were put between the columns making for a very them and us landscape) the furniture was swapped out and only the fanciful lights from the original scheme remained, until the museum restaurant was relocated and the Court underwent a four-year restoration, reverting it back to a gallery."