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PaperCity Dallas September 2024

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the Music and Oak Rooms will include new upholstery and furnishings, says Fonts, but will leave the 18th-century paneling and other original elements undisturbed. Brent Hull, founder of Fort Worth-based Hull Millwork and an expert in historic restoration, revived the mansion's antique interior and exterior doors, windows, and molding; in areas where they were damaged or missing, he copied and rebuilt them. The Young Estate, like Rose Terrace, was built to last, with steel, concrete, and thick slabs of cut limestone. "The high quality of craftsmanship, scale of the rooms, the history and tradition are what make this house so special," Hull says. "They just didn't build houses like this in the 1970s. You walk in and think, 'There nothing else like it in America.'" Rose Terrace, Lost and Found To understand the social and historical significance of the Young Estate, it's important to revisit Rose Terrace in Grosse Pointe. At the time of Anna Dodge's death in 1970, the Detroit automobile heiress had amassed a fortune that today would be worth just shy of $1 billion. According to her New York Times obituary, Dodge presided over multiple residences, including a 100- room mansion in Palm Beach and homes in London and Southampton. Her magnificent jewelry collection was highlighted by a $1 million pearl necklace made for Catherine II of Russia — which Dodge wore only twice. But the real jewel in the grand dame's glittering crown was Rose Terrace, a sprawling French neoclassical-style château built during the Great Depression. The 75- room mansion was designed by Horace Trumbauer, a Gilded Age architect for America's upper crust, known for Miramar in Rhode Island and Ardrossan, the Main Line manor that inspired the 1939 play The Philadelphia Story. Rose Terrace was considered Trumbauer's best house and the finest of its type in America. Exquisite detailing included carved 18th-century boisserie rooms illuminated by enormous antique bronze and rock crystal chandeliers. Advised by noted art dealer Lord Joseph Duveen, Dodge and her second husband, Hugh Dillman, traveled to France, Russia, England, and the Orient, collecting treasures for the house. They filled the 42,000-square-foot estate with French decorative arts and masterpieces by Gainsborough, van Dyke, and Boucher, along with furnishings from the imperial palaces of Russia and Versailles. Of all the interior spaces, Dodge's favorite was the 18th-century Music Room, THE DODGE COLLECTION OF EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRENCH AND ENGLISH ART IN THE DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS (HUDSON HILLS PRESS © 1996) A future refresh of the Music and Oak Rooms will leave the 18th-century paneling and other original elements undisturbed. — Carla Fonts

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