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Sovereign Ballroom in the King Edward Hotel
Above is (a corner of) the "Sovereign Ballroom" in the King Edward Hotel (whose exterior I photographed here). It reminded me of Edith Wharton's interiors. Wharton has written a book on home decoration titled: The Decoration of Houses. In it, she describes her impressions of woman's nature, which she relates to different rooms in the house. I have written about Wharton's interior designs (architectural and human) in this blog post.
Wharton has also written a book called The Decoration of Houses, which I had revisited (no pun...) recently...
Here is her impression of houses and women:I have sometimes thought that a woman's nature is like a great house full of rooms: there is the hall, through which everyone passes in going in and out; the drawing room, where one receives formal visits; the sitting room, where members of the family come and go as they list; but beyond that, far beyond, are other rooms, the handle of whose doors perhaps are never turned, no one knows the way to them, no one knows whither they lead; and in the innermost room, the holy of holies, the soul sits alone and waits for a footstep that never comes.[A] little sad. Perhaps it is no wonder given the marriage she had. [My original blog post describes her ill-fated heroines, who might reflect her unhappy marriage with a philandering husband who eventually divorced her.]