Description:

A Bernard Maybeck Gothic style polychrome decorated walnut loveseat: Leon L. Roos House
early 20th century

With monogram reliefs to sides.

  • Provenance:
    Designed by Bernard Maybeck for the Grand Living Room of the Leon L. Roos House, San Francsico, California, 1909.
    Thence by descent through the family to the present owner.

    Footnote:
    Bernard Maybeck
    Bernard Ralph Maybeck (1862-1957) was the preeminent Arts & Crafts and Misson style architect in the San Francisco Bay area of the early 20th century. After completing his courses in the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, Maybeck moved to Berkeley California in 1892. From 1894-1898 he taught architectural design at the University of California, Berkeley and became the school's first professor of architecture 1898-1903 and mentored the likes of John Bakewell, Arthur Brown Jr., Lewis Hobart and Julia Morgan.

    Maybeck designed over 150 private and public structures all over California – many of which still stand and have landmark status. Some of his most notable works include his first private commission, in 1902, for the house and studio for Charles Keeler, noted author, poet and ornithologist, in Berkeley. During this time, he was also commissioned by Phoebe Hearst to build a grand residence for her at Wyntoon in Siskyou County, a project on which he collaborated with Julia Morgan. In 1910 Maybeck was selected to design the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Berkeley, which is today considered one of his early masterpieces. Another of his most iconic structures is the Palace of Fine Arts built for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915.

    Leon L. Roos House
    In 1909, Leon Roos, co-owner of high-end haberdasher Roos Brothers married Elizabeth Leslie Meyerfield, daughter of Morris Meyerfield, partner in Orpheum Theater consortium. Mr. Meyerfield commissioned Bernard Maybeck, Elizabeth's architect of choice, to design a house for the newlyweds as a wedding gift. Maybeck worked on the designs for the house while Mr. and Mrs. Roos were honeymooning in Europe, allowing him broad artistic freedom. Elizabeth was influenced by all she saw and admired in her father's business and in keeping with that, desired a theatrical home. The finished Tudor style house, with high ceilings, redwood walls and contrasting sparkling fixtures is Maybeck's largest San Francisco residence, at 9,000 square feet.

    Embracing the baronial life they enjoyed while traveling through Europe, Leon Roos even had a family coat of arms designed and requested that Maybeck fashion specific furnishings to compliment his architecture as well as the pieces they acquired on their European tour.
    The Roos home remained in the family when it was passed down to Dr. Jane Schaefer Roos, the daughter-in-law of Leon and Elizabeth Roos, who had married Leslie Roos in 1962. The residence was inherited by Christopher Roos in 2008 along with the furnishings. The Leon L. Roos house home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
    c Places in 2009.
  • Dimensions: height 38 3/4in (98.5cm); width 42 1/2in (108cm); depth 21in (53.5cm)
  • Condition: Height of arms 23 3/4in; height of seat 18in; overall depth 34in.
    Structurally sound. General marks, nicks, scratches, rubbing, shrinkage cracks and wear. Areas of lifting to timber at cracks more notably to back. With typical wear, fading and some spotty staining to upholstery. Upholstery faded from an aubergine to a golden brown. Pulls and losses to embroidery. On casters.

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