Tiffany's Daffodil Terrace & Fireplace

Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Long Island home lost to fire in 1957, and the damaged fragments that could be salvaged have remained hidden in storage for fifty years.

In preparation for an exhibition of Laurelton Hall at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, we conserved the stone elements and glass capitals from the Daffodil Terrace, and the marble and mosaic dining room fireplace. Work included removal of the artifacts from storage at the Morse Museum in Winter Park, Florida, treatment of the artifacts, creation of structural supports, and installation in the museum galleries. Work was performed in collaboration with Griswold Conservation Associates.

Conservators thoroughly cleaned each artifact, taking care to preserve fragile hand-tinted mortars amidst the glass daffodil bouquets capitals. Each of the marble elements was carefully cleaned and repaired. A structural system that could support the terrace and be disassembled was created for both the fireplace and the terrace. Missing elements from the fireplace, mosaic clocks, and terrace were re-created and faux-finished to match the originals.

At the end of the year-long restoration, the artifacts were crated and shipped to the Metropolitan Museum where they were installed and reunited with other artifacts from Laurelton Hall for the first time in half a century.