China Trade Room

William B. E. Ranken (1881-1941); Gloucester, Massachusetts; 1928; Watercolor; Gift of O. D. Garland, 1976.169.

In 1923, Sleeper transformed the centerpiece of his original 1908 house, the medieval-themed Hall, into the orientalist fantasy of the China Trade Room. Ranken showcases the room’s most spectacular feature, a built-in pagoda that extended into the adjoining South Gallery. Removed in the 1930s by Beauport’s last private owner, Helena Woolworth McCann, the disassembled structure was rescued by Roland Wonson, Piatt Andrew’s former chauffeur.