Mason Monterey Furniture at the Oregon Caves NM
MPFC was privileged to conserve and restore two dozen pieces of original Mason Monterey Furniture which was bought for the Chateau, (an example shown right in the Chateau in 2006.)
We have divided the collection into three parts, with additional pages on various processes and showings:
Brief History
The furniture in the Chateau was designed and built by Frank Mason, who founded the Mason Manufacturing Company of Los Angeles in 1919, primarily as a lamp manufacturing company. "Monterey" furniture was born in the 1920's, growing out of the Hollywood design studios. The style is derived from Spanish and Dutch Colonial, Pennsylvania Dutch, California Mission architecture and furnishings, cowboy accoutrements such as might even be found in a barn (lariats and branding irons), and simple ranch furnishings.
Eventually the line was marketed by the Barker Brothers. The Chateau purchased the line through Meier & Frank in Portland. Ironically, the alder used in the line was from Oregon!
Some publications give the impression that the Mason company used a half dozen colors in their finishes, but our research shows they were inventive and experimental and the line of colors was much larger, and many variations existed from batch to batch. An example of this is the green color shown right in an A-Frame chair, which we are calling “Chateau Green.”
It is a variation on Spanish Green, which is also seen in the Chateau, shown on the woven leather ladderback, right. The base color of the "Chateau Green" is much lighter and quite blue, so it presents itself as a minty green, as opposed to the olive (yellow) tones of Spanish Green. Robert Gamblin donated his time and industry to calibrating many of the colors on several original pieces of Monterey furniture.
Many of the pieces were damaged in the flood of 1964, when a warm rain melted the ice pack and water poured through the Chateau, taking the A-Frames and many other pieces and stripping them of their finish. Most of these very damaged pieces were restored using conservation principles, to be used again in the Chateau after treatment.
Unusual pieces with original finish or original upholstery were conserved using strict museum protocol, and will be stored in the Monument's Museum Collection. We will differentiate these pieces as Museum Collection pieces, and they are shown below. (The Chateau Green chair on the left, above right, was restored to be reused in the Chateau, the right chair has its original finish and will be returned to the Museum Collection. in the image on the lower right, this paragraph, the right hand chair has its original upholstery, whiel the left-hand chair is reupholstered to go back into use on the floor.)
Note: We are interested in obtaining broken down Mason Monterey (or other brands in the genre, such as Del Rey or Coronado) to repair and possibly restore.
Other pages:
- Museum Collection;
- Robert Gamblin's assistance in the restoration and color determination
- Chateau Collection, for reuse in the hotel;
- A-Frame Dining Chairs, which we felt deserved a special page
- Painting the Decorative Elements on the A-Frames
- Paddle-arm Chair
- The Portland showing of the collection;
- Delivery Day at the Oregon Caves!
- and finally, the Oregonian wrote an article on the Collection:"Portland's MPF Conservation team's work shines in the Mason Monterey collection at the Oregon Caves"
For information on the Imperial "Monterey" line
used at Crater Lake National Park,
see our page on the three dozen
pieces previously damaged, and restored by MPFC for the
Crater Lake Science and Learning Center.
We offer a free one hour assessment in your home or office
toward the restoration of your antique, contact us for an appointment.
Contact Information
dkatiepowell [@] aol.com / mitchellrpowell {@} aol.com
So sorry, but we got too much spam -- copy and remove the spaces and []!
503.970.2509 / 541.531.2383
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