NEW RESTAURANT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20829, 10 September 1937, Page 12

NEW RESTAURANT

EXCLUSIVE NEW YORK HOTEL A famous woman designer, Mrs Helen Tiffany, has evolved a new scheme of colour for the rebuilt dining room at the St. Regis, exclusive New York hotel, which will profoundly influence the trend of fashion in decor tion all over the world. Poised midway between the extreme and stark simplicity of the Very Modernist and the recently-revived Baroque ornateness, Mrs Tiffany’s scheme employs the rare metal iridium—far more precious than platinum—for its title ad keynote. The chief colour note of the huge dining room is mushroom, a warm, pinky beige. In this colour are the walls, hung with satin damask, and the ceiling, which is arched in shape, and although constructed of cement, is finished to resemble velvet. The sole decorations of the walls are two large square panels of etched glass, which look like metal marquetry work. Toning with the mushroom-pink, metal fittings of iridium are irresistible; the tone of the metal is very subtle, best described as a warm, dull silvered grey, of it are made the metal lamp fittings on the walls, and the fitments of the hanging chandeliers, which are in the form of radiating metal ribs with hoops on which hang crystal pendants. Mirrors reflect the delicate, but luxurious, colours which have been chosen as forming the most becoming background for the gowns which are now being worn by American women of fashion.

The very great expense of constructing the iridium room appears already to have been a sound investment. Visitors from all parts of the world have come to dine there, and its value as a becoming setting has made it one of New York’s most famous rendezvous.