St. Paul daily globe., 1891-12-05
BRADSTREET's OPENING.
Artistic House Furnishing-Mag
nificent Collection of Paintings

Artistic House Furnishing-Mag
nificent Collection of Paintings.
To the man or woman who delights in
artistic interiors a visit to the establish
ment of Bradstreet, Thurber & Co.
these days is as good as a tour through
the palaces of the world, from Occident
to Orient. On the six floors of their
stores are arranged specimens of the
styles of furnishings of all lands.
The Oriental, however. predominates.
j. 5. BradStreet, the artist OF
the house, prefers that style.
1t affords bOundlesS opportunities for
the attainment of luxurious effects. For
weeks Mr.. BradStreet has been at work
getting the stores in readiness for the
annual opening which occurred yester-
day. The result of his labOrs is enough
to Startle the man who is unaccustOmed
to give much attention to the decoration
and furnishing of home further than
the purchase of carpets and pieces of
furniture and putting them into a room.
IL must he admitted that that is about
as far as the average American ever gets
when he begins to furnish his home
Mr.. Bradstreet brings TO bear upon the
furnishing and interior decorating
of home or room even all the in
stlncts of true artist. What can be
done in this line by true artist cannot
be appreciated through mere descrip-
ton in words. Words lack color, in the
full sense of the term. They cannot
convey all the subtle effects produced
by the harmonious blending of light and
shade, brilliant tints and Subdued hues.
But if one will take a walk through the
stores of Bradstreet, Thurber q Co. at
this time he cannot fail to appreciate, in
some degree at least, the possibilities
contained i'll ordinary, commonplace,
utilitarian house furniture.
a visit to these stores will do more for
the average MinneapOliIan than show
him what can be done with the interior
of a house. 1t will show him that in
Minneapolis there is factory that turns
out better class of work in the line of
valuable carved furniture than any fac
tory in tile country. There are sDecI-
mems of the work of the Bradstreet,
Thur6pr IL Co. factory that are marvelS
of wood carving on large scale. The
oak and mahogany and cherry and
maple of commerce are lifted from the
prOSaic state of the wood in the rough
and trsnSplanted by the hand of the
artist to the world of the ideal.
The whole store has been divided into
small rooms TO show how house should
De 1urnlSneQ. Inere are beds and bed
rooms that would tempt Napoleon TO
slumber on the eve of Waterloo; din
ing rooms that would make the mouth
of an anchOrte water i'll anticipation of
the good things to come to such a BAN
quet board; drawing rooms that would
inspire hOd-carrier with the ambition
to become 4 Ward McAlliSter: retiring
rooms that make one wish to do moth
ing all the day but smoke Turkish Gig
arettes and, with closed eyes, receive
the careSses of the luStrOus-eyed houris
of the Orient; libraries that would con-
vert a butcher into patron Of litera-
ture and almost force an average alder
man TO WOO the muses.. But, as said
before. words are weak in describing
the beanties of the conceptions in fur
niture and decorations that may be
seen in Bradstreet, Thurber d Co.'s
store.
This firm has introduced an innnya-
tiOn III Minneapolis this way in the way
of "opening" attractions, but an innO-
walton that is in perfect keeping with
the artistic nature of the firms busi-
ness. On the second floor is a collee-
ton of paintings such as Minneapol-
itanS are seldom fortunate enough to
have an opportunity to see. The collec-
tion is the property of Gross & Van
Gigch, of Paris. 1t embraces about one
hundred and fifty oil paintings and
water cOlOrs, most of them from the
Paris salon, the value of the collection
being $4,000. Among the paintings