Whalehead Club
The Historic Whalehead Club is a large home located on a remote tract facing the Currituck Sound in North Carolina, United States. The structure was designed by owners Edward Collings Jr. and Marie Louise Label Knight and contracted by Daniel Peckham between 1922 and 1925. The home remains a prominent examples of Art Nouveau. History. In 1920, owners Edward Collings Knight, Jr. heir to a fortune made in sugar, railroads, and steamships purchased the land with long time companion and second wife Marie-Louise LaBel Knight. The Knights named their new residence after its location outside the village  of Corolla. Architecture. Corolla Island's exterior and interior feature Art Nouveau details; however, its shallow elongated shape recalls the arts-and-crafts-inspired cottages of the luxurious 1920s Philadelphia suburbs. The house's distinctive curving roofs and gables recall back to early rural buildings of Mrs. Knight's childhood home of Kamouraska, Quebec, Canada. The foundation commenced for a 21,000-square-foot house, with a 135-foot-long basement, complete with a French drainage system and brass piping laid for plumbing. The roof contains over 10,000 copper shingles that were hand-cut and laid. Interiors. "First Floor" The L -shaped first includes wooden walls that avoided the damages of the damp, humid coastal climate. On the first-floor hall, corduroy-textured walls were created through tongue-and-grooved panels to piece together the walls. Cork-tile floors reduced noise, as well as insulated heat. Tiffany lily shades in a cascading manner hang in a fixture just above the front door. Arts Nouveau details and doors with European Art Nouveau enfacements define the centralized front Foyer. "Second Floor:" The second floor of the home contains separate master bedrooms for Mr. and Mrs. Knight. Louise Knight's bedroom suited her French  heritage, featured with a large suite of blue-painted reproduction Louise XVI furniture, matching tables, side chairs, folding screen, and a chaise longue adapted to the French antique style popular in the 1920s. Connected is a private bathroom with a sink, mirror, toilet, bidet and claw-foot tub with separate faucets for fresh and salt water. Proceeding down the hall is additional rooms that would have served as servant's quarters for full-time staff. "Third Floor:" The third floor contains other bedrooms for full-time staff, as well as a flat for Mr. Knight's trusted Valet Mr. Starkey . The room housed Starkey as well as his wife Polly, and daughter Joan. The room would have been furnished with a full bed, a child's bed, chairs, folding screen, small storage closets, as well as a gas stove in order to heat the room during the winter months. Decoration included blue tile laid in the area holding the gas stove, as well as Tiffany glass light fixtures with iridescent wave accents. "Basement" The 6,000-square-foot basement required the right mix of soils and supports. Earth dredged from the new boat basin and canals anchored the brick walls. With  walls, supported by steel beams framing the home, the basement was a feat within itself. The basement was a storage and service area, including 16 rooms, a wine cellar, root cellar, and laundry room with an electric washing machine. The space also housed bins capable of storing 125 tons of coal for a hot water heater as well as a furnace, radiating heat as high as the second floor. Today the basement displays exhibits, which further the history or the home and the times. References. 3.Davis, Susan Joy. The Whalehead Club: Reflections of Currituck Heritage. first . Edited by Mary Ellen  Wheeler. Vol. 1. 1 vols. Corolla, NC: The Donning Company Publisher, 2004. 4.Dunbar, Jean C. Corolla Island: Furnishings Plan. Plan, Whalehead Preservation Trust, Corolla, NC: Historic Design Inc., 2009. 5.Landen, Jill. "The Whalehead Club ." The Whalehead Club Exhibit. Currituck, NC: Head Curator, Whalehead Club, 2002.