Words into action

This fireplace surround (currently being offered on eBay) is a interesting and high-end example of late-19th century "artistic" (or Aesthetic) decor. Apparently the mantel was removed at some point from the Larchmont (NY) Yacht Club (and then somehow traveled "the road to Wellsville"). The Yacht Club clubhouse was originally the residence of one "Mr. Benjamin F. Carver, a railroad magnate," from whom it was purchased in 1887. In addition to the carved motto "Well Befall Hearth & Hall," the mantel is embellished with carved water birds and marsh grasses, appropriate to a waterfront setting; the paneling, tiered shelving and decorated cove reflect the "Queen Anne" architectural style of the building's exterior.

While a 1897 New York Times article indicates that, by that date, the mantel was in a room utilized as a "reading room", according to an article published in 1889 in the magazine Outing, an Illustrated Monthly Magazine of Recreation, the room was initially used as a dining space:

Stepping again into the café you see on one side a bright and cosy little bar... Directly opposite to this is the fireplace, with a dark wood mantel set with tiles, and carved in quaint characters, the legend "Well Befall, Hearth and Hall."

A similar description appears in a New York Times article dated September 2, 1894:

The hall leads to the octagon-shaped café... On one side of this room is the bar; on the other a fireplace, over which is carved the inscription: "Well befall hearth and hall."

In 1876, H. Hudson Holly wrote:

A great deal of feeling as well as effect may be shown by what is known as legendary decoration, that is, working up texts and proverbs along our walls. Friezes offer a special opportunity for this. Sentences may also be placed over doorways in such a manner as not only to express a sentiment, but denote the purpose of the apartment; as, for example, “Welcome,” over a reception-room; “Hospitality,” over a living-room. Some very appropriate devices for fire-places have been employed with significance and effect, such as, “Well befall hearth and hall.” This would not be inappropriate for our country mansion described further on in this chapter. Norman Shaw has over his grand fire-place at Cragside the following: “East or west, hame’s best.” I have recently fitted up two dining-rooms in which this style of decoration is worked into the stained glass. Among others, I selected the following mottoes: “Hunger is the best sauce,” “Welcome is the best cheer,” “Eat at pleasure, drink by measure.”

(Henry Hudson Holly, "Modern Dwellings: Their Construction, Decoration, and Furniture." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, June 1876.)

In her 1880s decorating advice manual How to Furnish a Home, Ella Rodman Church opined, in the chapter entitled "The Dining Room":

A legend across the front, in old English lettering, is very appropriate for a dining-room mantel, the ground-work being of the same color as that of the tiles or panels, and the letters either in black and gold or maroon and vermilion. "Well befall hearth and hall," the word "Salve," or Welcome, and such quotations from Shakespeare as "May good digestion wait on appetite," and "Give to our tables meat" — reminding one of the more sacred " Give us this day our daily bread " — are all suitable inscriptions, with many more that might be gathered by the curious in such matters.

In short, the mantelpiece is not only a beautiful object, but one that serves as fascinating and tangible evidence that what late-19th century taste makers were preaching was actually put into practice, even by those at the upper end of the economic scale.

(Mantel photographs courtesy of Scoville Brown Antiques.)