Watercolor -- "Elevation of Dining Room"

Description

Design drawing titled "Elevation of Dining Room" rendered in watercolor and pencil. Interior elevation shows one wall of room. Fireplace is placed in middle and has large carved mantel and surround. Wall has three tiers of recessed rectangular panels below a foliate wallpaper frieze. Two windows, one arched and the other rectangular, are at the ends of the wall. Placed against the wall are two pieces of Renaissance Revival-style furniture, a red upholstered side chair on the left and a side table on the right. Title is handwritten on drawing which is signed "C. F. Richter." A handwritten note on back reads: "This stems from Carl F. Richter's work as architect + desginer with A. H. Davenport Co. Boston. Sketch circa 1895."

No C. F. Richter has been identified; however, a Carl Theodore Helmut Richter is listed in the 1880 United States census as employed as an architect and living in Dedham, MA. The municipal records of Dedham show that he died on September 7, 1898. His wife Louisa is listed as a widow in the 1900 federal census. The 1895 Boston city directory lists a Charles Richter as being employed as a designer working at 96 Washington Street, the address of A. H. Davenport Co.