Sala Nera

This room has the original furnishings commissioned by the German W.E.J. Kees (1864-1906), who bought the house in 1897 and decorated it in his own eclectic style, after refurbishing it with a central heating system, which is still working, and whose beautiful radiators have been preserved. According to 19th century furnishing manuals, W.E.J. Kees chose the neo-Renaissance style for a dining room, as evidenced by the extraordinary furniture made in Michelangelo Guggeneheim’s famous workshops at Palazzo Balbi on the Grand Canal in Venice, where the European aristocracy and wealthy bourgeoisie got its supplies. The upholstery with fine gilded highlights and winged cherubs echoes the decorations on the imposing mirror.