FAQ
Worgelt Study, 1928–30. Designed and made by Alavoine (Paris and New York, late nineteenth century–1973). 575 Park Avenue, New York. Lacquer, glass, leather. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Raymond Worgelt, 70.23
Designed by the New York office of the Parisian decorating firm Alavoine, this elegant study, made for an elite client, was a conservative interpretation of the Art Deco style; this can be seen in the geometric paneling of palisander and olive wood veneers and the large abstract lacquer panel, designed by Henri Redard and executed by Jean Dunand. A small, concealed bar, with etched glass walls that salute France, is hidden in the corner in defiance of Prohibition, which forbade alcohol consumption in the United States from 1919 to 1933. Interestingly, while this room was furnished in the Art Deco style, the public rooms in the rest of the Worgelt apartment were furnished in a more conservative French eighteenth-century-revival style.
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum