The Emily Dickinson Museum comprises two historic houses in the center of Amherst, Massachusetts associated with the poet Emily Dickinson and members of her family during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Homestead was the birthplace and home of the poet Emily Dickinson. Next door, The Evergreens was home to her brother Austin, his wife Susan, and their three children.
Grosvenor Wilton were commissioned to supply bespoke carpets for the parlors of the Homestead as part of a $2.5 million architectural restoration of the poet's Homestead was undertaken by the museum.
The North Parlor orginally served as a comfortable family room for time spent reading, writing, and enjoying each other’s company, and the south parlor was a more formal space for receiving visitors, a frequent occurrence in the prosperous and influential home of the Dickinsons.
As reported by Emily Dickinson’s niece, the parlor wallpaper was “white with large figures”, the carpet pattern was “a great basket of flowers, from which roses were spilling all over the floor to a border of more flowers at the edge,” and the prevailing atmosphere was "cool, stiffish and dark." These descriptors helped inform many decisions in the newly restored parlor of the Dickinson Homestead. Grosvenor Wilton’s unrivalled expertise and knowledge ensured the parlor's Brussel carpets were historically accurate.
