When the sun was shining and glimmering off the beaded glass curtains in this arched window, it almost looked like the entrance to somewhere magical.
If you get a little bit of the Emerald City feel from this photo, you’re not far off — this photo was taken in 1937, just two years before the epic “The Wizard of Oz” movie was released.
While it might not have been in the home of the Great and Mighty Oz, in reality, this space approached it in real-world cachet: This colorized dining room picture was taken inside a lavish French mansion, located just to the west of Paris.
As seen in a vintage 1930s issue of Arts & Decoration magazine, the photographer managed to distill so much 1930s elegance into this single image.
The estate’s dining room sparkled with every kind of modern glasswork. The entire ceiling was an arch, and arched niches that were the same height as the walls repeated the oval contour of the room.
One arch, shown here, was hung with a long curtain of crystal beads (simliar to these versions you can get today), and overlooked the garden.
In another archway, opposite the window, Lalique designed an intricate fanciful plaque of green glass, lighted from within.
The tables, candelabras, and small service doors were also all of glass, so that the room shined green and silver — repeated reflections, from tabletops and archways, of the garden outside.
