Parquet Floors with Border Inlays - A Restoration by Atelier Passe Partout, Belgium

The incursion in the small world of high end parquet floors continues with a restoration (a punctual one) made by Mr. Filip Redant (d. 08.08.2021), a parquet floor specialist from Atelier Passe Partout, Belgium. A missing part of a parquet border flower is being replaced together with its underfloor support. The repaired part is a part of a large, intricate parquet floor in a high end building. 

 

Parquet floors with border inlays at their best - a few images of a parquet restoration in Belgium

Courtesy Mr. Che Polfliet - from C-Parket.be company - I publish below a few images from a restoration process of a most probably Lachappelle Parquet creation, most probably somewhere in the beginning of the XX century. Somewhere in Belgium. The parquet floor is made of small parquet blocks laid in a herringbone pattern - in the center area - and surrounded by a wide border with a floral design. After border the space to the wall is laid with Oak battens or smaller cuts. This arrangement takes advantage of the different chromatic obtained when light reflects from Oak.

Unfortunately the old Lachappelle does not exist today even if the trademark is still owned and active. Floors like the one in the images probably can still be found in different villas. Of course a reproduction of this parquet floor is still possible today.

For me there is nothing more interesting in this field I work than to see an old work of art like this one being carefully restored and given a new period of life ahead.

Parquet Floors with Borders Inlays

As the visitor can see an exceptionally maintained parquet floor - most probably having over 100 years, nailed down piece-by-piece. Yes, that means every piece of wood in this parquet floor has been individually nailed down with more that one nail. Imagine doing this today... I wish we could see works like this today more frequently. Unfortunately the low aesthetics seems to rule in parquet floors today but there are  some pockets of excellence still in place. Properly maintained this work will last one hundred years more. This parquet floor is composed of a chess arrangement in the middle and a hardwood floor border is used to create a perimeter around the parquet pattern area.

Parquet Floors with Border Inlays - Around 1900's - Brooklyn

 The 1900's left us with some exceptional works in the field of parquet floors. A time (if you can believe it!) when each parquet floor component was nailed down, piece by piece. In USA there were a few companies providing borders and field patterns whose works still endure today. One of them is shown  in the below image. But there are many whose pictures are not taken or published.

Point'd Hongrie with Borders - Restoration in Bordeaux, France - Part II

A set of images showing a parquet floor restoration work done by Cedric Lannegrand's crew at SARL Infinity Parquet in Bordeaux, France. The parquet floor is composed from a mirror Point d'Hongrie arrangement outside the parquet floor border created perimeter while inside perimeter there is a simple Point d'Hongrie (or Chevrons). The parquet floor border inlay pattern is a Greek key with flower corners (turning blocks).

***Restauration de marqueterie (essence d'origine: Framiré, Ebène, Acajou et chêne. Essence de bois pour reprise: Movingui, Wengué, Acajou et Chêne)***

Source: Facebook page of SARL Infinity Parquet
http://infinityparkett.fr/

Hardwood Floors with Inlays from 1800's in Washington D.C. - The Decatur House

A house built in the first quarter of the 1800s by Stephen Decatur and located near White House shows an interesting design of hardwood floors in strips framed by two rows of perimeter hardwood floor borders - and a hardwood floor medallion inlay. Article published by www.woodfloorbusiness.com about the restoration job performed by Universal Floors of Washington D.C. (www.universalfloors.com).
All waxed.

Source: https://www.woodfloorbusiness.com/sanding-finishing/a-historic-wood-floor-like-an-old-saddle.html

 

Parquet Flooring with Design - Livadia Palace, Crimeea

From France to Crimeea. The Livadia Palace has been the summer retreat of czar Nikolas II and his family. Later the Yalta Conference was held there in 1945.

One of the rooms that was Mr. Roosevelt's study has a design parquet flooring that is of interest to our blog especially that some of the designs are familiar to us. The parquet flooring is made of parquet panels with a certain design - not something special I would say - surrounded by a basic hardwood floor border and in the middle they have fit a hardwood floor medallion - a star surrounded by two frames.

No indication of the age of this work.

Note: the Livadia Palace has another rooms where parquet flooring panels with design are present and where the design is more refined than in the Roosevelt room.

Parquet Flooring with Inlays - Restoration Work, Bordeaux, France - Part I

After almost two years of publishing absence I am coming back with a first article of a restoration work including parquet border inlays located in France's Bordeaux by one of our FB friends at Infinity Parkett.

The work to be restored is a parquet flooring with a border inlay where the age left its marks. The parquet flooring consists in a Point d'Hongrie layout surrounded by a border inlay with a Greek key pattern.

The initial state of the parquet flooring - image below:

The border inlay pattern is worked at a reduced thickness. We do not have information whether this parquetry work has been restored before this stage or not.

The corners of the border are cut in round shapes and they have used a floral pattern to complement the main body design.

Another image showing the parquet flooring border pattern from a different angle:

The original wood species were Framire, Ebony, Mahogany and Oak. During restoration some replacements took place bringing Satinwood and Wenge as replacements.

Other relevant images of the restoration work:

And a few final images showing the restored work:

Images courtesy of Infinity Parkett SARL
All images of this project can be seen on Infinity's Fabebook page.

Parquet with design - France - Hôtel de Lesdiguières

The Hôtel de Lesdiguières is a 17th century building located in France/ Grenoble.
The parquet flooring with inlays that can be seen in this hotel is a 19th century work. The design belongs to Jean-François Hache (a marquetry creator) and it is said to have been executed during the 18th century.

A few nice images below:

copyright to http://grenoblophiles.blogspot.com/2012/08/la-maison-des-ducs.html