7. Grand Hall First Floor (Francis I style ca 1500)

From 1894 to 1910 the hall was only half the present size, with its herringbone parquet floor and ceiling of sculptured staff work grained to look like oak. The bay window in the west end of the grand hall has its original French Renaissance style green hand-hammered cathedral glass with the Belmont coat of arms and a scallop shell motif, which is reputed to signify that an ancestor was a crusader.

Figure 9 Foot of the grand stair. The ring is under the carpet

Between 1910 and 1914 Mrs. Belmont directed architect John Russell Pope to move the grand hall partition to the east about 30 feet. This area had been the original passageway for Belmont's coaches. Mrs. Belmont utilized most of the original materials when she re-designed the Grand Hall and Grand Stair.

In the 1960s the Tinney Family finished the grand hall to the way it is today. The oak pilasters have hand-tooled leather panels, gold and silver leafed and painted with transparent colors with grotesques and scenes of Classical mythology. The original dark red damask was replaced with antique yellow silk, which lightened the room.