Pair of Portfolios Showing the Fine Furniture of the Henry McCleary Residence, Olympia, Washington, 1920s

Olympia, 1925. . Limp pebbled calf portfolios measuring 12 ½ x 10 ½ inches, with 106 illustrations, nearly all photographic, of furniture. Interior fine, some wear to portfolios, overall quite well preserved. Near Fine. The Henry McCleary residence in Olympia was built in 1923, sparing no expense. The mansion still stands today on 21st Ave. and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. McLeary, a timber baron and president of the Henry McCleary Timber Company, also spared no expense in his furniture choices for his new residence, as this pair of portfolios by the decorator E.R. Bradford shows. With furniture proposals for each room of the new house, the portfolios showcase in great detail the fine furniture of the era. Some of the companies represented are the Munago and Tobey companies of Chicago, both of which have letters sent to McCleary included in the group. McCleary married Mrs. Hildur D. Simons during this period, an event that was covered locally and in lumber trade journals. Overall the group provides a photographic record of fine furniture of the 1920s, with McCleary’s taste for timber perhaps coming across in the fine Midwestern furniture he chose to furnish his new residence. We find no record of the decorator, an E.R. Bradford, who was responsible for assembling the albums.