See more objects with the tag carpet design, hotel, interiors.

Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1932

  • Work on this object began.

2021

2025

  • You found it!

Reproduction, Lobby of Claridge's Hotel, London

This is a Reproduction. It was featuring artwork by Marion Dorn Kauffer. It is dated 1932. Its medium is photograph. It is a part of the department.

Dorn designed floor coverings and textiles that responded to their architectural surroundings. At Claridge’s Hotel, her circular carpet’s directional lines helped visitors navigate the hexagonal lobby. Dorn’s fringed fabric Lodore enclosed the circular staircase of an estate in Surrey by noteworthy architect Oliver Hill. Against the home’s spare and smooth white walls, the textile added textural contrast.






“I had a terrible week . . . with those parties at Claridges and since I have had a little publicity, I am called in brackets—wife of E. Mack. Kauffer—in today’s Observer. Because obviously no woman must ever be said to do anything on her own. I expected it but it made Ted wild.”





—Marion Dorn, Letter to Mary Hutchinson, ca. 1932

This object was donated by RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects). It is credited Architectural Press Archive / RIBA Collections.

Its dimensions are

H x W: 58.4 × 43.2 cm (23 × 17 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

For higher resolution or commercial use contact ArtResource.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318805203/ |title=Reproduction, Lobby of Claridge's Hotel, London |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=5 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>