Photos taken in June 2004.
The Monterey Furniture:
The Chateau at Oregon Caves is primarily furnished with antique Monterey Furniture, made by the Mason Furniture Company in Los Angeles, California. Most of the pieces are original furnishings placed in the Chateau when it opened in 1934, meaning this furniture is the more rare early-period Monterey furniture. This is likely the world's largest collection of Monterey furniture in a single location. George ("Monterey George") Mason created the Monterey furniture line, which he manufactured from 1929 until 1944. The furniture is primarily made from kiln-dried Alder wood, and features an "Early California Spanish Revival" appearance. Unfortunately, this style is not really in keeping with the Alpine architecture of the Chateau. My guess is they probably chose it for the Chateau because it was readily available and reasonably priced.
Photos taken in June 2004.
Most of the Monterey furniture uses wrought iron accents and fittings as Mr. Mason's factory also did wrought iron fabrication, so they could make everything in-house. Many of the pieces are hand painted prior to varnishing. Mr. Mason encouraged workers in his furniture factory to take pieces home with them and hand paint them on their own time. They then returned the furniture and he paid them for the additional art work. So the quality and quantity of art work varies greatly.
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