Runnymede Drawing Room - Floor plan Page |
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This page lets you look around one of the many rooms in Runnymede as if you were inside it. Click on a yellow camera below
 to see a wall as if you were standing across from it in the room. The new page opens in a fresh browser window. To return to this page simply close the new window. As the images are of high quality they may take a few moments to load if you are using a dial-up internet connection.
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The Drawing room was the centre of family gatherings and, for the women of Runnymede, a room to entertain guests. Thea and Robert Pitcairn's home was the heart of their family and it echoed with visitors and children during the period 1840-1950. Runnymede’s Drawing Room has windows which opened to the verandah and afforded lovely views of the garden down to New Town Bay.Anna Maria Nixon who lived in the house from 1850-1862 supported those who were eager to read books by running a lending library from the Drawing room every Saturday morning. She wrote in her letters 'books are one's only solace'. Emma Bayly's diaries of 1911 record her home life at Runnymede as 'busy hospitable, active, full of social engagements, church activities, music lessons, entertaining guests and cultural pursuits'. As a child she remembers "We were allowed to be free outside but as soon as we entered the house we had to change our shoes and behave like gentlewomen. However we were allowed to romp in the music room". Guests were received and entertained in the Drawing Room, often the only room seen by visitors to the house, unless they were dining with the family. |
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