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Random Palace jottings - Hamilton Palace oak staircase
The oak staircase, seemingly, was bought and returned three times by American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. Costing $8 million, most of it is thought still to be in storage with the Hearst Corporation in New York. Reputedly, the centre section was used for the “Gone with the Wind” film set: the staircase in Rhett and Scarlet’s mansion that she falls down! The current location of this part of the staircase is disputed. It is now in a Virginia or Hollywood mansion, or has been broken up and destroyed.
Through his agents French and Company Hearst bought the panels from up to eleven rooms from the Palace. They were shipped to his properties in America along with room interiors from various other large houses across Europe. Many of these shipments were never unpacked. They were sold to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 1950s to clear the huge Hearst family debt. Some of these interiors would move again. In 1992 the fireplace and surrounding panels from the Palace’s 17th Century State Drawing Room were acquired by the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. They were restored and have been out on display since 2016.
Read more about Randolph Hearst and his purchases.
