Still at the beautiful home of the Sanfilippo family in Barrington, there is almost too much to take in, in the time allowed for these benefit events. At the foot of one of the grand staircases is an elaborate Mortier 115-key dance organ built in Belgium in the 1920’s. And there are several more orchestrions situated in and around this room.
There’s one more part of the house to visit before we move outside to another area of the Sanfilippo Estate. Through a gorgeous set of stained glass doors, The Perfume Passage is a recreation of a Parisian Arcade, the shop windows filled with products from the ‘Golden Age of Perfume.’ On her previous visit, my daughter was lucky enough to take a tour inside one of the shops. This time we had to be content with peering throught the windows. The collection contains not only all the iconic perfumes of a bygone era but also related items such as lipsticks, compacts and purses including a cologne bottle that once belonged to the Emporor Napoleon and a 6th century Greek flask.
It’s time to go outside and across to the Carousel Room that is housed in a colossal outbuilding near the parking lot. This is where they keep the really large stuff including the fantastic carousel, calliopes and more orchestrions. I wish I’d got more information on the clock. It really was an impressive piece.
One of the music machines that we got to hear was The Superb, a Gavioli 110-key fairground organ originally built in 1906. The Sanfilippo family has assisted many different charities in their fundraising efforts and if you are interested in seeing all these amazing pieces, I recommend you check out their website at The Sanfilippo Foundation to see upcoming events and support a worthy cause.
Join me next time when we go for a ride on the carousel and also see the steam engine collection.