Ballroom Design

In the 21st Century
June 2021

The word “ballroom” often conjures the distant sights and sounds of a Viennese Waltz, or perhaps a French Minuet. We can picture the candle-lit faces of the courtiers and retinue of Louis XIV celebrating a grand fete in full regalia at Versailles, or Catherine entertaining her court under the opulent gilded ceilings of the palace ballroom at St. Petersburg. The grandeur and elegance of these events, and certainly the architecture and ornament of the rooms, seem little more today than beautiful vestiges of bygone eras.

So if you were to build a ballroom today, where would you go? With the era’s architects, guilds and craftsmen no longer extant, where and how would you begin? In the case of our current client remodeling their estate nestled in an exclusive enclave in South Florida, they began with the JP Weaver Company. Our Senior Designer Stephanie Croce was contacted by the architect and engaged to begin the design. “You could say it’s a bit of an auspicious distinction to be known as the preeminent source for ballroom design, and we accept this distinction humbly and gratefully”, says Stephanie Croce. “Truth be told, we currently have three ballrooms under design and in production which can make for a hectic schedule; but is par for our Signature Design Service.”

Stephanie’s clients from South Florida were looking for an extraordinary room and drew their reference cue from one of the color plates (see color plate above) from our Petitsin Design Journals. The scope of the room was massive: 36 feet in width by 48 feet in length. The ceiling height soared in excess of 30 feet, (see framing photo). “One of the challenges of designing on this scale”, says Stephanie “is tempering an elegant balance of size to scale while appeasing the eye.” Drawing on her decades of experience, Stephanie soon produced finished architectural drawings (see photo below), which were enthusiastically approved and the project and molding production commenced. The clients were so thrilled they engaged a 3D artist to produce computer renderings (see photo).

It’s no small coincidence Stephanie’s clients have a son and daughter, both dazzling virtuosos in violin and piano respectively, who preform internationally under the baton of distinguished conductors of the world’s leading orchestras. It’s not hard to imagine the faint strains of a waltz or minuet wafting from this elegant ballroom once all is completed; and in some small way fosters a re-imagining of an opulent era. We wanted to share with you some of the progress shots and Stephanie's drawings (see photo) of this project and look forward to posting completed photos in a few months. Stay tuned.