The Daily Feather — The Mansion
No matter that GDP was contracting by 10%, cotton magnate Sheppard W. King and his wife Bertha Wilcox built the Mission Revival Manor in 1908. They were among the first wave of residents seeking out wider spaces north of downtown Dallas on Turtle Creek. A fire that consumed the manse in 1923 set the couple on a mission through Europe, with architect John Allen Boyle, to procure equal parts inspiration and fittings. The second rendition redefined grand, set upon a solid bedrock of Texas limestone with a nine-foot-deep basement housing the silver vault. The stucco exterior was painted in what’s become a trademark rusty pink. But it was the interior that induced awe. The marbled cantilevered stairway, an engineering feat in its day, and the dining room’s circa 1500s Rosa Verona marble columns procured from the Palace of the Villa Madama near Rome are the stuff of marvel. But it’s Mrs. King’s being a member of the descendancy of King Edward III that secured the masterpiece – a stained-glass window bearing the coats of arms of the British barons who witnessed the signing of the 1215 Magna Carta at Runnymede, which is displayed in the library.
Yesterday, I revisited the scene of the bureaucratic crime of my lifetime -- the Mansion on Turtle Creek’s renowned restaurant, where, in 2010, Richard W. Fisher charmed me into ‘four more years’ of advising him as he finished out his last year as a voter on the Federal Open Market Committee. Yesterday’s lunch with an old friend was a rare treat in the middle of a trading day, an indulgence not often taken since I started at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in 1996 many moons ago. While the catch-up was more personal than professional, the discussion did touch on the life I’ve found here and there. “Will Powell cut rates this year? Is it really a possibility that he hikes?”
On days such as yesterday, with economic dockets that redefine contradiction, the answer was: “It’s hard to say.” The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s manufacturing survey commands more stature than any other. First released in May 1968, it’s all about the history that follows the contours of more business cycles than any other of the Fed’s twelve Districts. For the curious historians out there, the Richmond Fed’s is the second oldest, originating as it did in 1986.