Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the House & Home myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Heiress and business magnate Marjorie Merriweather Post was a consummate hostess. At her luxe Hillwood Estate in Washington, DC, the privacy of her guests was primordial: each bedroom was equipped with an ornate silver door sign reading “Do not disturb — resting”.Visitors are encouraged to imagine themselves as Post’s guests, inspired by table settings of Sèvres porcelain and fresh flower arrangements from the estate’s garden. “She wanted the place to be alive, to maintain how it was during her lifetime,” explains curator Wilfried Zeisler.Post’s emphasis on the house as a living collection scuppered a proposed plan for the Smithsonian Institution to take it over. Instead, the neo-Georgian house opened in 1977 as a tribute to Post’s taste, filled to the brim with her collection of French rococo and Russian imperial decorative arts, and surrounded by 25 acres of land, laced with colourful, meandering gardens.In 1914, aged 27, Post inherited her father Charles William Post’s cereal empire, which began with a cereal beverage called Postum and was followed by Grape-Nuts. She was soon pioneering frozen and prepared foods with the purchase of Birds Eye, turning the company into the General Foods Corporation, which later merged with Kraft. Post’s development of industrial foods helped to transform popular eating habits over the 20th century.It could seem ironic that selling frozen meals enabled Post’s luxurious style, but she proudly served them to guests on her historic china collection. “She was known for serving very traditional American food, good ‘meat and potatoes’ and so on, and also her own products, such as Jell-O for dessert and Postum instead of coffee at the end of the meal,” Zeisler says.Post used her wealth for entertaining, philanthropy and collecting. In the 1920s, the British art dealer Joseph Duveen introduced Post to French decorative arts, including porcelain and furniture. In the 1930s, Post’s husband Joseph Davies (the third of four) served as ambassador to the Soviet Union. There, she developed an interest in the seized Russian imperial art being sold by the government. The collection features porcelain, icons, liturgical and royal objects — including two Fabergé eggs. But she was also fond of familiar comforts: for her move to the Soviet Union, she brought 2,000 pints of cream, two tonnes of frozen foods and the refrigeration required to house them.Post purchased Hillwood in 1955 after divorcing Davies. It became her collection showcase and social centre of gravity. Her winter home in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, is now owned by Donald Trump. Post had willed Mar-a-Lago to the government as a presidential retreat, but it was turned down due to its costly upkeepHillwood is “often described as the hidden gem of Washington, DC but I think the gem has been discovered and found”, Zeisler says, noting that they receive more than 100,000 annual visitors. Its copious collection of jewelled bibelots certainly sparkles. But it is also rich in photographs and portraits of family, friends and potentates — crammed on the walls of Post’s dressing room, salon, massage room and “snooze room”. With three daughters, each of whom married at least three times, there are many bridal photographs — though, oddly, none includes the groom. The overall feel is of a lavish version of a grandparent’s house stuffed with memories and knick-knacks.In Post’s 1973 New York Times obituary, Queen Maud of Norway was quoted as saying to Post, “Why, you live like a queen, don’t you?” Post collected from monarchist France and Russia, two extravagant regimes, to create her own sense of American majesty. Each fell, just as Post’s day passed, but their gorgeous and gaudy excesses are now offered for subsequent generations to contemplate.hillwoodmuseum.orgFind out about our latest stories first — follow @ft_houseandhome on Instagram
