Dudley House Living Rooms
The house has two customary living rooms, or parlors, like most of the houses in the area during the late nineteenth century. The two rooms could be seperated by a set of pocket double doors made of glass.
The front parlor, located to the right of the hallway, has a wide entrance with spindle lattice work. This was where the Dudleys entertained. Dr. and Mrs. Dudley also encouraged Eastern Illinois University faculty and staff to enjoy their house as a meeting place for a literary club . It has a stained glass window. The Northeast corner of the front room used to house a piano on which Mrs. Esther Dudley, their oldest daughter, used to play. There were displayed Lincoln pictures. Mrs. Dudley was interested in "Lincolnalia." She collected a lot of pictures about Lincoln.
The back parlor is the family room. It has a fireplace with inlaid tiles and bronze hood. Dr. Dudley always took the ashes out in his long underwear, trousers, and shoes, but no shirt! The Egyptian motif rugs were the Dudleys'. It was made in the 1920's in Philadelphia during the Egyptian craze after the discovery of the tomb of Pharoah Tutankamun.
