Restoration Hardware, the furnishings retailer that sells antique iron calipers and German carnival noses, already boasts a wide range of oddities and torture-chamber-chic decor, but with its latest store, a 40,000-square-foot behemoth in Boston's former New England Museum of Natural History, the brand will blow the door of unusual offerings wide open. Despite all the fanfare and hubbub of its grand opening party, which was so popular it, much like the college ragers of yore, got shut down by police, the store has yet to open to the public. While the brand is still working out the precise opening date for RH Boston, The Gallery at the Historic Museum of Natural History, it has been made exceedingly clear that, when it does, shoppers will have access to a veritable cornucopia of bonkers features, architectural details, and decorative flourishes, not to mention a fancy-pants elevator and iron and brass fixtures everywhere. Don't believe it? Here now, 14 crazy things that might otherwise be considered unthinkable for a furniture store:
14. A fresh floral boutique, because daffodils would look divine with a metal bullshead.
13. A wine bar featuring bottles from Napa Valley.
12. An indoor conservatory (above) with "trickling fountains," "reproduction heritage olive trees" and "a 24-foot illuminated steel Eiffel Tower," all per the release.
11. A 100-year-old beer bar salvaged from a local Boston pub. Obviously.
10. A sculpture garden, which would be an awesome home for industrial objects such as hat molds, giant wooden chain links, and/or fishing weights.
9. An open-for-play billiard room (above) with a refurbished vintage Brunswick table.
8. A "Music Room" designed as "a tribute to the days of vinyl, rock 'n' roll, and Motown."
7. A cinema with "an antique popcorn machine from the 1930s from the World's Fair."
6. An library featuring design magazines and newspapers from around the globe.
5. More than 150 chandeliers.
4. A pavilion of glass and steel designed by architect James Gillam of Backen, Gillam, and Kroeger Architects.
3. Adding to the ever-growing list of things inspired by Versailles: an "18-foot antiqued mirrored archways reflecting 12 sparkling crystal chandeliers reminiscent of the Palace of Versailles."
2. Exterior lighting by Ross De Alessi, who has illuminated historic monuments such as the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.
1. The pièce de résistance: a recreation of an 1892 traction-and-counterweight elevator (above), inspired by the model in L.A.'s Bradbury Building. It's a showstopper, to be sure. It's also literally stopping the show—elevator issues are part of what's stalled the store's opening.
BONUS ROUND: The brand will eventually open an adjoining restaurant.
· All Restoration Hardware coverage [Curbed National]
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