Whalehead Club

The Historic Whalehead Club is a large 21,000-square-foot (2,000 m2) home located on a remote tract facing the Currituck Sound in North Carolina, United States.

[1] The structure was designed by owners Edward Collings Jr. and Marie Louise Label Knight and contracted by Daniel Peckham between 1922 and 1925.

Alongside, Corolla village provided a postal service, general store, as well as a Baptist church, and local school.

Though frequented guests avidly hunted waterfowl, Corolla Island served not as a club but a comfortable retreat for a hospitable couple and their many friends.

[1] Among the many items the Knights brought over, the more luxurious furnishings were the custom-made Tiffany lamping in a water-lily design, as well as Louis Majorelle furniture.

In 1959, '60 and '61, the home and adjoining acreage were used by Corolla Academy as a private boys' summer school, offering credit and remedial courses for Grades 7 through 12.

[1] Corolla Island's exterior and interior feature Art Nouveau details; however, its shallow elongated shape recalls the arts-and-crafts-inspired cottages of the luxurious 1920s Philadelphia suburbs.

The house's distinctive curving roofs and gables recall back to early rural buildings of Mrs. Knight's childhood home of Kamouraska, Quebec, Canada.

Framed with Art Nouveau inspired pocket doors, the room holds one of a kind Tiffany globe lighting made in the style of water lilies, a flower thought to be one of Mrs. Knight's favorites.

[2] Corolla Island's kitchen contains a dual fueled gas and coal/wood cook stove, a pair of electric refrigerators powered by motors located in the basement, worktables, two sinks as well as a vast amount of equipment.

Based on auction records it is assumed that the Knights used simple sturdy Mission styled furniture for the remaining of the dining room pieces.

While comfortable, the space shows features of a working office equipped with a handsome desk, a cast iron Rococo-inspired safe, chair(s), as well as small drawings done by Edward Knight.

Connected is a private bathroom with a sink, mirror, toilet, bidet and claw-foot tub with separate faucets for fresh and salt water.

Furnishings include Colonial revival interpretations of furniture, a high-post bed with pineapple finials, nightstand, as well as old-fashioned sconces.

Decoration included blue tile laid in the area holding the gas stove, as well as Tiffany glass light fixtures with iridescent wave accents.

The space also housed bins capable of storing 125 tons of coal for a hot water heater as well as a furnace, radiating heat as high as the second floor.