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‘Gotham’s’ Wayne Manor is a study in grand English style

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With its moody lighting, burnished wood paneled walls and cache of somber antiques, it’s hardly the kind of room where a young boy would spend most of his time. However, there’s nothing ordinary about the space or the boy: it’s the Wayne Manor study and the lad is Bruce Wayne, the traumatized orphan who will metamorphose into Batman in a few decades.

“Gotham,” the Fox hit that explores the years before the Caped Crusader put on his tights, boasts some of TV’s most dazzling sets, none more so than Wayne Manor’s stately study. Built on a sound stage in Brooklyn, the ample room features several seating areas filled with gently worn leather chesterfield sofas and chairs, a library with a large desk and more seating, and an impressive fireplace that seemingly roars both day and night.

“It’s grand English manor style,” says set decorator Andrew Baseman (“The Normal Heart,” “Smash”), who scoured antiques stores, junk shops and flea markets in the New York tri-state area for just the right faintly Jacobean/Tudor style furnishings. “We wanted to convey wealth and confidence and grandeur. But there are warm touches too — things that reference Bruce’s mother, like the arrangement of hydrangeas on one of the sideboards. [Butler] Alfred would make sure those are always there because those were her favorite flowers.”

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The set’s authenticity extends to high ceilings (rarely seen on TV at all); the fireplace, which boasts real flames (some TV sets will CGI them in later); and huge bookcases filled with actual books. “We used a lot of leather-bound books and sets of books, which read better on-screen,” says Baseman, who also scattered several oil paintings throughout the space. “Most of the artwork shows battle and soldiers, which reflects the history of the young Wayne family — it says their ancestors were fighters.”

Some of the room’s more covetable pieces include a Roman helmet lamp (“These were popular as novelty items in men’s offices and clubs in the ‘20s,” says Baseman, who found it at an antiques shop in New Jersey); pillows made from old needlepoint fabrics (bought at John Koch Antiques in Manhattan, where several chairs were also purchased); and a curious suit of armor, sourced online. “We bought it on Craigslist!” says Baseman with a laugh. “It’s a reproduction, probably from the ‘60s and definitely from some guy’s man cave.”

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