A Unique Opportunity

Speaking of this Martin Battersby photo of various Syrie Maugham-designed pieces, F.P. Victoria & Son is currently having a floor model sale, which includes models of pieces that were originally made by Frederick Victoria for Maugham and Elsie de Wolfe.  Models include the Syrie Maugham Magazine Table, which is a slightly taller variation of the table featured in the Battersby photo, and the De Wolfe Muffin Table, a satin nickel and parchment occasional table that would work well underneath a chilled Martini.  The sale also features a few models that don't carry the Maugham or de Wolfe moniker, but which are equally as chic.

The sale only runs until the end of this month, so visit Victoria & Son's website ASAP to claim your piece of design history.  For more information, please visit their website  or contact Freddy or Tony Victoria at (718) 392-9651.

Syrie Maugham Magazine Table.  The table, which was based on a English Regency piece, was adapted by Frederick Victoria for Syrie Maugham.

Syrie Maugham Coffee Table, whose design was originally developed by F.P. Victoria for the designer during the 1940s.

De Wolfe Muffin Table.  According to Freddy Victoria, de Wolfe saw the prototype of this table, which was brass with red leather tops, when she visited Frederick Victoria's showroom.  De Wolfe was desperate to buy the table, but Victoria would not sell it to her.  Later, she sent Victoria a letter asking for the table and included a sketch of where she intended to use it.  Victoria eventually made her a copy of the table.

Polished Nickel Cole Porter Table. Freddy's father, Tony, adapted this table from the firm's famous étagère design for Billy Baldwin.

Double Wedding

When I'm getting dressed in the mornings, it's not CNN nor the morning talk shows that I watch on TV. (Does anyone else get annoyed with those CNN anchors who constantly interrupt and talk over the person being interviewed?  And why do commercials have to be so LOUD?)   Instead, I like to have Turner Classics going in the background, because the channel often airs 1930s-era movies early in the morning.  Just last week, TCM showed Double Wedding, a 1937 screwball comedy starring Myrna Loy and William Powell.

The movie was cute enough, but it was the Cedric Gibbons-designed sets that caught my eye, especially the house of Loy's fashion designer character, Margit.  (See below.)  I decided to rent the movie so that I could pay attention to both the sets and the dialogue.  Here are a few of my favorite scenes from the film:

After passing through Margit's front door with its louvered fan and side lights, one entered the entry hall...

...which had that wonderful staccato black and white floor. The stairs had quite a loopy banister, which resembled a garden border fence.

Blanc de chine objects and glossy satin upholstery, seen here in the living room, were of course the rage on 1930s-era film sets.

In the dining room, there were dramatically-scaled panels with broken pediments, which framed the doorway.  Throughout the movie, the mirror-clad dining table was set with those high-style crystal trees and centerpiece...

...which makes sense considering that even the breakfast grapefruit was served rather formally.

Margit was a little uptight and liked order in her household- order that was partially maintained by these typed breakfast menus.

Framing the sliding glass doors, which led to a terrace beyond, were curtains with a pennant-edge...

...whose jagged edges were mimicked by the border fence.  And don't you like the curlicue furniture?

The four photos above show Margit's fashion studio, which was quite glamorous with its white-lacquered furniture, horse statue-capped borne, garland-print wallpaper, and those magnificent Greek-Key motif doors.

The bonus shots show a minor character's apartment, which I might like even more than Margit's house.  I'm crazy for the living room's plaster swag and tail, which framed the Marie Antoinette-ish bust.  But the poor woman's bedspread??  I'm not so crazy about that.  It reminds me of Austrian shades.

Veere Grenney's Folly

Designer Veere Grenney's Palladian temple folly has garnered a great deal of print and online coverage, and with good reason. Simply put, it's splendid. Built in 1760 and once inhabited by David Hicks, the folly is modestly-sized: one room deep and made up of two floors. The bottom floor consists of a kitchen and bedroom, but head upstairs to the second floor and one will find a spacious drawing room that belies the folly's compact size. As Grenney once said, "I live in a cottage and a palace at the same time. Downstairs is like a cottage-my bedroom lies off the kitchen- and upstairs is like a palace."

The most recently published version of Grenney's folly shows a drawing room that is decorated in soft putty-tones and solid fabrics. But in the version that you see here, and which was published in the January 1998 issue of British House & Garden, the drawing room's walls were painted candy pink. The choice of wall color was a bold one, especially considering that candy pink can go all bubble-gum and sweet sixteen quickly. And yet, in Grenney's deft hands, this shade of pink flatters the room, making it a sophisticated yet colorful companion to the room's impressive (and somewhat mannish) interior architecture. Grenney also struck a balance between those pretty, ornate balloon shades (which are still present in the room today) and the furnishings, which were comprised of modern pieces and elegant antiques.

If you want to compare the two versions, click here to see the temple's current incarnation on Veere Grenney's website.


Image at top: The folly's setting is equally as captivating.  Flanked by two hedges (which were planted by Hicks upon the recommendation of John Fowler,) the temple looks out upon a canal and parkland.

The three images above show the stately drawing room and the view from within.

The kitchen table and chairs were covered in a check-print fabric by Colefax & Fowler.

The guest-house bedroom.


All photos from British House & Garden, January 1998, Jeremy Young photographer.

ADAC in Bloom

I hope that you'll join me next Wednesday, July 16 for ADAC in Bloom, which is hosted by flower magazine and ADAC.  The day-long event will begin with a panel discussion that I will moderate; joining me will be special guests Alexa Hampton, Ben Page, and Matthew Robbins.  Throughout the day, each guest will give individual presentations, which will be followed by book signings.  I will be signing copies of my book, In with the Old, alongside Alexa Hampton following her presentation.

ADAC in Bloom is always a highlight of the Atlanta summer season, and this year's event will be no exception.  For more information, please visit flower's website; to register for the event, please visit adacatlanta.com/events.

Virginia Robinson Gardens

When I was visiting Los Angeles last March, I had the opportunity to tour the beautiful Virginia Robinson Gardens.  Built in 1911 and commissioned by Harry and Virginia Robinson (of Robinson department stores,) the gardens and house are considered to be the first luxury estate built in Beverly Hills, thus earning the Gardens a place on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Robinsons' house, whose decor has been left intact since Virginia Robinson died in 1977, is like taking a step back in time.  Mrs. Robinson, who was widowed in 1932, was considered to be one of Los Angeles's leading hostesses and philanthropists- dual roles that required her to entertain frequently in her elegant yet comfortable home.  The house has "good flow", as we say today, which must have made the house an ideal location for parties.  And yet, the house isn't a behemoth like so many of the estates being built today.  How refreshing.

But it is the estate's gardens that are truly unforgettable.  Some are formal, while others, such as the Palm Forest, are downright exotic and tropical.  When touring the gardens, it is hard to believe that you are in the middle of bustling Beverly Hills.  The estate is like a quiet, elegant refuge from the glitz and glamour of close-by Rodeo Drive.

The estate is open Tuesday through Friday for docent-led tours, but please keep in mind that you must make a reservation ahead of time in order to participate in the tours.  For more information, please visit the estate's website.

The Door to Gracious Living

I recently bought the 1932 book, The Door to Gracious Living, based solely on its cover.  The book turned out to be a compilation of articles that had been published in the old Delineator magazine.  Some of the articles, especially those written by designer Joseph Platt, were interesting, while others, such as the one about how to deal with children who lie, didn't quite strike my fancy.  No matter, though, because it's the book's cover design that delights me.  The stately door with its fanlight and sidelights and those neatly-clipped potted trees conjure up fantasies of the archetypal dream house with its front door that warmly implies, "Welcome Home".

Dorothy Draper was a firm believer that the front door said much about the home behind it and was an opportunity to make a good first impression.  In Entertaining is Fun!, Draper wrote, "Your home's welcome begins right at the front door."  In the book's photo, below, you'll see that Draper advocated showy architecture, a glossy painted door, a laurel wreath, a big, brass knocker, potted plants, and a friendly-looking Dalmatian.  I'm with Draper.  A front door should have a good paint job, some kind of tailored potted plants or trees, and rich-looking hardware.  Of course, a dog is a must-have, too.

I found a few other photos of front doors that captured the essence of gracious living.  Wouldn't you like to be welcomed by such snazzy front doors?

Front doors were important to Dorothy Draper, as evidenced by both the photo and the illustration that appeared in Entertaining is Fun!

The façade of the Pavillon de la Reine in Paris.

Not a door to a home, but rather, to a hotel: the Saint Vincent in Paris.

The door to Alex Hitz's Beverly Hills home (photo courtesy of House Beautiful)

This front door appeared on the cover of Sybil Connolly's In an Irish House.

Much like the rest of Furlow Gatewood's houses, the front door of his pigeon house is a study in unstudied elegance.


Draper photos from Entertaining is Fun!; Paris hotel photos from Parisian Hideaways; Irish front door from In an Irish House by Sybil Connolly; Furlow Gatewood's pigeon house from One Man's Folly: The Exceptional Houses of Furlow Gatewood.

Paris Match

I must have read Christiane de Nicolay-Mazery's The Finest Houses in Paris dozens of time, and yet, I failed to make the connection that the Paris house that I featured on my blog last Monday, and which first appeared in the October 1999 issue of House & Garden, is also featured in the de Nicolay-Mazery book.

As you may recall, the house in question was once a garage that had been beautifully transformed into an elegant hôtel particulier. The House & Garden article captured the home's interiors bathed in sunny light, which helped to spotlight the interior's Neoclassical details. But in the de Nicolay-Mazery book, it is the home's Russian flourishes that are profiled, with the author noting that, "in the main salon, a visitor is transported deep into Russia." (The chapter's title is even Russian-inflected: "The Spirit of Saint Petersburg".) I must admit that when I wrote last week's blog post about the house, I didn't detect a Russian feel to the house. However, after looking at this book's photos with their dreamy and rather brooding light, I guess that the house does conjure up Russian fantasies...well, somewhat.

I still believe that the house has a much stronger Neoclassical style to it than a Slavic one, although I do think that the intricately-stained wooden floors and the sumptuous fabrics could pass for Russian.  It doesn't really matter, because the house looks splendid in both publications.  It's just interesting to see the house through the lens of a different photographer.

*If you're looking for a beautiful book about Paris interiors, I highly recommend The Finest Houses in Paris. It is truly one of my favorite books.  It is out of print, but copies are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

All photos from The Finest Houses in Paris by Christiane de Nicolay-Mazery, Jean-Bernard Naudin photographer.