Simply the best...

 

I need it.

 

Read more about Lee B. Anderson and his AMAZING collection of Gothic Revival furniture and decorative arts here...

 

His renowned collection is up for sale this weekend... I need to be on a plane to New Orleans stat.

I've been awful...

and I feel terrible about it. Things have just been so busy, but I've got a back-log of things I want to share and discuss, so to start tipping the scales in the right direction I thought I'd share this week's blog post from Thomas Jayne's Blog Decoration- Ancient & Modern

This week's post is about the Merchant's House Museum in the East Village. I visited this museum right before I moved to New York and fell in love with it...

I mean, Duncan Phyfe chairs covered in horse hair?

And a Chippendale mirror flanked by callalily gas sconces?

Come on.

Read more about this fascinating and beautiful property here.



Who said subways can't be glamorous?

I stumbled upon these fantastic 1970s gold and bronze glazed tiles in the 34th Street subway station. I hope when this subway is renovated in the next 20 years and these are removed I'll be in position to acquire them for whatever amazing property I'm inhabiting.

Herter Brothers for the Vanderbilts

The auction house where I grew up offered these chairs for sale this morning. A pair of Herter Brothers chairs designed for the drawing room of the Vanderbilt Mansion on 5th Avenue, circa 1883-84. The upholstery is original and is described in accounts and period images of the house. 

Their provenance is as follows:

Provenance: William H. Vanderbilt, New York, 1881 

Cornelius Vanderbilt III, New York, 1885 

Private collection of a lady El Paso, Texas 

Bequeathed to the Centennial Museum at her death in 1969. 

Property deaccessioned from the Centennial Museum at the University of Texas at El Paso to benefit the Museum Collections Fund. (Accession #E69.26.347 and E69.26.348) 

The estimate, shockingly low in my opinion, was 10,000 - 20,000

The pair sold for 250,000. I really hope someone purchased these for the Metropolitan Museum of Art to ensure their conservation.

Also included in the sale were a pair of Herter Brothers ballroom chairs. Their provenance does not tie them back to the Vanderbilt Mansion, but they were purchased by the same woman who bought the above chairs and donated all of them to the museum in El Paso. 

They were estimated to sell for 2,000 - 3,000

Again, incredibly inexpensive for what these are...

They sold for 60,000.

An update...

Click here to read my guest blog post on Jayne Design Studio's blog Decoration - Ancient & Modern. 

While on a run...

I know I've been negligent with Sybaritic, but I thought I would show everyone one of my favorite places to visit while on my evening runs, Elsie de Wolfe's Irving Place home. I just assumed this building had been demolished, but when I rounded the corner and saw the distinctive Victorian awning and balcony on the front of the home, I recognized it immediately. The image above shows the house circa 1900.

Her home, circa 1905. Note the demolition of the townhouses to the left of her home and the removal of the decorative balustrade on top of the cornice. 

The interior following de Wolfe's redecoration removing much of the original Victorian decoration.

The house today...

Tragically the basement of the house is home to a Japanese restaurant and the rest of the building has been divided into apartments. I'm not sure I'd like to live in this area, but it would be amazing to be able to live in a space that was once home to one of the 20th century's most influential interior decorators.

The Metro Show

Wednesday evening I was lucky enough to attend the opening of the Metro Show at the Metropolitan Pavilion. The show was heavily folk art (not my favorite), but with some other pieces thrown in for diversity. Here are my some of my favorite objects from the show...

This iron snake was by far my favorite piece... it's coloration, scale (it was probably 3 feet long), and sense of movement all added to its appeal. I would be more than willing to let him move in with me...

I loved the colors of this vintage painting entitled "Les Competiteurs" by Leonard Nelson...

And finally these...

A set of 12 19th century watercolors of masks from China's Peking Opera... I'm not necessarily one for Asian art, but these are amazing. 

Look forward to a post on the Winter Antiques Show later in the week!

Early this morning...

I was at the Chelsea Flower Market... it's a place I've been often since I've been in New York. It's amazing what you can find in some of these stores... any type of Chinese glittered butterfly, to the most interesting exotic plants (we bought sprouted coconuts this morning for a project), to just generally attractive flowers... although I hate waking up early, at least I was looking at something beautiful. 

Something I saw...

... and loved.

A familiar face...

 

New York has been amazing so far... I've been so lucky to do so many amazing things. Amongst those was attending the opening night party for the Duncan Phyfe show at the Met. While stumbling mesmerized around the exhibit, I rounded a corner and made eye contact with the above gentleman, John Laurence Manning. I quickly realized that I knew him from his South Carolina plantation, Milford, now owned by Dick Jenrette. A number of Duncan Phyfe pieces original to Milford were included in the show as part of illustrating Phyfe's later exploration of Gothic and French restoration motifs.

I loved everything, specifically Phyfe's pieces from the 1820s and 30s... here are some of my favorites

 

A sampling of Phyfe consoles... it's hard to choose a favorite, but those ebonized and gilt griffins are particularly amazing.

 

A deconstructed example illustating how Phyfe used bolts from beds to attach the legs of the console. I really enjoyed the simplicity and honesty of this piece... and the antique mirror was pretty great too.

 

This table takes it... original finish, a stained marble top... what more could a boy ask for? When the exhibition is over this piece can definitely find refuge in my apartment. 

Endymion and I have a lot in common.

 

I've been doing a lot of sleeping lately. 

New York is keeping me extremely busy and with little time or energy to post. But don't fret! I'll be back very soon with some images of my new finds as I begin decorating my first New York apartment!

Endymion, Nicolas Guy Brenet, 1756

Just a little hint...

as to what I've been doing.

Click here, and read this article and see my name mentioned!

Something I saw

While running errands a week ago I stumbled upon Maison Gerard and this amazing pedestal by Marc Bankowsky in their window...

I then checked 1stDibs to see what the pedestal was selling for... instead of a price I found a "price upon request" which is obviously never a good sign. However, I did find a matching screen...

 

 

 

These pieces are like Serge Roche meets draped Victorian funerary monuments...

 

 

 

Two of my favorite things, so it's only natural I would love these as well.

It appears that Maison Gerard is the only outlet to purchase Bankowsky's work from unless you're requesting a custom commission. These draped pieces are my favorite, but they're also just the tip of the iceberg.

You can visit his website here. 

 

Something I enjoy looking at...

 

This vestige of the interior design business from another era always brings a smile to my face when I walk by it on 2nd Avenue near 59th Street. That graphically painted sign always reassures me that I'm in the right place doing the right things.

To Die For

 

A cast iron urn with serpent handles? 

Yes and yes.

Available at McKinnon and Harris, NYC

Something I saw

After a Sunday of shopping, I headed back to my friend's place where I'm temporarily staying and passed by this amazing Art Deco eglomise panel...

 

 

I don't know that beautiful is the right word, but these panels are definitely amazing in their severity. This building stands at 570 Lexington Avenue and was designed by Cross & Cross and built between 1929-1931. It was built for RCA but later deeded to General Electric before the building was even finished. 

I will definitely want to borrow this motif later on... especially the intertwined lightening bolts.

Today I saw the world for the very first time

The adventure has begun.

I would live here: LaGrange Terrace

While searching for the Merchant House Museum, I came across my new favorite building in Manhattan. I'm certain I'm destined to live here at some point in my life...

These townhouses known as LaGrange Terrace, of which only four of the original nine remain, were begun in 1831 and finished in 1833. Each house contained 26 rooms, marble mantles, indoor heating, and a bathing room. Such luxuries attracted the likes of the Astors and Vanderbilts.

LaGrange Terrace as it would have originally appeared in the 1830s...

 

and in the 1850s... 

and in the late 19th century...

note the penthouse addition to the far right unit

 

A neo-Venetian Gothic home that stood to the left of LaGrange Terrace...  collection of the New York Public Library

Five of these homes became The Colonnade Hotel in 1875. They survived until the turn of the century when the hotel was demolished...

A detail of the front door surround during the demolition process (note the the empty lot at left). These fantastic marble porches with cast iron street lights were removed during the early part of the century to enlarge the sidewalks. 

 

Another view during the demolition process. Note the original iron railings which have since been removed and replaced with a more generic version. 

 

A view of the surviving units while the Wanamaker's warehouse was being constructed at left... collection of the New York Public Library

 

Another view contemporary with the one above... collection of the New York Public Library

 

The columns from the demolished houses were purchased by Luther Kountze at the turn of the century and were moved to his estate in Morristown, New Jersey where they remain today.

 Elevation and architectural details completed by HABS...

Interior architectural details completed by HABS...

View the rest of these drawings here.

This post derives almost all of its historical information from a fantastic write up I found on the blog Daytonian in Manhattan that was published back in April of 2010. He delves into this topic much more deeply with all sorts of wonderful details. View this original post here.

Another great article on this group of buildings can be found here.