Best Wishes for Happy Holidays 2016

Christmas card by John J. Tackett
for The Devoted Classicist blog.


The Devoted Classist has been happily occupied by a large John Tackett Design architectural project and has not found the time to post here as often as he would like.  But there are still many topics in the cobwebs that will be realized here in the future.  In the meantime, you can also follow @thedevotedclassicist on Instagram.  Many thanks, Devoted Readers, for your loyal following, and best wishes for the holidays.

The Travellers: Billy Baldwin's Finials for the Lawrences

The apartment of Harding and Mary Wells Lawrence
decorated by Billy Baldwin.

1970s interior design is more influential in today's work that many of you readers of The Devoted Classicist might realize.  The concept of a mix of antiques with sleek custom furniture, contemporary art, geometric carpets, and architectural artifacts is universally championed today as the Latest Big Thing in interior design.  The formula, however, is a classic that was perfected over forty years ago by legendary decorator Billy Baldwin.

Mary Wells and Harding Lawrence were terrific clients of Baldwin.  Mary Wells was an advertising genius who was introduced some of the most memorable ad campaigns of the twentieth century and her husband was the CEO of Braniff Airlines which experienced phenomenal expansion with a chic make-over in the late 1970s.  Between the two of them, both workaholics who combined business with pleasure in entertaining their contacts, they associated with the elite movers and shakers of the day.  Billy Baldwin decorated beautiful homes for them.  Their Dallas mansion was a landmark and their Riviera villa was among the most stylish ever.  (See The Devoted Classicist's series of posts on the villa, La Fiorentina).

A room in their large New York City apartment is shown in the lead image, and like the other residences, it has provided design inspiration to this day.  A bold striped dhurrie provides a base for arrangements of comfortable upholstered seating and a scattering of Warren Platner side tables.  Contemporary paintings and a Moroccan mirror over a mirrored interpretation of a Louis Seize chimneypiece blend with masterfully with Baldwin's expertise.  But perhaps the most memorable element in this room -- to my eye anyway -- was a pair of intricately detailed architectural finials on simple, white hexagonal stands.

It was a delightful surprise to see these finials, with their stands, show up again.  They again flank a fireplace and provide the primary architectural detailing in a room decorated by Charleston designer Amelia Handegan.  This undeniably fresh and up-to-date room appears on the dust jacket of the new book AMELIA HANDEGAN ROOMS.   The book will be released October 16, 2016, but can be ordered now at a discount by clicking on the title.

Remember that an appreciation of the iconic rooms of the past can be a valuable lesson in architecture and interior design today.  Search this blog to see other examples in The Travellers series.

Arabella Worsham's Gilded Age Dressing Room

A detail of the vanity cabinet door
by George Alfred Schastey
for Arabella Worsham's Dressing Room.
Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Devoted Classicist is a long-time fan of museum period rooms.  For a time, these installations had fallen out of favor due to their cost and space required for a successful display.  But it is heartening to a Traditionalist to see a major institution step forward with a new installation with artifacts that have languished in storage for years:  The Worsham-Rockefeller Dressing Room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.


A model of the Worsham residence
4 West 54th Street, New York City.
Photo by John J. Tackett for
The Devoted Classicist blog.

Commissioned by Arabella Worsham (later Huntington) as part of a comprehensive interior renovation of an existing brownstone townhouse, the room is a rare surviving Gilded Age commission from now-little known cabinetmaker/decorator George A. Shastey in 1881.  The room comes from Worsham's house at 4 West 54th Street, a property that also included the two flanking lots; the site is now the garden of the Museum of Modern Art.


Alexandre Cabanel's 1882 portrait of
Arabella Worsham, collection of
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Photo by John J. Tackett for
The Devoted Classicist.

Arabella "Belle" Worsham's background is a bit sketchy and possibly 'sanitized' to say the least.  Born Arabella Duvall Yarrington in Union Springs, Alabama, around 1850, she grew up in Richmond, Virginia, a tough but bustling town during the Civil War years.  Her widowed mother owned a boarding house and Arabella was said to have married John Archer Worsham when she was 18 or 19 and soon widowed before having a son.  But married or not, J.A.Worsham was already married and very much alive, owning a gambling card parlor in Richmond frequented by Collis B. Huntington leading up to his 1869 purchase of the eastern leg of his railroad empire which stretched coast to coast.  Although not a drinker or smoker, Huntington loved to gamble and he had an eye for young women although he was married with a wife living on Park Avenue at 38th Street, New York.  Soon Arabella, her son, several siblings and her mother were installed in Manhattan where they bought several properties financed by Huntington but always in Arabella's name, leading up to the purchase of this house.


The Worsham-Rockefeller Dressing Room.
Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Arabella had the house gutted to the exterior shell and set about having luxurious interiors installed in the latest taste, with expense not being an issue.  The house was one of the first private residences to have a passenger elevator, just one of many innovations for the time.


The Worsham-Rockefeller Dressing Room.
Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Dressing Room is a high-style example of Aestheticism, a combination of European Renaissance, Islamic, Japanese and Modern styles mixed to create a luxurious private environment for the lady of the house. Satinwood and amaranth (or dark purpleheart) are used to create intricate marquetry in geometric patterns and motifs such as sewing implements and hairdressing tools as well as jewelry plus carved detailing with cherub heads, swags and garlands.


The Worsham-Rockefeller Dressing Room.
Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A wide, marble-topped lavatory is placed beneath a massive mirror and a secondary gaslight fixture.  The upper walls are covered in teal wallpaper stenciled in gold and silver quatrefoils that shimmer in the subtle lighting.


Built-in fittings in the Worsham-Rockefeller
Dressing Room as installed at
The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Photo by John J. Tackett for
The Devoted Classicist.

No detail was left without consideration.  Even the ceiling had elaborately planned decoration.  The silver toiletry set includes combs, hand mirrors, scissors, a needle case and a darning egg.  All the elements add up to create a single Gesamtkunstwerk, a total work of art.


The ceiling of the Worsham-Rockefeller Dressing Room
as installed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Photo by John J. Tackett for The Devoted Classicist.

Huntington's wife Elizabeth died in 1889 after a long bout with cancer, allowing Huntington to marry Belle and adopt her son Archer; the ceremony was performed in the home with Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, officiating.  They moved into Huntington's Park Avenue house (and then building a house in 1893 at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street on the site now occupied by Tiffany & Company) and the house was sold fully furnished to John D. and Laura Spelman Rockefeller.  The furnishings and decorations were kept intact until his death in 1937 when parts were distributed to museums before being demolished in 1938.  A Moorish-style Smoking Room was given to the Brooklyn Museum and this Dressing Room and adjacent (Master) Bedroom were given to the Museum of the City of New York.  After it became clear that the latter could no longer display the rooms, the bedroom was given to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and this dressing room was given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Anabella Worsham's toilette set
as displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Photo by John J. Tackett for The Devoted Classicist.

After Collis Huntington's death, Belle inherited one-third of his estate, $150 million (about $3.1 billion today) making her one of the wealthiest women in the country.  Never really part of New York Society, she bought a 14 bedroom house in Paris that underwent a complete renovation and became even more interesting in collecting art.  Thirteen years later, she married her late husband's nephew, Henry E. Huntington, who had built a lavish estate in San Marino, California, some say to woo her.  But she did not care for the area and never spent more than a month there for the rest of her life.  That estate is now the Huntington Library, Art Collection and Botanical Gardens.  Arabella Worsham Huntington is buried in the San Marino garden in a classical mausoleum designed by architect John Russell Pope.

Susan Gutfreund Lists Apartment for $120 Million

Susan Gutfreund at the doors to her
Winter Garden room at 834 Fifth Avenue.
Photo: Veranda

Considered by many to be Manhattan's most luxurious co-op apartment, Susan Gutfreund's duplex at 834 Fifth Avenue has hit the market with a listing price of $120 million.

The Entrance Hall of the Gutfreund apartment
at 834 Fifth Avenue.
Photo: NYSD.

The widow of John Gutfreund, dubbed "The King of Wall Street" and former CEO of Saloman Brothers investment bank until a trading scandal forced his resignation in 1991, is apparently looking to down-size after her husband's death last month.

Floor plans of the Gutfreund apartment
from the Brown Harris Stevens listing, April, 2016.
Image: BHS

The apartment was decorated with the guidance of the legendary designer Henri Samuel whose influence can be seen especially in the Winter Garden, a reception room at the southwest corner of the entrance level.

The room known as the Winter Garden
in the Gutfreund apartment.
Photo: NYSD

The building is one of Manhattan's most prestigious addresses.  Designed by architect Rosario Candela in 1929, it was completed in 1931.

Views of the Winter Garden, Library, Living Room,
and Gallery Entrance Hall in the Gutfreund
apartment at 834 Fifth Avenue.
Image: The Real Deal

There are twenty four apartments on 16 floors with luxurious, well thought out, floor plans.  It is thought that the building's board requires that sales are all cash; no mortgages are allowed.

The Dining Room of the Gutfreund apartment
at 834 Fifth Avenue, NYC.
Photo: NYSD

More photos from the 2008 New York Social Diary post may be seen here.  The listing by Brown Harris Stevens may be viewed here.

 

Notable Homes: Bernard Boutet de Monvel at 11 passage de la Visitation

"Autoportrait Place Vendome" 1932.
Lot 25, Sale PF1639.
Image via Sotheby's.

Those who admire small but chic homes are familiar with La Folie Monvel, the Palm Beach pavilion that was the result of the collaboration of artist Bernard Boutet de Monvel and architect Maurice Fatio.  (If not, see here, and about his Moulin de Launoy here.).  The Florida pavilion was sold in 1949, just months before Boutet de Monvel's death in a plane crash, as the artist wanted to return to his home in Paris after WWII.


The Paris residence of Bernard Boutet de Monvel.
Image via Sotheby's.

The early 19th century hotel particulier in the heart of the Faubourg Saint Germain was bought by Bernard Boutet de Monvel in 1924.  He called on his friend Louis Süe, the artist-architect-decorator co-founder of Compagnie des arts francais, with whom he had participated with on the residence of Jean Patou, to collaborate on the transformation of the interior to reflect Boutet de Monvel's aesthetic, a combination of the neo-classical tradition and the modernity of Art Deco.


The staircase in the Boutet de Monvel residence
at 11 passage de la Visitation, Paris.
Image via Sotheby's.

After  Bernard Boutet de Monvel's death, his wife and daughter continued to live in the house.  Almost no changes were made until just recently; the painter's grandchildren sold the art and furnishings of the mansion at an auction at Sotheby's, Paris, April 5 & 6, 2016.  The catalog with sales results may be seen here.


The Entrance Hall of the Boutet de Monvel residence.
Image via Sotheby's.

In the Entrance Hall, a phonograph cabinet, Lot 71 in the sale, painted by Bernard Boutet de Monvel is an example of his taste in modern classicism.  Above, a Charles X period barometer, Lot 68, is decorated with verre églomisé dates from circa 1830.



A writing table by Jean-Michel Frank.
Image via Sotheby's.

An ebonized writing table with an inset leather top, Lot 75, is branded and numbered by Jean-Michel Frank as "made in France JMFrank, Chanaux and co" 19086,



The Dining Room of the
Boutet de Monvel residence, Paris.
Photo AD France via Sotheby's.

The octagonal dining table, Lot 78, was made for the octagonal dining room to a design by Bernard Boutet de Monvel about 1927.  Two others were made from this same design, one for Mrs. A Steward Walker of Southampton, and one for Mr. William K. Vanderbilt, II.


Bernard de Monvel's drawing of the dining room
"Salle a manger de hotel particulier de l'artiste"
for Harper's Bazaar, 1927.
Image via Sotheby's

The Murano glass chandelier, circa 1920, was grouped with a Venetian wall light as Lot 82.


Dining chairs designed by Boutet de Monvel.
Image via Sotheby's.

The set of 12 dining chairs was designed circa 1920 to 1925 by Boutet de Monvel for his previous residence on Rue Monsieur.  Listed as Lot 77, they are made of ebonized wood with tapestry seat covers in various fruit motifs.  One of the chairs can be seen in an important portrait of the artist's wife, Delfina Boutet de Monvel (from the Edwards family of Chili).


The Grand Salon in the Boutet de Monvel
residence, Paris.
Image via Sotheby's.

With its black lacquer papier maché suite of Napoleon III furniture, the Grand Salon has more of a feel for Parisian middle class comfort than some of the more high style spaces in the house.


A black silk sofa, circa 1920 to 1925.
Image via Sotheby's.

A standout among the furnishings of the Grand Salon is a grand canapé, Lot 93, in black silk believed to have been made by La Compagnie des Arts Francais in the first half of the 1920s for the former residence on rue Monsieur.  A similar sofa was made by Louis Süe for Jean Patou.


A view of the Library that appeared in
Plaisir de France, May 1951.
Image via Sotheby's.

In the lacquered Library, fretwork doors covered the bookshelves.  A pair of allegorical panels almost four feet square painted by Boutet de Monvel provided the primary decoration.  One panel represented his wife, Delfina, with fruits from South America, a guitar, a globe and books which reflect her Chilian origin.


One of a pair of painted allegorical panels, Lot 109.
Image via Sotheby's.

The other panel, shown above the fireplace in the view of the Library, represented the painter, showing his palette, ruler, T-square, and compass. 



The 19th century mantel clock in the Library, Lot 107.
Image via Sotheby's.

This mantel clock also appears in the view of the Library.  Made of gilt-bronze and black marble, the Restauration period clock, after a model by the bronzier Jean-André Reiche, was the inspiration for a painting of his daughter Sylvie and her dog Champagne.


The Boudoir in 1927.
Image via Sotheby's.

The Boudoir of Madame Boutet de Monvel is another room with architecture that illustrated a modern interpretation of classicism with long lengths of mirror representing the shaft of pilasters lining the space.


Chairs and table in the Boudoir,
Lots 120 and 121.
Image via Sotheby's.

The vintage view of the Boudoir shows part of the set of four black lacquered fauteuils from the Directoire period, late 19th century, and a birds eye maple and ebonized wood guéridon from the Charles X period, circa 1830.



A view of the sitting room of daughter Sylvie
from Plasir de France, May 1951.
Image via Sotheby's.



The center table, Lot 145.
Image via Sotheby's.

One of the most charming of the antiques is the ebonized and mahogany guéridon with stylized alligators emerging from cattails, Italian, circa 1830; the marble top may be a replacement.


The chandelier, Lot 146,
the oil lamps, Lot 147,
and the folding screen, Lot 148.
Image via Sotheby's.

The chandelier in Sylvie's salon of crystal and gilt-bronze with swans as the six arms to hold candles is a classic French Empire model of the early 19th century.  The porcelain oil lamps with gilt-bronze mounts date from about 1870.  The papier peint folding screen of four panels dates from about 1850 and depicts muses of a classical temple in an exotic tropical setting.


The rear of the house in 1927.
Image via Sotheby's.

Bernard Boutet de Monvel enjoyed great success as a portraitist of both the café-society and American millionaires in the 1920s and 30s.  Combining the model with a view of their residence or a relatable landscape in a somewhat photo-realistic style, the portraits are both flattering and distinctive.  Sitters included Mrs. Harrison Williams, Mr. W.K. Vanderbilt, and Mrs. Vincent Astor.



The studio of Bernard Boutet de Monvel
on the top floor of his Paris home.
Image via Sotheby's.

Read more about Bernard Boutet de Monvel and his residence at 11 passage de la Visitation on the Little Augury blog.  Here, there are some additional vintage views of the interior which show some variations in the furniture arrangements.


The cover of the new book by Stéphane-Jacques Addade
expected to be published in September, 2016.
Image: The Devoted Classicist Library

The first English language monograph of the art of Bernard Boutet de Monvel by Stéphane-Jacques Addade is scheduled for release by Flammarion in September, 2016.  Read more about it and place your order at a discount from the published price here.

Stavros Niarchos at Chanaleilles

The entrance hall of Chanaleilles
created by Emilio Terry.
Photo via Architectural Digest.
AD

Millennials think of the 30 year old, rich, celebrity-dating, international playboy, jet-setter when they hear the name Stavros Niarchos, but those of my generation and older might be familiar with his grandfather, the multi-billionaire, Greek shipping tycoon, 1909 to 1996.  His rivalry with Aristotle Onassis, his marriages, and his relationships with women that included Pamela Churchill (later Harriman) and Princess Firyal of Jordan (see previous post here) could be the subject of a melodramatic TV mini-series.  But it is his incredibly chic Paris residence that is the subject of this post of The Devoted Classicist.

Vintage view of the entrance from the
rue de Chanaleilles by René-Jacques.
Photo: via culture.gouv.fr

The hôtel particulier, not an inn but a private, free-standing townhouse with an entrance court and a garden beyond the residence, is named for the Marquis de Chanaleilles who bought it in 1840.  The property can be traced back to the seventeenth-century when it was a hunting lodge, a folie of the Duc de Maine, Louis Auguste de Bourbon (the legitimized son of Louis XIV and his mistress Madame de Montespan).  The present house dates from about 1770.


The entrance to Chanaleilles.
Photo by Jerome Zerbe.
LES PAVILLONS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Owned by the Marquis de Brabançon (of Belgium) at the time of the Revolution, it was confiscated and sold several times in quick succession before being given to Madame Tallien by her suitor.  (She later married the Comte de Caraman, who became Prince de Chimay, and died in 1831 at Menars, the former home of Madame de Pompadour's brother, the Marquis de Marigny).  Madame Tallien, also known as Thérésa Cabarrus, was one of the style setters of the Directoire period and her Paris residence was one of the centers of fashionable activity during the post-revolution time.  Madame Tallien enclosed the colonnade from the street to become a handsome galerie with an exceptional parquet floor and installed a notable Pompeian style bathroom.

A view of the west garden of Chanaleilles
with the enclosed colonnade on the right.
(Treillage covers an adjacent building)
Photo by Jerome Zerbe
LES PAVILLONS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

After years of being closed, Stavros Niarchos bought the house in 1956 and brought in the Cuban-born architect/decorator Emilio Terry for architectural improvements and modern conveniences and Stephane Boudin of Maison Jansen for interior design. 

The east garden of Chanaleilles before
restoration by Niarchos.
Image: culture.gouv.fr

A mid-20th century view of Chanaleilles
before purchase by Niarchos.
Image:culture.gouv.fr

The east garden after the excavation.
Photo by Jerome Zerbe.
LES PAVILLONS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

According to a 1969 article in "Life" magazine, he paid $500,000 for the house as a present for his third wife Eugenie (daughter of shipping magnate Stavros G. Livanos), a marriage which had ended in divorce in 1965.  The floods of 1907 had deposited soil that raised the level of the garden, and excavation brought natural light back to the basement level.

A current view of Hôtel Chanaleilles
showing the main house surrounded on three sides by gardens
and the auxiliary building at the sidewalk.
Source: MapQuest.

The plan of the Hôtel de Chanaleilles is T-shaped in plan with the gallery extended along the spine from the entrance facing the street.  The rear garden was lost in the 19th century; the sheer walls in the satellite photo are a neighboring property.


The galerie of Chanaleilles
Photo: Bagues

The gallery's parquet floor of rare woods glows with the bright yellow curtains and four large crystal chandeliers made for the space by Bagues.

Stavros Niarchos in the red salon of Chanaleilles
Photo: Life magazine, March 28, 1969,

The red salon has walls covered in red velvet between engaged Corinthian columns below a gilt ceiling.  The floor is covered with a Savonnerie with the royal arms for the King of Poland, a gift of Louis XV and the furniture includes an ebony bureau plat with mounts by Gouthiére.  But the real focus of the room is the art: a Goya, a Seurat, and the famous "Pietà" by El Greco bought for $400,000 to celebrate New Year's Eve in 1954 according to the "Life" magazine article.

The boudoir at Chanaleilles.
Photo: Jerome Zerbe
LES PAVILLONS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

White and gold boiserie from the Parr palace in Vienna (where Marie Antoinette was betrothed) decorate a boudoir with a Renoir.


A salon at Chanaleilles
with Règence period lacquer panels.
Photo: Bagues

The largest salon was created by extensive rebuilding by Emilio Terry in able to accommodate some Régence lacquer panels set into the boiserie.  Here these panels act as the art, but there is another spectacular Savonnerie rug and three lavish rock crystal chandeliers along with museum-quality furniture.

The principal dining room at Chanaleilles.
Photo by Jerome Zerbe.
LES PAVILLONS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

A white salon with a Gauguin is on the other side of the T beyond the red salon.  In addition to a children's dining room, there is a principal dining room with a parquet floor and paneling from Madame Tallien's era.  Empire period Puyforcat gilt-silver vessels, part of a whole collection bought at auction and presented to the Louvre as a gift, are displayed in the dining room along with Meissen and Sèvres porcelain and Chelsea tureens and more paintings.

The Puyforcat gilt-silver at Chanaleilles.
Image: "Connaissance Des Arts" Novembre 1960

Hollywood film star Edward G. Robinson provided about sixty Impressionist paintings from his collection through New York's Knoedler Galleries, sold to Niarchos in 1957 for $3,125,00 to satisfy community property terms of his divorce settlement.

Emilio Terry's display gallery
for the classical collection at Chanaleilles.
Photo by Jerome Zerbe
LES PAVILLONS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

A special room was created by Emilio Terry in the neo-classical style with bold ebonized and gilt columns on mahogany plinths.  This architectural framework displayed the Niarchos collection of classical pottery and sculpture fragments. 

The Pompeian bathroom at Chanalleilles.
Photo by Jerome Zerbe
LES PAVILLONS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Madame Tallien's bathroom with Pompeian style mosaics and a classical bathtub carved from a block of granite was restored.

It is believed that Niarchos' 61 year old son Philip, an active but low-profile collector of contemporary art, still owns and occupies the house.  In 2001, eight works of art described as from a "private collection" were sold by Christie's for more than $10 million; they were paintings by Pierre Bonnard, Eugene Boudin, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Renoir, Georges Rouault and Maurice Utrillo thought to have been sold from Chanaleilles to settle a legal dispute among the heirs.  In 2005, a large part of what is believed to be the Stravos Niarchos collection, estimated at a value of more than $250 million, was given to Kunsthaus Zurich on long-term loan.

The photos from LES PAVILLONS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY are by Jerome Zerbe and the text from that book provided some of the history of the house.  Now out of print, used copies are available through The Devoted Classicist Library.

Unfortunately, there are currently no good English-language books about Emilio Terry now in print.  For more about the legendary design firm Maison Jansen, read JANSEN by James Archer Abbott.