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.

Michael Taylor for Nan Kempner

The Manhattan living room of
Nan and Thomas Kempner
as it appeared in the mid 1980s.
Photo by Derry Moore for Architectural Digest.

California interior designer Michael Taylor, born Earnest Charles Taylor in 1927 and died in 1986, is remembered for his West Coast aesthetic using raw wood, boulders or split stone and nubby neutral fabrics.  But he first became well-known for his fresh, new interpetations of traditional European-influenced schemes that had been popularized by the likes of Syrie Maugham , Sister Parish, and Stephane Boudin of Maison Jansen.




Another view of the Kempner living room.
Photo by Derry Moore for Architectural Digest.

Nan and Thomas Kempner bought their Park Avenue, New York City, duplex apartment in 1956.  The story goes, as related in an article by Brooke Hayward in the May, 1987 issue of Architectural Digest, that Nan, having a troubled pregnancy and sent to relax in Palm Springs, ran into Michael Taylor the first day at the pool.  (Taylor had added to the decor begun by Frances Elkins for her parent's sophisticated house in San Francisco).  Sending for the floor plans, they worked out most of the decoration on paper in Taylor's San Francisco office.


The Banquette Room designed by Stephane Boudin
for the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's home
at 24 boulevard Suchet, Paris.
Watercolor by Alexandre Serebriakoff, 1946.
 

'Comfort First' was the mandate, with Taylor designing deep. oversize seating by laying out the outlines on the floor with string and having them custom made;  they were so big they had to be hoisted through the window rather than brought up in the service elevator.  Inspired by banquettes designed by Stephane Boudin of Maison Jansen for the Duchess of Windsor, the seating for the Kempners was covered in a fabric unusual for upholstery at the time, chamois-colored narrow-wale cotton corduroy.  A twelve-panel coromandel screen bought at a good price provides a rich contrast along with other bargain finds:  two Queen Anne mirrors, a pair of chests on stands, and a large Aubusson rug.  (The rug in the photo is a replacement due to wear).  The chimneypiece and over-mantle mirror were provided in the early 1970s by antiques dealer Norton Rosenbaum.


The Kempner dining room.
Photo by Derry Moore for Architectural Digest.

The dining room features handpainted eighteenth-century Chinese silk panels that had come from the house of a family friend in San Francisco.  Porcelain birds of Meissen or Chinese Export from her mother's collection are displayed on simple block brackets almost filling the walls not covered with fabric.  An 18th century French needlepoint rug covers the floor.  There are no curtains at the apartment windows, only shutters or shades.


The Kempner library.
Photo by Derry Moore for Architectural Digest.

In the library, the walls are covered with 95 coats of glaze to approximate Ming red lacquer, the process supervised by Michael Taylor until the desired effect was achieved.


The guest room of the Kempner apartment.
Photo by Derry Moore for Architectural Digest.

In the guest room, Chinese wallpaper taken from Nan's mother's house provides an elegant backdrop for the twin beds that Taylor had made for the room.


Nan Kempner in the master bedroom
decorated by Michael Taylor.
Photo by Derry Moore for Architectural Digest.

The room to gain the most public attention, however, is Nan's dressing room/closet created from a bedroom.  Designed by Chessie Reyner of Mac II, shirred curtains of a floral cotton fabric conceal the clothing.  While the room is not a favorite of this writer, it may be viewed here on a post of the always interesting blog, Little Augury.  Nan Kempner remained in the apartment until her death in 2005.  More about the celebrated decorator may be found in the book by Stephen M. Salny MICHAEL TAYLOR: INTERIOR DESIGN.

Furnishings from the Paris Apartment of Suzy and Pierre Delbee

The Entrance Hall of the Delbee apartment, avenue Foch, Paris.

It is no secret that The Devoted Classicist is a big fan of Maison Jansen, the most influential decorators of the 20th century.  So it would come as no surprise that this writer would appreciate the apartment of one of the firm's directors Pierre Delbee and his wife Suzy.  As his reserved predecessor Stephane Boudin merged into retirement, the flamboyant Pierre Delbee, who had joined the firm about thirty years previous and had perhaps become a partner after World War II, led Maison Jansen to include more eclectic approaches to design, embracing modern as well as historical styles.  Delbee was a collector of antique objects and greatly appreciated luxurious materials and finishes;  these characteristics were apparent in the work of the firm as well as in Delbee's own avenue Foch apartment.

Although there were only four main rooms - a hall, a library, and two bedrooms - the apartment in a contemporary building had an almost palatial feeling because of the architectural detailing and furnishings.  The apartment had been featured in numerous blogs, such as The Peak of Chic which provides some additional photos, and the highly recommended book JANSEN by James Archer Abbott which includes a chapter devoted to this apartment.  But a closer look at some of the furnishings are presented here, taken from the catalog of the 1999 Christie's sale in Monaco;  the U.S. dollar amounts given are the hammer prices realized, not including buyer's fees, etc.

The entrance hall in the first image also sometimes functioned as the dining room.  The Jansen workshops produced transitional Louis XV/XVI style panelling painted in three shades of blue with glazed antique cream trim for the walls and the ceiling as well.  But the most memorable feature was the doors, also made in the Jansen workshops over a period of twenty months, inlaid with designs of an architectural theme of temples and follies with geometric trophies presented as a Surrealist ideal.

Set of five doors, designed by Pierre Delbee and made in the Ateliers Jansen, about 1957.
Ebony inlaid with ivory and bronze.
$179,434.

A pair of lacquered wooden corner cabinets, "paire d'encoignures",
with ormolu mounts and breche d'Alep marble tops.
$26,759.

Pair of Italian marble medallions, Lot 500, 16th century.
$34,992.

A pair of silvered chandeliers.
(In typical Jansen fashion, they hold candles but are wired for electricity
with tiny bulbs concealed in the bobeches).
$24,700.

A pair of Regence wall lights, gilt bronze and mirrored glass.
$15,438.

A gateleg table "Royal", 1960, of gunmetal steel, gold plating, and black Formica.
This model was originally designed for the actress Jacqueline Delubac.
$30,875.

The Library of the Delbee apartment.

The library, serving as the only sitting room, was lined with bookcases of Brazilian red-oil wood (Myroxylon balsamum as we learned from the chapter in JANSEN) with passage doors upholstered in olive green suede detailed with strips of gilt bronze.  Suzy Lazard Delbee (reportedly a member of the family that owned the French investment firm Lazard Freres et Cie, again according to JANSEN) had a passion for antique books that was expressed here, with a collection of globes, busts, and architectural models displayed amoung the rare volumes.  But the most outstanding furnishings of this space were the almost throne-like chairs that were constantly rearranged to transform the room.

An ormolu gueridon, mid-19th century.
$71,147.

A pair of Empire period fauteuils of mahogany, stamped Georges Jacob.
Probably made for the Salle de la Convention.
$159,746.

A fauteuil with harp and eagle motifs, early 19th century.
$47,342.

An Empire period bergere of mahogany featuring terminal sphinxes.
A similar chair appears in the painting "Les Licteurs rapport Brutus lses corps ses fils" by David, 1789.
$189,279.

Pierre Delbee's Bedroom

Pierre Delbee's bedroom was an intimate jewel box with the walls upholstered in dark green silk velvet trimmed with a specially woven decorative tape.  (A variation of this scheme was used in the White House Treaty Room during the Jansen decoration for the Kennedys).  The headboard of the bed was covered in a fragment of an antique allegorical tapestry.  The walls were decorated with an array of crucifixes, bas-reliefs, and portrait miniatures.  Here, the stand-out piece was a red lacquer secretaire a abattant signed by Francois Rubestuck dating to circa 1766.  The decorative, fragile piece was not usable, however, because of the narrowness of the room (as noted in JANSEN) but placed there as a work of art.

A Louis XV period secretaire a abattant, lacquer with ormolu mounts.
Stamped F. RUBESTUCK et JME.
$39,109.

A bed with a headboard covered with a tapestry fragment of peiti and gros point
and a cover of antique needlework.
$22,642.

A Louis XV red and cream painted chaise.
$865.

The Corridor to Suzy Delbee's Bedroom.

The corridor leading to Suzy Delbee's bedroom was lined with framed panels of sheet music, not included in the auction, that appear to cover concealed doors to storage.  The simple furnishings of the bedroom centered around a George I bureau-cabinet.


The Terrace of the Delbee apartment.

The famous Jansen 'coral' garden furniture on the terrace was not included in the sale.  The egg-shaped vase was manufactured by Sevres in 1969. 

After Pierre Delbee's death, his widow sold the furnished apartment and their country home to one of Jansen's best clients, Bartolome March-Servera.  After March's death 15 years later, the furnishings were dispursed at this 1999 auction.

All the photos in this post are from Christie's publications.

Chips Channon's Dining Room

The Dining Room at 5 Belgrave Square, London.
Photo from JANSEN by James Archer Abbott.

Regular readers of The Devoted Classicist are familiar with this writer's admiration for the work of legendary decorator Stephane Boudin who was president of the firm, Maison Jansen, from 1935 to 1961 (although his work for the company spans before and after those dates).  So indulgence is begged for a fourth consecutive post on the work of Boudin.  The commission that brought Boudin and Maison Jansen to international decorating status was the dining room 1935-6 at 5 Belgrave Square, London, for American-born Henry "Chips" Channon and his heiress wife, Lady Honor Guinness of the brewing dynasty.

The Dining Room at 5 Belgrave Square, London.
Photo from JANSEN by James Archer Abbott.

Chips Channon, heir to a shipping fortune, became a British subject and a member of Parliament.  But a large part of his efforts went to befriending English and Continental royalty, and he is now best  known for his diaries published after his death.  "Monsieur Boudin of Jansen came to us this morning with his final drawings and estimates for our dining-room which is to imitate and, I hope, rival the Amalienburg.  It will shimmer in blue and silver, and have an ochre and silver gallery leading to it.  It will shock and stagger London.  And it will cost over [GBP] 6,000...." Channon recorded in 1935.  King Edward VIII came to dinner with Mrs. Simpson on June 11, 1936, with Channon writing "it was the very peak, the summit I suppose."

The Dining Room at 5 Belgrave Square, London.
Photo from JANSEN by James Archer Abbott.

The inspiration for the room was the Hall of Mirrors in the Amalienburg, the hunting lodge in the park of the Nymphenburg Palace near Munich.  It is unclear as to whether it was Channon or Boudin who proposed the concept of the Bavarian fantasy.  But author James Archer Abbott notes in his book JANSEN that Boudin did travel to the Amalienburg to study the room to serve as a model.  The existing Regency detailing was removed and Roccoco decoration was created in plaster and burnished with silver leaf against a background of aquamarine.  A set of silver chairs, at least 24 in number judging from the photos, were made in the Jansen workshops using a period example as the model and upholstered in aquamarine silk damask, the same fabric as used for the curtains.  But it is the dining table, designed by Boudin and also made by Jansen, that is the inspiration for this post.  The table, topped with squares of mirror, and three pairs of mirrored doors from the room were sold at auction, September 20, 2011, at Sotheby's, London, Sale L11302.

Lot 105, a large carved and painted extending dining table, 2ft 6in high, 25ft 4.5in long (extended), 4ft 11in wide.  Sold GBP 75,650 including Buyer's Premium, or about US $117,396.
Photo from Sotheby's.

Lot 106, three pairs of mirrored doors.  10ft 6in high, 2ft 3in wide.  Sold GBP 21,250 including Buyer's Premium, or about US $32,976.
Photo from Sotheby's.

The two spaces preceeding the entrance to the dining room were also decorated by Boudin as a processional transition to the grand room.  The first space was a small dining room with lighted display cases lined with white silk and glass shelves displaying 18th century porcelain to compensate for the lack of windows.  The second space was a passage based on a bedroom at the Amalienburg, lighted by candles in a porcelain and ormolu chandelier and matching sconces plus a lighted cove washing the vaulted ceiling with a glow.

A view from the small dining room, through the passage, to the grand dining room beyond.  Author James Archer Abbott describes the small dining room as having black walls like the background of the Bessarabian carpet, and the passage was apricot with silver leaf ornament.
Photo from JANSEN by James Archer Abbott.

The house was damaged by Nazi bombs in 1944, but later was restored by Channon who was divorced by his wife in 1945.  After Channon's death in 1958, the house was sold and divided into luxurious apartments.  The dining room was disassembled and stored at Channon's country home, Kelvedon Hall near Brentwood, Essex, where it presumably remained until sold by the estate of his only son Paul, Baron Kelvedon of Ongar, who died in 2007.

Henry "Chips" Channon with his son Paul, presumed to be named after his father's close friend Prince Paul of Yugoslavia.  They are in the library of the same house at 5 Belgrave Square decorated in the Neo-Regency style by Lord Gerald Wellesley and Trentwith Ellis.
Photo from CHIPS - THE DIARIES OF SIR HENRY CHANNON published by Phoenix Press.

More on this room and pictures of the inspirational Hall of Mirrors at the Amalienburg can be seen at a March 7, 2007 post of The Peak of Chic blog.  Much of the background information for this essay comes from the highly recommended book JANSEN by James Archer Abbott, published by Acanthus Press, 2006.  Additional information was provided by Sotheby's;  past auction results as well as information on upcoming events can be seen at their website.