Gilded New York In Print and In Person

Gilded New York book on the left, and a corner of the Gilded New York gallery, on the right. 
New York City first rose to the stature of a world capital, on a par with London and Paris, during the Gilded Years - 1885 to 1905 - when new industries like steel manufacturing and railroads produced vast fortunes after the Civil War. New wealth led families like the Vanderbilts, Goulds and Astors to live with glamorous style which emulated European aristocratic luxury. These personal fortunes also bankrolled many buildings which still shape New York City today including the Frick Museum, the Morgan Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Main Branch of the New York Public Library. This fascinating era in New York City is explored in a new book from The Monacelli Press and in an exhibition now up at the Museum of the City of New York.

Recently I went up to the Museum of the City of New York at Fifth Avenue and 104th Street to see Donald Albrecht, the Curator of Architecture and Design at the museum, and a co-curator of the Gilded New York show along with Jeannine Falino, an independent curator, and Phyllis Magidson, the museum's Curator of Costumes and Textiles. I had met Donald before, when I worked on my Cecil Beaton story for Elle Decor magazine, and attended the seminar on Gay New York and the Arts in the 20th Century.

Donald met me at the new Tiffany & Co. Foundation Gallery where the Gilded New York exhibit is on display. He reported that the Tiffany & Co. Foundation supports this permanent gallery with a grant devoted to fashion, jewelry, and the decorative arts of any period. This Gilded New York show is up until Nov. 30, 2014.

The small elegant gallery is a jewel box of a room designed by William T. Georgis Architects. Windows offer pleasant views across Fifth Avenue to Central Park.

On display are paintings, fashions, accessories, and jewelry from the turn of the last century. 

This large canvas on one wall portrays Cornelia Ward Hall and her children, painted by Michele Gordigiani in 1880. It captures a wealth of satin, lace, pearls, velvet and glossy Asian decor –

At the opposite end of the gallery are two evening dresses by the first brand-name fashion designer ever, Charles Frederick Worth, who was born in England and worked in Paris. The one on the left, called Electric Light, was worn by Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt II to the Vanderbilt Ball in 1883. Its metallic electric bolts in the fabric and shooting out from the shoulder celebrated the power of electricity which Thomas Edison had just invented in 1880 –

The accompanying book investigates the era further, with interesting essays and photographs about jewelry, architecture, fashion, and the famous balls. 

The chateauesque Astor home at Fifth Avenue and 65th Street had a double-height ballroom with paintings hung salon-style from floor to ceiling  –

The George Vanderbilt house was at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, where Bergdorf Goodman now stands today –

Interestingly, as has been observed by fashion historian Caroline Reynolds Milbank, when the United States was born, its founders like George and Martha Washington did not want to dress in an ostentatious way which copied the European aristocracy, but rather desired a style which was simple and independent of Europe and reflected the values of their young democracy. And so the simplicity of American style was born. However in the nineteenth-century, with their new wealth based on new industries, Donald Albrecht said, the Vanderbilts and the Astors began to look to imitate European aristocracy with their castles, crown jewels and couture. "Americans in the Gilded Age were looking to the past and looking to the future at the same time," he noted.

The New York Botanical Garden Orchid Dinner

Hanging with Martha at the Orchid Dinner. (click on photos to enlarge)
I had the pleasure last week of attending the New York Botanical Garden Orchid Dinner which was held at the Mandarin Oriental ballroom at Columbus Circle high above Central Park. Proceeds from this dinner fund the Garden's important research collection. The dinner was sponsored in part by Veranda magazine which assembled a roster of illustrious designers who created wondrous orchid centerpieces for the dinner tables. The theme of the centerpieces was "Key West Contemporary" which is also the theme of the annual orchid show at the Botanical Garden, which just opened on March 1. Orchids are such spectacular flowers – the haute couture of the floral world, though I myself do not have much luck growing them at home. The centerpieces were a joy to behold.

Alison Spear for Arquitectonica Interiors created an explosion of tropical colors –

I ran into Veranda editor-in-chief Clinton Smith who has been adjusting to this very harsh northern winter, having moved to New York from Georgia where he was the editorial director of Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles. "I'm amazed by these arrangements," he said to me. "I like that they are so happy."
A vertical design by Sherrill Canet – 

Martha Stewart (pictured above) was looking very chic in a simple, luxurious top combined with an ornate, sculptural necklace. Martha is passionate about orchids and the Botanical Garden as well. "I have two giant benches of orchids in my greenhouse at home," she told me, noting that she is particularly partial to Phalaenopsis orchids, lady slipper orchids, and Christmas orchids. "The Botanical Garden is very important to us," she said to me. "We've done a lot of stories there, and Gregory Long, the Garden's president, is doing an amazing job."
An arch of orchids by David M. Handy Events –

David Scott Interiors & Mark Rose Events placed bright yellow orchids underneath a big patio umbrella –

One of my favorite arrangements was this spray of white orchids by David Easton, the great American decorator.

I had a chance to say hello to David Easton –

who told me that the beginning of this floral design was the geometric metal base which guests at the table can see through, so they can talk and converse around the table.  Smart!
A lush profusion of orchids and palm leaves by FlowerSchool New York.

After dinner, there was dancing to a fun, lively band on the dance floor –

It was indeed a happy, colorful celebration on a cold, winter night. 

A Trip to Broadway for The Glass Menagerie

Cherry Jones, Zachary Quinto, Celia Keenan-Bloger and Brian J. Smith make up the cast of the memory play The Glass Menagerie on Broadway. Photos from The Glass Menagerie website.
Last Saturday morning was snowy and grey, and I said to TD, "I would love to go see The Glass Menagerie." I had never before seen Tennessee Williams' masterpiece. The play first came to Broadway in 1945 when Williams was only 34 years old, and established him as a great new American playwright. The Glass Menagerie is a memory play, as the main character, Tom Wingfield, remembers life with his mother and sister and a visit by a gentleman caller in the family's St. Louis apartment long ago. The current production on Broadway at the Booth Theater had garnered great reviews and was soon to close so it had been on my mind as something that I did not want to miss.

At home, we went online to the TKTS website and saw that the play was listed that very day for half price tickets. We quickly got dressed and rushed out the door and took the subway up to Times Square, hoping the tickets would not be sold out. After an anxious wait in the line we reached the ticket window and scored two half price tickets for the matinee performance.

We had a little time to kill so we walked to Angus on West 44th Street, a favorite restaurant in Times Square, for lunch and sat in the bar area where we had a Croque Mademoiselle and a glass of white wine. Suffiently fortified, we headed around the corner to the Booth Theater, which is a great old Broadway Theater, and settled into our cozy, plush seats.

It was indeed a beautiful memory play. The minimal set depicting the family apartment was arranged in pools of black shadows, and the lighting would dim when a character was remembering a story and going back in time. The cast was amazing – including strong, brilliant Cherry Jones as the bossy mother Amanda Wingfield, and Zachary Quinto, previously known to movie goers as Doctor Spock in the Star Trek movies, who was a revelation as the tortured Tom. He delivered a powerful performance in elegant, reserved moves. Of course the real star was the Tennessee Williams language and writing and storytelling – so poetic and lyrical and elegiac. The set and the performances and the writing fused together to create one of those memorable productions that stays with you long after. I was so grateful to see it with my Valentine. 

The play ended, there was a standing ovation, the lights came up, and they opened up the doors at the back of the theater. It was snowing so we bundled up in our big coats and left that dark cocoon of art and memory and went out into the white snow on Broadway.

The Elegant 30s at F.I.T.

Last week TD and I attended the opening night party for the new exhibition at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology which celebrates the glamorous, luxurious clothes of the 1930s. This show includes both women's and men's fashion, and was co-curated by Patricia Mears, deputy director of the Museum at F.I.T, and G. Bruce Boyer, the menswear writer and editor. You may remember Patricia, who gave us a private tour of Ivy Style about a year ago.
Here is yours truly with Bruce and Patricia at the opening –

Entitled Elegance in an Age of Crisis: Fashions of the 1930s, the show explores fashion between the Great Depression and the impending doom of World War II. The era is renowned for its timeless, refined designs which transcend fashion and could still be worn today. Lodged between the stick-straight, up-and-down flapper styles of the 20s and the exaggerated shapes and over-sized shoulder pads of the 40s, 30s design struck the perfect balance by following and flattering the lines of the body. Lighter fabrics and textiles woven on wider looms enabled manufacturers to drape and shape clothes in graceful new ways. "There is a sense of naturalism," Patricia Mears said to me, noting the lack of corseting or padding. "The construction looks simple but it's very complicated and creates an elegance and sophistication."

Menswear too is displayed with the women's clothes, and shows how the handsome style of the 30s continues to be an influence. "Men's tailoring still today derives from either the English draped model or the Italian deconstructed model of the 30s," said Bruce Boyer.

High-wattage costumes from Hollywood movies also dazzled during the era, and there are some glittering examples on display.

The gallery is decorated with muted, sheer curtains of light chiffon which Patrica said were inspired by the Normandie, the famous 1930s French luxury ocean liner.

This show offers a hushed trip to a more refined time. The 30s hit an ideal which will never go out of style and continues to inspire. Its theme of simple elegance is the very essence of chic style which looks effortless but is in fact rigorously thought out. The exhibit is up until April 19th and admission is free.

Save Our Libraries and Bookstores

The back side of the library from Bryant Park on a summer night at dusk.  

The main branch of the New York Public Library, now called the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, is one of my favorite places in the city. I have written about it before on the blog - please go and read all about it here! I also recently attended a lecture at the library on Edith Wharton which you can read about here.
Opened in 1911, it is a beautiful and timeless Beaux Arts building

where anyone can go to read or research or write.

In the monumental Rose Reading room, I love the carved and painted ceiling overhead

and the heavy wood tables and chairs and the elegant bronze reading lamps.

The corridors are lined with marble

and other iconic New York buildings are visible through its lofty windows.

The library really is uplifting and inspirational, like a church.
Across the street is the Mid-Manhattan Library which was founded in 1970 and houses the largest circulating collections of The New York Public Library. I was there recently in the building doing some research, and it is in terrible shape. Inside, it was dirty and shabby with neglect. One floor which used to be filled with shelves of books was practically empty except for tables where it seems homeless people have found a place to sit. I wasn't getting very far with my research and I asked a librarian for help, who apologized saying, "We used to have more books." I asked her about the floor vacated of shelves. She said, "The management likes a 'light and airy look.'" Huh? Less books in the library for a light and airy look? That doesn't make any sense. It's a library. Which by definition requires books.

You see, there is a plan afoot. The Library has already sold off the popular Donnell Library on West 53rd Street in a controversial sale to a real estate developer. Now the Library has proposed a plan to vacate the Mid-Manhattan Library and sell the building to a real estate developer. It also wants to sell the Science, Industry and Business Library at 34th Street and Madison Avenue. These circulating libraries would move into the main Schwarzman building which would be gutted. Its historic seven story book stacks would be demolished and 1.5 million books would be moved to a site in New Jersey. Again, there is that confounding idea of a library with less books. This plan was created through a closed door process with no public input, has been condemned by architecture critics, and will cost New York City taxpayers $150 million.

During Mayor de Blasio's campaign, he promised to halt this plan, though time is now running out. You can learn more about the plan here, and write to Mayor de Blasio here to tell him to stop this plan.

At the same time comes the news that the renowned 109-year-old building that houses the famed Rizzoli bookstore on 57th Street will demolished. (This photo from The New York Times)

The limestone mansion will undoubtedly be replaced by another superluxury supertall residential building, as if New York City needs one more Bloomberg-era billionaire apartment tower stretching its long shadow over Central Park. Please go here to sign a petition to have the Rizzoli building designated a landmark which could save it from demolition.

The cultural life and intellectual life of a city are just as important as real estate development but things have gotten a little out of whack here on the island of Manhattan. It's disturbing for someone who loves books and beautiful things.

House Beautiful Magazine's Next Wave of American Designers

The Next Wave of American interior designers with House Beautiful's Shax Riegler, Kate Kelly Smith and Newell Turner.  

I had the pleasure last week of attending a luncheon hosted by House Beautiful magazine at the Hearst Tower on 8th Avenue at 57th Street. The event was held to celebrate the interior designers who have been spotlighted on the magazine's popular "Next Wave" page which identifies emerging talent all over the country. In this month's issue, for example, young designer Patrick Mele is profiled –

House Beautiful, which is 118 years old this year, has been celebrating emerging talent since 1998 when then-editor Lou Gropp started a feature with a round-up which included, among others, Thomas Jayne, William Sofield and Barbara Barry, who, of course, have gone on to become well-recognized American designers. At the luncheon on the 44th floor of the Hearst Tower, 19 recent New Wave designers were in attendance along with a congenial crowd of the magazine's friends.

A trip to the Hearst Tower is always a treat. The views of the city from the 44th floor dining room are truly breathtaking.
Looking north with Central Park below –

Guests sat down to a lovely lunch of pumpkin and goat cheese croquettes with roasted baby beets and ruby grapefruit –

followed by pan-seared cod with spaghetti squash and roasted brussel sprouts –

Delicious!
Hearst Design Group Editorial Director Newell Turner took to the podium to welcome guests and introduce the Next Wave designers who had traveled from across the country to attend. He spoke about his passion for American decorating and the history of American decorating, and how House Beautiful was committed to nurturing rising talent. "And always bring your new projects to us first!" he said to laughter across the room.
Yours truly with Design Group Publishing Director Kate Kelly Smith –

When the luncheon was over, on the way out I marveled again at the Hearst Tower which is a stunning building. The original six floor building was constructed in 1928 by William Randolph Hearst. Architect Norman Foster added a 46 floor tower on top which was completed in 2006. Here you can see, in this picture of the company cafeteria, how the tower ingeniously rises over the original six story facade. An escalator goes down to the street level –

Here is the escalator going up. It's surrounded on both sides by a waterfall, which offers a quiet, peaceful way to enter a corporate office building –

It's great design. And here's to the future of American decorating!

A Visit to the Yale University Art Gallery

(this photo courtesy of Yale)
Over the holidays TD and I visited my father in Guilford and we had an outing to nearby New Haven to take in the newly renovated and expanded Yale University Art Gallery. We love the museums at Yale, which are beautiful and free! The Yale Art Gallery is the oldest university art museum in America, and houses 200,000 works of art from ancient times to the present day. For years, the Art Gallery was been undergoing a major renovation, and it reopened in 2012 so this was our first visit back in awhile. The renovation cost $135 million which was raised by the Gallery's indefatigable director, Jock Reynolds, who gathered that amount during a recession, no less. The expansion linked three buildings together, and the architects in charge, Ennead Architects in New York, did a brilliant job fusing the disparate buildings and departments seamlessly. "Gallery" is a misleading misnomer for this institution because it really is a major American art museum.

Within the three buildings, there is a lot to see including Asian, African, and Ancient art plus temporary exhibits. Throughout the exploration, there are wonderful things to discover around every corner. There also is a constant mix of old and new – old buildings, new renovation, old art, new design.
For example: A view down stairs to a nineteenth century John LaFarge stained glass window adjacent to a new elevator - going up!

There are secret nooks around every bend –

I am always drawn to nineteenth century European paintings, like this Vuillard – 

Tropical Gauguin always makes me happy

as does joyful Monet.

All of the galleries are painted different colors, but they all go together. Early Italian art is housed is rooms that are a deep midnight blue with light grey molding.

It really was quite striking. I've never seen gallery walls that color before.

The Yale Art Gallery is renowned for its collection of American art and decorative arts. The big windows in this decorative arts gallery reveal the buildings of Yale beyond.

Ancient art is found in a light-filled Gothic gallery. 

More treasures around every turn – 

A peak into a classroom – a nice place to go to school.

You can really wander for hours in this museum and not see everything. By the time we were done we were hungry so we repaired to Christie's Irish pub (thank you, Google search) for a proper pint and a hamburger lunch at the bar. It was a lovely afternoon in New Haven.