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apartment therapy,
apartments,
collections,
designers,
furniture,
house,
house tours,
Interiors
Showing posts with label collections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label collections. Show all posts
Friday, January 17, 2014
Don't miss this housetour!
Friday, October 25, 2013
Fifth Avenue Style: Book review
Don't miss Fifth Avenue Style printed by Vendome Press no matter your stylistic leanings. And be sure to remove the dust jacket to see the beautiful cover (first image).
All images courtesy of Vendome Press and Tria Giovan
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books,
collections,
design,
designers,
furniture,
Interiors,
new york,
reviews,
Vendome Press
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Nemours Garage
Of course, a showplace estate such as Nemours must have an outstanding garage. What self respecting industrialist wouldn't have the latest gadgets of the day? 
The garage matches the grandness of the house but with simpler materials; Stucco, painted wooden treillage and a clay tile roof hold delightful copper dormers.
The second floor held a large apartment and offices for the chauffeur and his family while the first floor contained the estate's collection of vehicles as well as repair and machine shops.
Five car bays (plus entrance ends) now hold 5 automobiles, a pony carriage and motorboat once owned by Dupont and his wife.
The interior is simple and of its' time: textured plaster walls, simple woodwork and tile floors.
The entry hall holds the original telephone
As well as the machine shop to which Alfred Dupont escaped to tinker.
Dupont's taxidermy collection from his hunts once graced the main hall of the mansion, but Jessie Ball, upon moving in after their marriage had them moved out to the garage. 
An early 20th century example of the man cave?
The center doors have a graceful arch while the 4 flanking garage doors, while massive in size, are less monumental.
Admittedly I don't know much about cars but I certainly appreciate their style.
Dupont would only buy American made cars and drove this Pontiac for many years until his death.
At this time, Jessie went out and purchased a British made Rolls Royce (Silver Cloud no less!)
All of the cars are in mint, working order and still are driven around the estate.
Why don't more cars today have hood ornaments?
Two of the cars were so beloved by the Duponts that they had their bodies transplanted onto new cadillac engine beds. I had never heard of that before!
The sides of this green car had an interesting woven texture.
The oldest car featured a true 'lantern' as headlight.
And they're called 'trunks' for a reason!
Also in the collection is a wooden motor launch which would ferry the Dupont's guests across the Little Choptank River to their nearby country estate.
Now this is a collection I can appreciate!
Unknown
cars,
collections,
houses,
Nemours,
travel
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Lord Palumbo's cars
Recently while in Western Pennsylvania, I visited Kentuck Knob and was surprised to see another of Lord Palumbo's collections; antique cars! Some could barely be called cars as they were merely the first motorized vehicles that looked a lot like bicycles to me.
This has happened numerous times, oddly enough: I visit a house museum only to have a collection of antique cars gathered for the day or a collectors convention, such as the time I visited Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, seen HERE.
Kentuck knob is a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and completed in 1956 for the Hagan's.
They were friends with the Kaufman family and for years had been visiting them at their summer home down the street, Fallingwater and had admired it. They asked Frank Lloyd Wright, by then world famous, to design their new house and though he took on the commission, he was far too busy to visit the site after the first visit where he chose the future location of the building.
If you have never visited, please do yourself a favor and visit both houses -they are pleasures!
Not all of the cars gathered were antiques. A porsche enthusiast club was also holding their event that day and to see 100s of well-designed porsche's outside of world class architecture was truly a day in the making!
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collections,
houses,
travel
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Chinoiserie automaton
While working on a more in-depth post of a fantastic building I visited recently, I wanted to leave you with something just to let you know I'm still around! Located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a collection of ingenius bejeweled objects known as automatons. These machines, popular in the mid 18th century (as so many of my favorite things were!), were mechanical moving devices; a sort of early day robot! Often they were more than a mere toy and incorporated something useful, such as the clock seen here. Made by James Cox in London, 1766, this device still would fascinate and amaze the most ardent anti-antiquarian!
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artists,
collections,
covet,
history,
museums
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Textile Museum
Located above the Museu de Arts Decoratives in the Palau Reial de Padralbes is the Barcelona Textile Museum.
Not where you would probably expect me to be spending time, but honestly, we had some time to kill! What a pleasant surprise I had in store.
The amazing collection traces the evolution of fashion: providing interesting 'how tos' such as how the 'new look' bust was created, seen above, and contrasting elements of different styles.
The patterns of these victorian skirts below were contrasted to a much later 20th century version.
And just how are those hoop skirts held high? Well, here's how!
Seeing the clothing in person and relatively close up was much better than reading about them in a book or magazine.
The workmanship and details on some of the pieces were amazing, especially loved this flapper look. Notice the white suit in the background, so Gatsby'esque!
Examples such as these mid 19th century Empire styled dresses were in such immaculate condition with such vivid colors you would have thought they were just sewn yesterday.
Seeing this fairly recent dress compared with an Edwardian train was another example of a great pairing.
And just how are those bustles kept up (throughout different periods)?
The layout of this exhibit really is impeccable. I always say the right presentation can make the most mundane exhibit interesting (I recently saw a fascinating exhibit on parking garages at the NBM. Come on, I mean...they made parking structures interesting!).
These bodices were in such beautiful colors.
More amazing beading work.
This is a whole lot of look, but in the right situation, pretty fabulous!
Spain's own Balenciaga is of course represented. I loved all of his clothing they showed. 
Some more bizarre pairings showing yet again how things never change; they just come in and out of fashion, nothing is ever 'new'. 
These body conscious dresses below come from all different styles and time periods.
Not everything is so beautiful, will these ever be back in style? That red men's polyester number really made my skin itch!
Make sure to stop by this amazing museum, right on the metro line. You can't beat 3 museums in 1: Textile, Ceramics and decorative arts.
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Barcelona,
collections,
fashion,
museums
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