Mrs. Astor Redux

Brooke Astor in her New York apartment in 1997. Photo: Annie Leibovitz

Last week, Sotheby's sale of Mrs. Vincent Astor's estate brought in $18.8 million. And there's another sale with Brooke Astor provenance in just two days. "Where?" you ask? Click here to learn more.

Merchant Class

The exterior of R. Louis Bofferding's shop in New York City, executed by French artist Pierre Le-Tan.

To read my take on the new website of renowned antiques dealer R. Louis Bofferding, click here.

Remains of the Day

(Left to right) Dressed as a Chinese emperor and his court, Alexis de Redé, Arturo Lopez-Willshaw, his wife, Patricia, and interior decorator Georges Geffroy attend the Beistegui ball in Venice, September 3, 1951. Photo courtesy of the Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s.

For the back story behind one of the most spectacular auctions this month, click here.

Lights Fantastic!

Uplights highlight Egyptian artifacts in a Miami living room by Louis M. Bromante from the May 1982 issue of AD. Photo: Dan Forer

Uplights get little respect in today's decorating world. But on the website of Architectural Digest, I give these mood-enhancing yeomen the love they deserve.

To read the post, click here.

Curtains, Rothschild Style

Baroness Philippe de Rothschild in the garden of her Paris apartment, 1969. Image by Horst P. Horst for Vogue.

One of my longtime design obsessions, Pauline de Rothschild, had grace, intelligence—and quite a way with curtains.

Recently on The Aesthete, my blog at the website of Architectural Digest, I examined an idiosyncratic window treatment she created for her duplex at Albany, the renowned London apartment house. To read it, click here.

This Way, Please

Though I've been away from this address for several months, the virtual cards and letters keep coming in—and most of them ask, "Where can I find your new posts?"

At the website of Architectural Digest, of course! And in the Daily AD section, in particular.

Bearing that and similarly worded questions in mind, as a public service, I will continue to post here. Links, that is, to my blog entries at archdigest.com, of which there have been a few, including this morsel about a new book examining the rackety life and glorious creations of the late American-born interior designer and architect Bill Willis, a man who made Marrakech infinitely more exotic, with splendiferous houses for Rothschilds and their jet-set like.

To read it, do click here. And let me know what you think.