A Halloween Treat!

I was invited to a fun Halloween Party on Saturday evening and I don’t know which I was more excited about, the party or seeing the house where it was held. I took a ton of pictures, but the house was dark and mysterious, so they didn’t come out too well.

Luckily, a local magazine just printed a feature on the house, so I scanned those in to share with you as a special Halloween treat! The house is called Cathedral Hill, which is also the name of the host and owner’s design firm which he’s just launched. When you see these images, you’ll see that he’s super talented.

If you look at the right side of the picture above, you can see framed prints of the famous Turgot Plan de Paris, which the owner, Drew Rieger, downloaded from Pigtown*Design! He framed them in 18 sections, nine on each side of the fireplace. I think the bust of Lafayette just below the maps is from McLain Wiesand.One of the rooms I was most excited about seeing was the kitchen space. Drew took out the floor of the room above the kitchen and added a balcony around it. It brought a lot of light into the room. On the right side of the room, both top and bottom is “the great wall of china”, Drew’s extensive of china and other pieces, all on gorgeous shelves.  Behind the kitchen is this little garden room which is a perfect place to sit and have a cup of coffee. Although the columns in the dining room look like they’ve always been there, they actually came from the set of “The Wire” which was filmed in Baltimore. They fit perfectly in the space. Throughout the house, which is spread over six floors, there are fabulous vignettes, like this old settee, which has beautiful lines which are highlighted by its naked state! The house, which was originally a private residence and then disintegrated into a flop house with 56 small rooms, amazingly, retained many of its original features, although many were covered up. Many of the rooms still have fireplaces.If you look in the fireplace, the white piece is one of David Wiesand’s tortoise shell castings. Although I didn’t get to see the entire house, I can’t wait to be invited back for another look {hint!}. It’s a stunning restoration and Drew is super-talented.

Thanks again for including me at your party, gentlemen!