A Day at the Races

I hadn’t planned to go to the horse races on Saturday, but when an opportunity presented itself, I accepted. My pal, Tracey, who’s head of the Baltimore Architecture Foundation, and I had been working on the Dollar House Symposium, scheduled for Saturday morning. The event was a huge success, with nearly 100 people attending.It was held in the historic Otterbein church, which is surrounded by the new urbanism which has grown up around it. It’s the oldest church continually in use at the same location in Baltimore, having served its flock since 1771.

Tracey, her family and I bailed out a little early from the symposium, and headed up-country to Shawan Downs, one of the newer race courses in the area. It’s actually a land trust where they run spring and fall races. We met up with some friends, who were conveniently located just beyond the finish line, so we had a great view.One of the most fun things about attending these races is seeing what everyone’s wearing. The day was partly sunny and cool, so the attire ranged from skimpy tops with chilly arms,to down gilets and elegant tweeds and cashmere.I really do have to smirk at the women who are too vain to wear flat shoes! It’s a horse-race in the fields, for gawd’s sake!

There were a few outfits that I had to admire. Loved this bit-belt, skirt and blouse combination. It struck the right note… and she was wearing flats.This gentleman gets high marks for accessorizing with his child’s stuffed toy. I am sure he wanted to keep it safe!You can see the range of dress selections here, from shorts and sweaters to tweeds and scarves. Lots of Hermès in evidence – including around my own neck! All in all, it was a perfect day for the races.Thanks for including me, Tracey & Anthony!

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I do have to share a Connor picture with you. I was working at my desk in the kitchen and looked down to see this:Connor sound asleep with his nose in the heel of my shoe!

Off Target

I was in the local Target the other day and looked for their new Shops: Kirna Zabête, Patch NYC, Odin and the Curiosity Shoppe. I could only find the Patch NYC and Curiosity Shoppe, and to say that I was not impressed would not put too fine a point on it. I don’t know if the selection had been picked over, or that there was just not a big selection to start with, but there wasn’t a lot on offer. And I was unimpressed with what they did have. I didn’t like the designs or the colours or the motifs… especially at the Curiosity Shoppe. And I thought the price for some things was a bit much – to say the very least.I can’t imagine who would pay $5.00 for 28 paper straws, but it certainly wouldn’t be me. I hate paper straws. They get all soft and mucky.

The selection at Patch NYC was a little better and seemed to be more original.I loved the reindeer notebook on the right, and thought the woodpecker candleholders were fun. Now that I know there’s a den of foxes close by, I’d like to have this lamp to remind me of them.

These orange candles seem very 70’s to me. Not to my taste.

While I admire Target for branching out and bringing these small shops to everyone’s attention, I wonder if they don’t do more harm than good to these brands. The wares usually seem to be very poorly made and not of the quality that I think the stores actually offer.

Thoughts?

Brooke Astor Auction–Revisited

I thought I’d revisit the Brooke Astor auction which just wrapped up, and show you the estimate and then the actual hammer price. The auction raised more than twice what was expected – $18.8 million - although there is some conjecture that the estimates were set low so that regardless of what things sold for, it would look like a raging success.

First up, the Haseltine Pig. I received an e-mail this afternoon about this pig, apparently Herbert Haseltine and Buddy Marshall were second cousins which is, no doubt, how she came to possess this piece of sculpture - they were both great-grandchildren of Charles Marshall, head of the Black Ball Line between NYC and Liverpool…

HERBERT HASELTINE 1877 - 1962
MIDDLE-WHITE SOW: WHARFEDALE ROYAL LADY
ESTIMATE $10,000-15,000 USD  SOLD: $43,750

A FRENCH GOLD AND DIAMOND-SET BLONDE TORTOISESHELL CIGARETTE CASE, MAKER'S MARK JD A FLOWER BETWEEN,
EARLY 20TH CENTURY
ESTIMATE: $700-900 USD  SOLD: $6,250

A CHINESE EXPORT SILVER, ENAMEL AND JADE PAGODA-FORM TABLE CLOCK
FIRST HALF 20TH CENTURY
ESTIMATE $500-700 USD  SOLD: $12,500

SET OF THIRTY-FOUR FORNASETTI STOVIGLIE PORCELAIN 'MALACHITE'-GROUND PLATES 1955 
ESTIMATE $1,500-2,500 USD  SOLD: $9,275

A PAIR OF REGENCY STYLE CREAM AND GREEN PAINTED PAGODA-FORM STANDING BOOKCASES
ESTIMATE 2,000-3,000 USD  SOLD: $12,500

SIR CECIL BEATON 1904-1980 PORTRAIT OF BROOKE ASTOR
ESTIMATE 2,000-4,000 USD  SOLD: $11,250

A LARGE GROUP OF CERAMIC OR ENAMEL BOXES AND COVERS 20TH CENTURY  67 pieces.
ESTIMATE 800-1,200 USD SOLD: $6,825

A SUITE OF 18 KARAT GOLD, PLATINUM, DIAMOND AND ONYX JEWELRY,
VAN CLEEF & ARPELS, NEW YORK, CIRCA 1970
ESTIMATE 10,000-15,000 USD  SOLD: $65,000

Some of the pieces went WAY above their estimates, like this one:

or this one:

But this was the big winner of the auction:

Here’s the link to the catalogue so you can browse through and see what things were hammered down for. Everyone loved Mrs. Astor, and the money raised is going to her favourite charities, ones which she supported for years, so it’s all good.

For Sale: My Favourite House…

(Only from the outside though!)

A few years ago, I wrote about a road of houses, all of which I adore. It’s just a few blocks from my current house, and also from the house where I grew up and also where decorator, Billy Baldwin was raised.This house is on the market for the first time in 50 years! One of the most beautiful things about it is its front door – with a Wedgwood blue door and classic urn motif crowning it. I love the barrel vaulted porch with the gorgeous columns and the wood detail above the second-floor windows. All of the houses in this area are loaded with detail. The floor looks to be some sort of parquet and the stairwell is blocked from view by a wooden screen with inset panels, bannisters and windows.

As you might imagine, after being in the same hands for 50 years, some of the features and certainly some of the décor, is very dated. Nearly every inch of this kitchen is covered in a twee sprigged wallpaper and they’ve blocked the original fireplace. I am hoping that the table and chairs are there for show, because there’s barely room for two cups of coffee!There’s perhaps a bit too much of the Williamsburg influence in the house for me, with the plain eight-over-eight windows and simple furnishings. I think that some curtains would really soften the look of these rooms. It does look like the hardware for the rods is still in place. While the dining room has lace curtains, there’s just too much whiteness in this room. Perhaps this was on the real estate agent’s advice?Although there is great detail, you really don’t see it.

The house has six bedrooms and two full and two half baths. I’d love to see if the original baths are still intact. Some of the old baths have great features. I am trying to figure out where this bedroom is located… It almost seems pointless in having a nice long window seat when you can’t see out the windows.It looks like there’s a sun porch or two, with Mexican quarry-tile floors.  It also looks like there’s a bead-board ceiling, but the lights have to go! I do love the door, but it seems sort of commercial with the light and it’s wiring running across the ceiling.

Many of the houses in this neighbourhood are classic shingle-style cottages, originally built before this area was within the city limits. It was country living! There was no air-conditioning then, so these houses have lots of windows for air flow. And this one’s sited at the top of a long hill.The house is on the market for $785,000.  For more images of the house, click here. 

Pumpkin Patch Dispatch: Part 6

With the recent change in weather and drop in temperatures, the pumpkin patch is starting to look a little sad. The leaves have started to wither and die, but that’s meant that I’ve found more pumpkins.These two are each about six inches long, but I rather doubt they will get to a point where they turn orange. You can see how sad things are looking here. Even Connor doesn’t want to see how pitiful it is. Regardless, there are still blossoms every morning and the pumpkins are still growing.A landscape architect friend had some images of the pumpkins she’s picked, so I asked her how to tell when they were ready to be harvested. Apparently, all the green needs to be gone and they need to be a uniform orange colour.Some of the pumpkins are still fairly green.I thought that the sunlight might have something to do with this change, but apparently not.I decided to harvest three of the pumpkins that met the requirement, mainly out of concern that their weight would cause them to fall into the garden and break them. The middle pumpkin was the one that ended up smooshed up against the tomato cages, hence the gouges in it. The one on the left is the most perfect-looking of the lot. My friend says that they need to be cured, but somehow, I don’t think that’s going happen, since you need 80*F temperatures and the equal percentage of humidity… for two weeks!

My gardenia is blooming like crazy now, and I am so lucky to be able to cut some of the blooms and have them around the house. The smell is divine.