George Washington

The Best of Architecture Meets Interior Design in 'America's Finest Rooms'

Filed under: Decor, Books, Architecture & Design

Refinement is not about expense, notes Thomas Jayne in his new book "The Finest Rooms in America," a definitive, luxuriously illustrated record of the country's best interior design from the 18th century to the present day. Jayne, a top-drawer interior designer and scholar of American decor, includes a complete cross section of rooms covering a broad range of American periods and styles, beginning with the Tea Room at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.

Tags: American design, American interiors, architecture, best design books, best interior design, best+interior+design+books, bestinteriordesignbooks, books, coffee table books, decor, deign books, Frank Lloyd Wright, George Washington, interior designer, Los Angeles, Monticello, Mount Vernon, Oscar de la Renta, The Finest Rooms in America, Thomas Jayne, Thomas Jefferson, Vizcaya

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Large Auction Features Many Objects Of American History

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

A treasure trove of Americana is up for auction next weekend when the belongings of Andrew Haswell Green go up for sale. Green, who lived from 1820 - 1903, was known as "The Father of Greater New York", helping to bring together the five boroughs of New York City and to create The American Museum of Natural History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Bronx Zoo. The collection is a museum's worth of American history, an incredible find that has antique dealers eagerly scanning the sale's catalogs.

Most of Green's belongings have remained boxed up for over one hundred years. The Boston Glove reports that boxes were only opened after the death of Julia Green, his great-great-grandniece and distant heiress. Thousands of documents, antiques and more will be sold in a four-day auction at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts by R.W. Oliver's auction house. The auction includes a printed copy of George Washington's will (only 13 copies are known to exist) and Presidential letters from Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Jackson.

Over 2,000 lots and items will be sold without reserve. They had been passed down through generations, prized, but virtually untouched, sealed and stored until Julia Green's nephew and niece inherited the boxes and decided to have them assessed. In addition to the documents, the boxes contained Tiffany silver, antique toys and games, vintage clothing from ballgowns to flapper dresses, stamps, and coins. Catalog estimates of individual auction items range from $50 to $50,000 and the entire sale could bring in over $1 million.

Tags: a.h. green, americana, andrew haswell green, george washington, massachusetts, worcester

Washington Portrait, Once Ignored, Now Up For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

I'm a sucker for the priceless piece in the attic stories. I think a lot of people are, it fuels our fantasies that treasure might exist right under our noses. That's certainly the case in the story of Oliver Chanler who paid little attention to a George Washington portrait hanging in his parents library. He assumed that the painting was a copy but found out around 10 years ago that the picture is actually an original Gilbert Stuart. Stuart's paintings of Washington hang in museums around the U.S. and some sell deep in the millions. That won't be true of this one, the smaller piece is up for sale on March 27 through Cottone Auctions in Geneseo, N.Y. with an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. The painting has never been restored or cleaned. Chanler happens to be related to the the United States' first multimillionaire, John Jacob Astor, so the provenance seems assured and it could be possible that Astor was the original owner of the painting. Chanler's great-grandfather, John Winthrop Chanler, who served in the House of Representatives definitely owned the work.

Tags: art, art auction, ArtAuction, george washington, GeorgeWashington, gilbert stuart, GilbertStuart

Subway Co-Founder Buys Things To Give Them Away

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Big Givers

Some collectors wait until they have left this earth to see their treasures head to the museum. Not nuclear physicist and Subway co-founder Peter Buck. He buys things just to give them away. The Washington Post interviews Buck who in 2004 bought one of the world's most stunning rubies and donated it to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in memory of his late wife. The Carmen Lúcia ruby is shown at right. More recently Buck acquired a 224-year-old George Washington letter which will also go to the National Museum of American History spending $250,000 to buy the document and arrange for its care.

Carmen's longtime jeweler Frank Cappiello brokered the beginning of the relationship between the Smithsonian and Buck. The letter Buck purchased was sent in 1785 and was kept in the family of the recipient until recently when it was sold to a dealer who sold it to Cappiello who then sold it to Buck, who hasn't seen the letter in person yet. Buck's generosity inspires a certain amount of envy, many organizations and individuals would love to have access to the ear and wallet of a billionaire. For Buck's part there seems to be pleasure not in as much in acquiring the specific goods but in being able to share them with the visitors to the Smithsonian.

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Tags: big givers, BigGivers, george washington, GeorgeWashington, peter buck, PeterBuck, smithsonian, subway

Good Architecture for a Good Cause in Newport

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Charity, Big Givers

The other day my colleague Alison Wellner reported on Newport, Rhode Island's Cliff Walk controversy over the much disputed public right-of-way. Not everything going on in the famed seaside town is controversial, however; on a brighter note, The George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom just celebrated the opening of the new Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Visitors Center (above), which has won praise for great design complementing its historical context. The Loeb Center is located at Touro Synagogue, the oldest functioning synagogue building in the nation. First dedicated in 1763, it was designed by America's first architect, Peter Harrison.

The Institute's mission is to promote awareness of the historic roots of religious liberty in America. In addition to the Loeb Visitors Center, the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom supports educational and scholarship programs for individuals seeking to learn about and discuss the origins and development of American religious liberties. John L. Loeb Jr. is the Chairman of the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom and is the former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark. Through the Institute, he donated both the land and the new Visitors Center building. The Loeb Center further interprets and celebrates the history and architecture of Touro Synagogue, renowned for its beauty.

The Loeb Visitors Center features interactive, multimedia exhibits exploring the meaning and importance of George Washington's 1790 Letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, the first and clearest presidential expression of support for American's constitutional right to the free exercise of religious belief and the separation of church and state. Writing about the Loeb Center in the Providence Journal, architecture critic David Brussat noted, "It is obviously a classical building, yet it is unlike any other. No work of classicism could possibly depart from canon with greater dignity, hence no building could possibly fit onto a historic street with greater distinction."

Tags: ambassador, Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr., AmbassadorJohnL.LoebJr., architecture, George Washington, George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom, GeorgeWashington, GeorgeWashingtonInstituteForReligiousFreedom, John L. Loeb Jr., JohnL.LoebJr., Newport, religion, Rhode Island, RhodeIsland, synagogue, Touro Synagogue, TouroSynagogue

Hunt Country Style

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Books

Life in the aristocratic Piedmont region of rural Virginia from Middleburg to Charlottesville, known as "Hunt Country," is of course mainly centered around equestrian pursuits. However, the preservation both of open land and historic architecture are of equal importance. Foxhunting has been popular in the area since the late 1740s, when the young George Washington rode to hounds, later establishing his own pack at Mount Vernon.

In a beautiful new book called Hunt Country Style, Kathryn Masson escorts us through some of the prettiest purlieus, including the seat of the Orange County Hunt, with which Jackie Kennedy often rode. While these days (as in any other desirable locale) there's been an influx of new money, for the most part the emphasis is still more on tradition than ostentation.

Click on the gallery below to take a tour of Hunt Country. Tally-ho!

Gallery: Hunt Country Style

Tags: Equestrian, Foxhunting, George Washington, GeorgeWashington, Hunt Country, HuntCountry, Interior design, InteriorDesign, Jackie Kennedy, JackieKennedy, Virginia

Signed Bush Whiskey Fetches Big Bucks

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

More expensive whiskey news. This time it is a relatively new bottle selling for the big bucks. A bottle of George Washington's Straight Rye whiskey, number five of a limited edition of 24 bottles, the first ever made at the distillery of one President and signed by former president George H.W. Bush went for $35,000 at a recent gala. The winning bidder was John R. Frank, Vice Chairman of Sidney Frank Importing Co., a company that imports spirits such as Tommy Bahama rum and Jagermeister. The proceeds benefit Historic Mount Vernon's educational programs. I wonder how much it would have fetched if the current President Bush signed it.

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Tags: george herbert walker bush, george washington, GeorgeWashington, rye whiskey