In 1903, Gilded Age starchitect Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White completed a Manhattan mansion for the newspaper publisher and politician Joseph Pulitzer and his family. While the entire townhouse was spectacular, particular attention was paid to the parlor, and its high ceilings were embellished with decorative plasterwork depicting putti, tambourines, fruit, acanthus leaves, and urns.
A century later, Jean Liu, then 22, was at home in Dallas perusing the online classified property ads. "I am a serial real estate voyeur," she says. She had recently earned a master's degree in theology from Harvard and always dreamed of moving to New York City full-time to be with her friends. It wasn't to happen. Liu was needed at home to pitch in with her father's lighting and ceiling-fan business. Litex Industries, which he founded in 1980 after moving to the United States from Taiwan.
Nevertheless, in the classifieds she spotted a listing for a studio near Central Park on the Upper East Side. The ornate parlor that White had designed for the Pulitzers was now an 800-square-foot flat-possibly the world's most glamorous one-room home. "I saw it on a Thursday and by Saturday I was flying to New York to view it," says Liu.
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Denne historien er fra April 2024-utgaven av Elle Decor US.
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MORE, PLEASE
Eric Hughes joins forces with Standard Architecture to transform two neighboring homes into a sprawling family compound.
SIZED TO FIT
Designer Nannette Brown reimagines a new-build apartment with unexpected depth, character, and texture.
Play It Cool
In balmy Texas, Ashe Leandro brings urbane style and a chill vibe to a home in a historic district.
Mic Drop
For former talk radio star Tom Joyner, Studio Roda creates an oceanfront pleasure pad with out-of-sight views and disco-era glamour.
EYE IN THE SKY
How do you cozy up a Manhattan high-rise? Call designers Hendricks Churchill.
THE JOY OF KØKKEN
In Brooklyn, a writer transforms her kitchen into a space of warmth and connection, blending personal memories with Scandinavian design.
CURTAIN RAISER
ELLE DECOR partners with designers Christine and John Gachot to refresh an iconic lounge at a New York institution, the Metropolitan Opera House.
The Empire Strikes Back - A 19th-century gem in Cambridge, Massachusetts, gets a tour-de-force restoration thanks to Frances Merrill of Reath Design.
Is it possible to simultaneously go back in time and leap forward? This was the challenge a couple set for themselves upon purchasing a salmon-pink 1869 house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, not far from Longfellow House, the National Historic Site that served as George Washington's headquarters during the revolution. We loved all the beautiful old details of this house, the homeowner says.
Just Like That, But Cheaper. -One writer tried to replicate a classic ELLE DECOR interior in his apartment. Could he do it for $500?
It was all about the green curtains. In 2008, to my great surprise, I was offered a ninemonth fellowship based in New York City. I had lived there twice before, both times unsuccessfully, meaning I had failed to create any kind of significant social life, and so this was a chance not only to do research for my new novel, but also an opportunity to get things right. I swore I wouldn't let the city break me a third time.
And How! - Decorator Nick Olsen transforms a Sag Harbor home into a Hamptons retreat with an irreverent humor.
If you must go to the Hamptons, however-because it is devilishly good fun, after all-you may notice an apparently modest, low-slung cottage on Sag Harbor's Main Street and think, with a comfortable sort of feeling, Now that is how a house should look. Nestled amid the Botox bars, helipads, and club-staurants, it could almost set the sordid world aright both a rebuke and a solution to the chaos that surrounds it. A real home.
