in the NEW YORK TIMES, NEW YORK MAGAZINE, ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST, DEPARTURES, TOWN & COUNTRY, THE WORLD OF INTERIORS and AIRMAIL.
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When great American writers go to heaven—or to some infernal rotisserie—their papers generally wind up at the University of Texas at Austin, purchased for princely sums by the Harry Ransom Center. Mindful of this curious literary migration, Tom Wolfe, now 83,
Read MoreSet in the foothills of the Slieve Bloom mountains in County Laois, 60 miles southwest of Dublin, the Neoclassical mansion of Ballyfin was erected in 1827 to trumpet the wealth and prestige of Sir Charles Coote, Premier Baronet of Ireland. When the Coote family fell on hard times after World War I
Read MoreDRESSED in ripped jeans, a black leather jacket and a bandanna wrapped around his unruly mop of black hair, Kohle Yohannan seems an improbable lord of the manor. But there was no mistaking his proprietorial glee on a recent windswept afternoon as he led a tour of his home
Read MoreMOSCOW—A FEW hours after Viktor Melnikov died of cancer at 91 on Feb. 5, his estranged younger daughter and nephew appeared on his doorstep with a retinue of lawyers and bodyguards to try to seize control of his house in the center of this city. “My father’s body was still warm,” Ekaterina Karinskaya, Mr. Melnikov’s elder daughter, recalled bitterly
Read MoreWith his lyrics that satirize the rich, powerful and social of New York and Washington, CHRISTOPHER MASON might seem an incongruous choice for Purim party entertainment.
Read MoreWhen Palm Beach, Florida, was heralded as a subtropical paradise in the early 1900s, Charles Munn Jr., a social arbiter known as Mr. Palm Beach, hired superstar architect Addison Mizner to build a Mediterranean Revival mansion for grand entertaining. The fête set flocked accordingly.
Read MoreAmong the perils of buying a prewar New York apartment are the ravages wrought by previous generations of ambitious owners, who have ripped out original moldings or installed newfangled—but rapidly obsolete—features to keep in step with changing fashions.
Read MoreWhen Mario Buatta drew his last breath at 9:12 p.m. on Oct. 15 at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, the celebrated interior designer, 82, known for his exuberantly colorful work, riotous persona and matching sobriquet, the Prince of Chintz, seemed at peace.
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