Jofa’s Stephen Elrod, Parasol’s Fernanda Niven and her sister, interior designer Eugenie Goodman, the Wall Street Journal’s Marshall Heymann, and Hamptons Cottages & Gardens’s Kendell Cronstrom were spotted mingling under the arbors. Jamie Niven of Sotheby’s led the live auction, with his five-year-old grandson, Nicholas, offering an opening, if accidental, bid for Dash’s “Poetry Pot.” The youngster also bid on a wren birdhouse designed by Lucas Cowart of Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects. About 25 vendors participated in an open-air market, which featured Victoria Amory’s latest condiment collection, Madeline Weinrib’s textiles and pillows, and Seibert & Rice’s Italian terra cotta pots. Deborah Buck and Michael Devine signed their latest tomes, An Invitation to the Garden (Rizzoli) and The Windows of Buck House (Monticelli Press), respec-
Jean Dunand, Jean-Michel Frank, Leleu, Royere, Ruhlmann, and other Art Deco masters. Gerard and his business partner, Benoit Drut, expanded the roster to include contemporary artists such as Claude Lalanne, Achille Salvagni, and Herve Van der Straeten, eventually opening an additional space a few storefronts down from the original gallery. But make no mistake: Maison Gerard events have more of a block-party vibe than that of a fussy art opening thanks to the generous nature of Gerard and Benoit. Both spaces were jammed for cocktail hour with people spilling out onto the street with champagne and cigarettes. On hand for the celebration were Geoffrey Bradfield, Bill Georgis, Richard Marshall, Cynthia Frank, Claiborne Swanson Frank, Michael Boodro, Robert Ruffino, Jim Hedges, Jim Reginato, Sarah Medford, Amy Lau, and Elizabeth Pyne.
as the Olana Partnership’s president, received special recognition. Olana— the 250-acre Persian-style Hudson River estate that belonged to Frederic Church, the famed Hudson River School painter, and his wife, Isabel—was nearly subdivided and destroyed in the ’60s. Today, the partnership seeks not only to protect this space, but also to make accessible the artist’s home and studio to scholars and visitors. The partnership established the awards in 2000 to honor individuals who make an extraordinary contribution to American culture. Among Peter and Katie’s guests were Gerald and Mita Bland, Mish Tworkowski and Joseph Singer, Peter Lyden, and Christopher Gray, who introduced Peter and Katie at the event. (You may know Gray through his column “Streetscapes” in the New York Times.) Despite being stri-
This page, from left, at the Olana Partnership’s Frederic E. Church Awards Gala: Christopher Gray; Morrison and
PAT R I C K M C M U LL A N
Fenella Heckscher; Katie Ridder and Peter Pennoyer; Kip Forbes, Nonnie Frelinghuysen, and Lily Siegelson.
tively. On Saturday, Saz Borghese, Charlotte Moss, Marge Sullivan, Nonie Sullivan, Isabel Smith, and my mother Marcia Schaeffer were among the ladies who attended a garden lecture by Ethne Clarke. Back in town the following week, leading design gallery Maison Gerard celebrated its 40th anniversary on June 18. Founded by Gerard Widdershoven, the East 10th Street gallery has long been a destination for lovers of Jacques Adnet,
The following evening, I was the guest of architect Peter Pennoyer and interior designer Katie Ridder, both of whom were being honored at the Olana Partnership’s “Inside & Out” Frederic E. Church Awards Gala at the New York Public Library. Nonnie Frelinghuysen, who serves as the Anthony W. and Lulu C. Wang Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was being similarly honored and Sara Griffin, who recently stepped down
dent academics, it’s hard to imagine a cuter couple than Peter and Katie. Morrison Hecksher, chairman of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American Wing, introduced the intelligent and elegant Nonnie, while Burn Oberwagner introduced an effervescent Sara. The live auction raised more than $300,000 to endow the president’s chair that Sara has vacated, which will help to ensure a bright future for this historical landmark. u J U LY 2 0 1 4 1 2 1