Fanuka laundry room is a cool highlight of 2011 Decorator Show House (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
163 East 63rd St. between Lexington & Third Aves.
Daily through May 26, $30
718-893-8600
www.kipsbaydecoratorshowhouse.org
www.kipsbay.org
decorator show house slideshow
Since 1973, the Kips Bay Decorator Show House, in which a group of specially selected designers create dramatic interiors, has raised more than $17 million for the Bronx-based Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club. “The Positive Place for Kids” helps some 12,500 children, primarily between the ages of six and eighteen, reach their potential through adult mentoring and providing safe places for them to gather and grow with their peers, both physically and intellectually. The thirty-ninth annual show house is now open, held in a four-story, ten-thousand-square-foot neo-Federalist-style home on East 63rd St. built in 1919 by architect Frederick Sterner and previously owned by John Hay “Jock” Whitney, the son of Payne and Helen Hay Whitney and brother of Mets cofounder and original owner Joan Whitney Payson. Jock was a philanthropist who served as U.S. ambassador to England, was the owner and publisher of the New York Herald Tribune from 1961 until its demise in 1966, and loved the horses and the movies (as well as several movie stars, it seems). Nearly two dozen design firms have filled virtually every nook and cranny of the residence, from the foyer and the lobby to the staircase and the terrace, supplemented with stunning works of art that turn the mansion into a mini-museum. There’s something for everyone in the show house, including a very pink bedroom by Amanda Nisbet, a dark, creepy-cool office with skeleton by Aurélien Gallet, an ultramod ice-blue laundry room by Fanuka, and a gorgeous Wu Wei garden by Greener by Design. Music aficionados are sure to get a kick out of Brad Ford ID’s stereo lounge, complete with a row of unique wall speakers and a wooden coffee table with a built-in turntable; the room is flanked on either side by terraces from Robert Stilin and Gunn Landscape Architecture, one of which is a lush dream.
Wu Wei garden by Greener by Design offers lovely respite in Manhattan (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Among the many artists whose work has been lent to the show house are Damien Hirst, Gregory Crewdson, Jenny Holzer, Alec Soth, Richard Prince, Jim Dine, Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, Douglas Gordon, Isamu Noguchi, Jean Dubuffet, and many others. The house is open daily through May 26, and there will be a number of special events scheduled during its run. On May 9 at 5:00, Sony’s invitation-only VIP private shopping service, Sony Cierge, will host a technology panel; on May 10 at 6:00, Author’s Night: 2011 Show House Designers and Book Signing will include Celerie Kemble, Annie Kelly, Richard Mishaan, Campion Platt, and Matthew Patrick Smyth; on May 17 at 6:00, Auctions and Antiques — Designers and Developing Trends for Today will be presented by Richard Nelson from Christie’s; on May 19 at 6:00, Leading Women in Design Book Signing features Florence de Dampierre, Wendy Goodman, Victoria Hagan, Charlotte Moss, and Bunny Williams; on May 24 at 6:00, Sony Cierge will be back for Insider Access to Technology Solutions; and on May 25 at 6:00, the cocktail reception An Evening at the Decorator Show House ($100) will raise yet more funds for the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club.