Veranda January/February 2023

“You need courage to experiment, courage to seek out your own taste and express it, courage to disregard stereotyped ideas and try out your own.”—DOROTHY DRAPER In 1925 Dorothy Draper opened Architectural Clearing House, leaping from hobbyist decorator for her Manhattan neighbors to design shop proprietor—a novel concept in American circles of her time. And she didn’t step with caution. Wielding color as her magic wand, Draper’s ebullient style (shown at full tilt in The Greenbrier’s Victorian Writing Room, which she completed around 1948) shook the staid norms of the day and lives on to inspire our American legends issue, which celebrates our most powerful and steadfast influences in the world of design.…

WHAT MAKES A ROOM TRULY memorable? This was the question we asked ourselves when putting together this issue, a celebration of legendary American design. After sifting through images of storied spaces around the country and recounting our impressions of visiting those that remain, we came up with many elements—art, scale, color, detail, architecture, comfort—that contribute to whether a space leaves a lasting imprint. Still, there was something else the rooms with enduring influence shared—something that transcended formal principles of design. These rooms radiated confidence. Nowhere is that sense of self-assured style better exemplified than at the Americus, Georgia, home of esteemed antiques dealer Furlow Gatewood, who passed away just before this issue went to print. In 2011 Gatewood graciously welcomed VERANDA there, where his discernment for good-looking pieces and how to…

Romantic Reflections Recalling the humble beauty of flickering tapers that once illuminated 18th-century American homes, the Ancram Double sconce celebrates the masterful handiwork of colonial metalworkers; forged iron arms extend from hand-hammered brass plating, easily holding a candle to their historic muses. $869; ralphlauren.com A Nimble Taskmaster Designer W.A.S. Benson’s decorative ambitions might have been fueled by the Arts and Crafts movement, but the Englishman didn’t shun technological wins of the day—especially if they helped amplify elegance. Case in point, his innovative elbow joints brought agility of form to lighting, reimagined today in Hector Finch’s lithe Aubrey desk lamps. To the trade; hectorfinch.com Fretwork and Fluting Par Excellence In a boon for modern porticos, Vaughan’s Hawley lantern resurrects an 1830s antique, adapting its sublime details for outdoors. The original’s tapered fluting and sculptural finial return,…

NO ONE SPIED A TREASURE AS Harry Winston did. At age 12 the jewelry prodigy spotted a 2-carat emerald in a pawn shop costume piece, coolly bought it for 25 cents, and sold it two days later for $800. He was proclaimed King of Diamonds by cracking massive, wily roughs like the risky 726-carat Jonker and chasing historic stones (the Hope Diamond and the Star of the East, among them) for his collection, which represented more than one-third of the world’s most important diamonds. The latest addition to his house’s illustrious resume: the traffic-stopping Winston Legacy Sapphire Necklace. At its royal blue heart is a spectacular 43-carat Kashmir sapphire acquired from Christie’s for more than $6 million in 2020. Liberated from a bracelet setting, the gem now regally dangles as a…

Classical Furnishings FORGED METAL LIGHTING, CURVY WOVEN CHAIRS, AND EVEN A CONCRETE FAUX TABLECLOTH TURN SUNNY ESCAPES INTO ELEGANTLY APPOINTED SALONS. WICKER’S GILDED MOMENT Architect Horace Trumbauer’s conservatory at The Elms in Newport, Rhode Island, (1901) married château-inspired grandeur with humble woven seating. Meanwhile a consortium of French statues mingles along the walls like a cadre of nymphs floating among the palms. A DREAMY CHAISE Lazy garden naps stretch right through to spring in Charlotte Moss’s East Hampton, New York, sitting room, where a pair of French jardinieres oversees a Louis XV chaise covered in her Moroccan-inspired Digby S Tent pattern for Brunschwig & Fils. Grand Urns, Pots, and Statuary FOR GALLERIES THAT MIRROR THE SIZE AND WONDER OF THE FOREST, SCALED-UP TERRA-COTTA, COPPER, AND STONE FORMS MAKE FOR AN INTRIGUING CAST OF CHARACTERS. LANDMARK SKYLIGHT Filtering chromatic light…

CATHERINE “DEEDA” BLAIR The Beautiful Mind The former diplomatic wife and crowning hostess possesses a cerebral, intentional style: Her grisaille, pearlescent digs in Manhattan’s River House, the angular couture of her Givenchy-and-Balenciaga-filled closet, and her iconic bouffant recognizable across Madison Avenue call for monochromatic diamond masterpieces inspired by forward-thinking women and modernist 1950s art. Her latest pursuit? Penning the just-released book Deeda Blair: Food, Flowers & Fantasy (Rizzoli), inviting readers into her luminous world. NANCY “SLIM” KEITH The All-American With her lean, fresh-scrubbed look and dry wit, the California-born model gained social altitude in high-profile liaisons (Gable and Hemingway) and Hollywood marriages (Howard Hawks and Leland Hayward). She conveyed a raw confidence in sinuous couture jackets and toned-down taffeta that required jewels of brazen scale and rarity—Chopard’s Haute Joaillerie necklace, perhaps, with its enviable octagonal…