Tea at Trianon: 13 Historic American Houses Every Design Lover Should Visit

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, January 11, 2023

13 Historic American Houses Every Design Lover Should Visit

Rosecliff

From Architectural Digest:

Another must-visit among America’s finest historic houses is Rosecliff, located in Newport, Rhode Island. “Of all the Newport mansions, Rosecliff is by far my favorite,” says designer Lindsey Coral Harper, who fell in love with the city during formative summers escaping New York. The turn of the 20th century home of Theresa Fair Oelrichs, heiress to a silver fortune, was modeled after Versailles’s Grand Trianon and named for the thousands of roses planted along the Cliff Walk. “I am a huge fan of Stanford White architecture and the exterior of this H-shaped building is perfect. The inside is breathtaking—the perfect setting for filming the parties of The Great Gatsby. I always find inspiration for window treatments, valances, and pelmet shapes when walking through.” (Read more.)