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Packed into these pages, we have homes, ranches and land that could change your point of view — and maybe even your future.
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Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty
No one knows Dallas’ desirable Park Cities better. Here, a 1920s icon of Highland Park designed by one of the town’s most notable architects. For more on the Park Cities, see page 66.
14 Making a Statement
Newly daring, bold and colorful rugs are works of art in their own right, says Helen Parton
20 An Eye for Detail
New York architect Michael K. Chen talks to Alex Bozikovic about crafting joyful interiors for a better life
26 Living on the Edge
Toronto’s Harbourfront neighborhood has been transformed into a thriving hub of culture and leisure. Lev Bratishenko reports
34 A Bit of Rouge
Ever heard of “unexpected red”? The new interiors trend is sure to make an impact, says Paula Mejía
38 Surreal City
In the 1940s, Mexico City became a home for surrealism, where artist relationships blossomed, Christopher Alessandrini finds
44 A Certain Glow
Riya Patel meets three lighting designers around the world whose work is driven by artistic sensibilities
50 Past Meets Present
Contemporary art in historic European houses is establishing new cultural dialogues, says Amah-Rose Abrams
Victoria
Everything goes rose-tinted as the trend for salmon-dial watches heats up
10 Design
This fall sees the arrival of Design Mumbai— India’s premium fair for furniture
12 Culture
In Kristiansand, Norway, a new museum creates a cathedral-like space for modernist art
Photos: Anson Smart, Sun Ranch; Brooke Holm.
Reside magazine is published three times per year by Sotheby’s International Realty
Sotheby’s International Realty
Publisher Kristin Rowe
Cultureshock
Editor Nancy Groves (maternity leave)
Acting editor Francesca Perry
Editorial team Rachel Potts, Alex McFadyen, Deniz Nazim-Englund
Sumptuous kitchens are the heart of the home in these properties, from Colorado to Amsterdam
64 Gallery
The finest agents and properties in North Texas
The Gallery Penthouse at HALL Arts Residences in Dallas spans the entire 26th floor of the gleaming 28-story tower and offers four spacious bedrooms, a library, a grand living room, a sleek kitchen outfitted by Bulthaup and Gaggenau, a butler’s pantry and sweeping views of downtown, the Arts District and far beyond.
Far left: A lamp by Lana Launay hangs in the Sun Ranch retreat in Australia’s Byron Bay (page 44). Left: Architect Michael K. Chen’s Nomad Loft embraces color (page 20). Above: In an impressive Colorado property, kitchen windows look out onto the Rocky Mountains (page 58)
INTERIORS
Rural Retreats
Inside Ireland’s incredible heritage homes—from grand castles to country houses
Robert O’Byrne has made a career out of wangling his way into stunning homes. “My life is going around visiting people, whether they want me there or not,” jokes the author and lecturer, whose interest in Irish architectural heritage has generated numerous books—including 2009’s “Romantic Irish Homes”—and a popular blog, “The Irish Aesthete”. He says he knows most of Ireland’s stately homeowners.
O’Byrne’s little black book has now been mined for a handsome new tome. “The Irish Country House: A New Vision” (Rizzoli) documents 15 exceptional properties, ranging from castles to villas, across an array of periods and architectural styles.
There is the stately Summergrove in County Laois, in the heart of the country, with its elegant facade of Venetian and Diocletian windows and interior features such as pedimented doorcases and rococo plasterwork. In County Longford, the Georgian-era Castlecor House includes an octagonal hunting lodge, complete with Corinthian columns, a four-sided fireplace and 19th-century neo-Egyptian stencil work.
The history of Killua Castle, meanwhile —situated one hour outside Dublin—charts how a classical mansion was transformed into a neo-Gothic fortress, and later from wreck to renovation. The process was overseen by the banker Allen SanginésKrause and his wife Lorena, who have also filled the home with their collection of medieval and early Renaissance art.
Killua highlights a unifying theme in the book: all the properties have been chosen to counter the image of Ireland’s grand houses as in decay. “It’s a narrative going back hundreds of years that the Irish country house is on the verge of collapse,” says O’Byrne. “Very often one tends to overplay the decaying, the falling down, the lapsing
into ruin.” With this new book, however, he wants to “tell a positive story,” adding that there are “wonderful properties all over Ireland that are being rescued and restored.”
How the new homeowners are reviving the interiors—from reinstating four-poster beds to adding hand-printed reproduction wallpaper—is an intriguing part of the story, told visually by photographer by Luke White. The 18th-century villa Killoughter, for instance, is enlivened with Irish landscape paintings, hand-colored prints of Dublin and antique wood carvings from the workshop of Dutch sculptor Grinling Gibbons, collected by the owner, former banker and businessman Sir David Davies.
Davies is also the president of the Irish Georgian Society, whose aim is to “conserve, protect and foster an interest and a respect for Ireland’s architectural heritage.” This book shows how dedicated individuals are bringing such an endeavor to life by reimagining the country’s landmarks, and making them newly relevant.
Victoria Woodcock is a writer covering design, craft and art
Historic Beauty
In the late 16th century, the Irish Gaelic MacEgan clan built Killaleigh Castle in what is now County Tipperary. By the 1700s, however, changing tastes resulted in the owners at that time—the Sadlier family—building a grand new manor adjacent to the castle as their primary residence: Sopwell Hall. Thought to have been designed by architect Francis Bindon in 1745, the estate is an impressive example of the early Georgian style. Inside, a high-ceilinged reception hall with classical arches is complemented by a carved wooden staircase and sienna scagliola marble columns. The current owner, an expert in 17th-century antiques, has spent years restoring the 10-bedroom house. Now, both the manor and the castle—set in 300 luscious acres of woodland and park—are available for a new owner to enjoy, stewarding history into the future.
Price upon request
Property ID: 4T3PL2
sothebysrealty.com
Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty
David Ashmore +353 1 662 4511
Clockwise from far left: The music room at Killua Castle; “The Irish Country House: A New Vision” by Robert O’Byrne (Rizzoli); An ornate Victorian chimneypiece in Summergrove
WATCHES
Rosy Appeal
A fresh twist on classic design led to a collecting craze for salmon-dial timepieces
The color pink is a magnet for opinions: everyone has feelings about it. Depending on the shade, the color can bring up feelings of frivolity, rebellion, seduction or even emotional sensitivity (e.g., blushing is defined as “becoming pink in the face from embarrassment”). Suffice to say, pink has many connotations in our culture. Yet when this hue appears on a watch dial, it is immediately recognized by those in the know for its unconventional charm and elusive status.
Pink dials are rose gold in tone, ranging from rust-colored to dusty rose pink, commonly referred to as “salmon” in the world of horology. This palette has been considered gender neutral and sophisticated since the 19th century.
An alloy of pure 24-carat yellow gold, copper and silver in jewelry creates this pinkish hue, once called Russian gold because of its popularity in the region.
Rose gold’s jewel tone pervaded art and jewelry during the art deco period, influencing notable watch manufacturers including Rolex, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Patek Philippe to produce their blush-colored dials in the 1930s and 1940s. These distinctive movements may appeal to a select few, but they have graced the wrists of some of the most discerning customers ever since. Perhaps because of their unique and pleasing color scheme—evoking elements of the past while remaining decidedly modern—this once niche category of watches is finding favor with many enthusiasts today.
Designers have historically used the dial as a canvas to differentiate themselves from the competition. Salmon dials add another dimension of appeal for today’s buyers since it is unlikely anyone else will have quite the same timepiece. While these watches may not be as common as their silver- or black-dial counterparts, Leigh Safar, Sotheby’s global head of Important Collections, Watches, does not anticipate this color trend going away soon. “Based on what we are seeing in the market, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they always achieve an incredible price,” she says. “They’re rare but still very neutral.”
Since World War I, the wristwatch, a technological feat accompanied by the craftsmanship and materials of fine jewelry, has been generally perceived as a masculine accessory. Safar believes the aesthetics and collectibility of these watches make them popular with men and a small but growing number of women collectors.
Unusual shades in the watch world are nothing new, but the first tone-on-tone examples of rose-gold dials and rose-gold bezels are some of the most sought-after watches today. For example, a salmon-faced Patek Philippe reference 1518 chronograph watch from 1948, once belonging to the prince of Egypt, sold at Sotheby’s for $9.6 million in 2021, making it the most expensive watch sold in the auction house’s history or anywhere else on the market that year. Patek Philippe’s production has always been famously scarce: this esteemed crème-de-la-crème watchmaker produces just 62,000 watches annually.
Today many collectors are interested in salmon dials with contrasting white metal cases, especially stainless steel, introduced in Rolex’s Bubbleback and Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso during the 1930s. Some contemporary iterations of these classics are also designed with salmon dials, elevating conventional pieces with their atypical coloration.
While salmon-faced watches are still considered rare, they are no longer gatekept. Diverse watch collectors of all ages are discovering the appeal of this unexpected hue in both vintage and contemporary styles. Iconic brands such as A. Lange & Söhne, Audemars Piguet and Montblanc, to name just a few, have taken notice and released limited quantities of pink watches. Moreover, the color is complementary to various skin tones and is said to have a calming effect on people. With that in mind, it is easy to see how a beautifully crafted salmon dial works like a balm for the spirit.
Suzy Katz is a New York-based writer
Left: A 1948 Patek Philippe reference 1518 pink-gold perpetual-calendar chronograph watch with moon phases sold at Sotheby’s New York in 2021 for $9.6 million
Above: A contemporary contribution to the salmon-dial market is A. Lange & Söhne’s Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon watch
DESIGN
Mumbai Calling
This fall, the world’s most prominent brands—and exciting emerging designers—are set to converge in India’s largest city for the inaugural Design Mumbai fair
Mumbai is home to some of the best furniture, lighting and decor brands in India, and this year the city welcomes its first major design fair, cementing its place as the country’s design capital. The four-day Design Mumbai, taking place November 6-9, hosts more than 150 local and global brands. The show, as touted by co-founders Piyush Suri, Ian Rudge and Michael Dynan, will reflect India’s growing prominence on the global design map. “More design schools are training skilled professionals, and
collaborations between Indian and international firms are bringing forth new ideas, making Mumbai a vibrant and dynamic design destination,” says Suri.
Some of the most sought-after international names in design will be present at the fair—including Zaha Hadid Design, Louis Poulsen and Poltrona Frau—but there will also be many Indian designers and studios. Here’s a spotlight on three local talents at Design Mumbai that are changing the landscape of design in the country.
Morii
Indian crafts are at the forefront of this Gandhinagar-based fabrics studio: its handembroidered textiles highlight traditional techniques expressed in contemporary designs. Made using locally sourced raw materials, the fabrics are carefully transformed into stunning wall art for the home. The studio works with embroidery communities in villages around the country. “We collaborate with craftspeople and have been training them to produce their best work,” says Morii founder Brinda Dudhat. The resultant intricate, sustainable textiles depict abstract, organic patterns in a range of gentle and bold hues.
Two of Morii’s handembroidered abstract wall art pieces
Photos: Umang Shah; Hansraj Dochaniya; The Wicker Story.
Objectry
Simple objects can be timeless and appealing—this is the philosophy of Objectry, a Delhi-based studio founded by designer Aanchal Goel. Its products, from chairs and tables to clocks and lamps, attempt to bring elegance to everyday things. Although each piece is handmade—using materials such as wood, ceramic and cane—there is no roughness or irregularity: all products
display clean lines and crisp edges. “Our design ethos is a harmonious blend of contradictions and nostalgia, deeply rooted in the richness of Indian heritage,” says Goel. “Our journey began with a love for materials and a drive for exploration, resulting in products that bring a unique aesthetic into homes. When people visit our studio, we want them to experience discovery and joy.”
The Wicker Story
Started by Priyanka Narula, the principal partner at Hyderabad-based architecture and design practice Prelab, The Wicker Story harnesses sustainable materials to create highconcept wicker designs, produced using digital processes. The first piece launched was Imli Bench, a cocoon-like form made with rattan. Over time, Narula has continued to explore the versatility of rattan—a lightweight and flexible material that can be manipulated into many forms—and wicker as a weaving tool, to create furniture and decorative sculpture in complex, curved forms. By merging craft and parametric design, the studio balances the creativity of the past with the possibilities of the future. Aditi Sharma is an editor specializing in design, art and architecture
Ball Tripod Chairs, crafted in solid wood, designed by Objectry
Right: Priyanka Narula, founder of The Wicker Story, with her studio’s fluid rattan lamp
CULTURE
North Star
A spectacular new home for Nordic modernist art
In 2015 the investor Nicolai Tangen decided to donate his extensive art collection to his hometown of Kristiansand in southern Norway, so it could be showcased in a public gallery. Consisting of more than 5,000 works, it is the largest collection of Nordic modernism in the world and includes works by the Danish painter Franciska Clausen and Swedish artist Otto Gustaf Carlsund.
To house the collection Tangen selected a derelict grain silo on the island of Odderøya, to the south of Kristiansand’s historic center. With financing from the city council and Tangen’s AKO Art Foundation, the 1930s
concrete structure was transformed into a new art museum: Kunstsilo.
The building is an early example of functionalist architecture in Norway and provides a fitting backdrop for works in the Tangen Collection, whose experiments with form and expression echo the distinctive architecture. The building’s transformation was overseen by architects Mestres Wåge Arquitectes, BAX and Mendoza Partida, who created a triple-height foyer in the cathedrallike central hall, with views up to the top of the grain silos. Exhibition spaces are arranged around the central area across three floors.
Kunstsilo, a new art museum in Kristiansand, Norway
On permanent display is Marianne Heske’s “Gjerdeløa”, 1980, one of the Norwegian artist’s best-known conceptual works. Heske dismantled, moved and reconstructed a 350-year-old wooden cabin from her home village for an exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Other notable names in the collection include the Swedish artist Gösta Adrian-Nilsson, whose 1915 painting “The white and the blue sailor” exemplifies his early connection with German avant-garde circles, as well as the Danish situationist Asger Jorn.
Else-Brit Kroneberg, Kunstsilo’s head of collections, explains there is a strong focus on non-figurative and abstract art in the Tangen Collection’s works from the 1950s and 1960s, while the art from the following decades often contains more overtly political messages, such as critiques of the Vietnam War. “They were protesting, they were expressing themselves in new ways, and they didn’t paint as others painted,” says Reidar
Fuglestad, the chief executive of Kunstsilo. Kroneberg believes the pan-Nordic scope of the collection is rare and because it includes works from several decades of the artists’ careers, it shows how they evolved.
“The Tangen Collection is deep rather than wide,” she says. “And thus enables new interpretations rather than reinforcing notions. It provides an opportunity to show how diverse and varied modern art is.”
Alongside the Tangen Collection, Kunstsilo also houses the Christianssands Picture Gallery collection, established in 1902, which contains works by Norwegian painters Edvard Munch and Christian Krohg, as well as the regional and contemporary craft-focused Sørlandet Art Collection. Together, says Fuglestad, these varied holdings can “tell a regional history” of the Nordic countries through art.
MZ Adnan is a writer based in London. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Wallpaper* and Plaster
More than 5,000 Nordic modernist works from the collection of Nicolai Tangen form the museum’s collection
Franciska Clausen, “Contrastes des formes”, 1927
STATEMENT MAKING a
What’s underfoot needn’t be square, says Helen Parton, as rug design gets bright and bold
Iwas inspired by what was outside: the grasses, the clouds, the steel color of the skies,” begins photographer Douglas Friedman, describing the view from his desert retreat in Marfa, Texas, which formed the basis of his Atlas collection of rugs for design studio Kyle Bunting.
The collection plays with the idea of circles and rectangles in its striking patterns. The colorways, influenced by the desert landscape, range from creams and burnt oranges to green, black and dark blue.
With the collection, Friedman joins a burgeoning raft of artistic visionaries expressing themselves through the canvas of rug design. Far from blending in underfoot, these rugs form bold artistic statements using graphic motifs and dramatic color palettes.
The interior of the Friedman Ranch is a riot of color and texture—enhanced by the Atlas collection of rugs found throughout— forming a perfect contrast to the minimalist glass box-like architecture. “They really help to delineate the space, creating these ‘islands’ from the kitchen to the living room and the library,” Friedman explains.
“Rugs help designers build the aesthetic of a room from the ground up,” says Kyle Bunting, a former TV executive turned purveyor of patchwork cowhide designs. After he and Friedman became acquainted over cocktails in New York, Bunting—whose studio is based in Austin—visited the photographer’s Marfa retreat, sealing the deal for the collaboration.
Thousands of miles away on a quiet north London street, Sonya Winner runs her eponymous design studio. Having worked as a graphic designer and photographer, it was during the recuperation from a serious accident in 2007 that the potential of rugs became apparent for her. “Rugs have a massive effect on a room,” she says. “When you open the door to my home, the first thing you see is this statement of yellows, crimsons, reds, purples; lots of clashing colors.”
Her Sonia and Sonya rug collection perfectly embodies her design ethos, which in this instance took its cues from the colorful artwork by French artist Sonia Delaunay, co-founder of the early20th-century orphism movement. Winner’s pieces feature circular motifs in bright hues of pink, blue, green and orange, giving a sense of movement and mischief to an interior.
“ RUGS HELP BUILD THE AESTHETIC OF A ROOM FROM THE GROUND UP ”
Working with artisans in India and Nepal also shaped Winner’s creative thinking. “They can cut rugs into any shape you want, using any color: some of my designs have more than 80 colors,” she says. “I’ve learned how to request a certain twist of yarn, so that it reflects the light in the way I want, even experimenting with tufting or knotting. I feel as if this is a crossover between art and design.”
CC-Tapis, an Italian design company producing handmade rugs, has been working with artists and designers for more than 20 years. Among its notable collaborators is Spanish architect and designer Patricia Urquiola; one of her many collections for the company, Venus Power, is characterized by cartoon cloud-like shapes with thick border lines, in color combinations of blue, pink and green.
British designer Bethan Laura Wood’s Super Fake collection, meanwhile, is inspired by the collision of the man-made with nature—in this case, rock forms that have built up with sediment. The results are dramatic patchworks of slices of orange, lilac and blue, fashioned into eclectic silhouettes. Both these collections, much like Winner’s irregular-shaped work, radically redefine the idea that a rug should be a simple oval, square or rectangle in form.
Harlequin, a series of rugs by textile designer Kangan Arora for London-based company Floor Story, is dominated by a bold repeated diamond check pattern. “The starting point was an obsession with the geometric Indian cosmic yantras (astrological diagrams), the ‘Ichimatsu’ check pattern I learnt about during my travels in Japan, and the eye-catching graphics of modernist op art,” she says. “The color application is where things get interesting, with the ‘regular’ pattern deconstructed and reassembled.”
Previous page: Campbell Rey’s rug series for Nordic Knots, at Copenhagen’s Thorvaldsens Museum
This page: Douglas Friedman’s desert-inspired Atlas collection (left and above left) designed for Kyle Bunting; Super Rock Moon (above right) by Bethan Laura Wood for CC-Tapis
Designer Patricia Urquiola with one of her Venus Power rugs for CC-Tapis
Right: Indian and Japanese traditions inspired the bold, colorful check pattern in Kangan Arora’s Harlequin rug for Floor Story
“ THEY SIT AT THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN ART, CRAFTSMANSHIP, MATERIALITY AND COLOR ”
Another Floor Story creator, the artist and designer Adam Nathaniel Furman, is known for their passionate embrace of color and pattern. A recent creation, Meandros, was inspired by summer holidays in the Mediterranean and “that sense of freedom, lightness and joy that was connected with ancient beauty and ruins,” says Furman. Meandros harnesses the geometry of the Greek key pattern, elevated to achieve more drama through a 3D-like effect.
Garden Maze, a design from studio Campbell-Rey for Swedish textile firm Nordic Knots, also features a gridlike pattern creating a three-dimensional play on perspective; an optical illusion in bold blue or green. It is one of three designs that the studio, run by Duncan Campbell and Charlotte Rey, has created for the company, taking cues from Nordic neoclassicism and expressing these in jewel-like colors. Folding Ribbon features an eye-catching zigzag motif in orange on a rich ruby red background, while Climbing Vine is defined by a border of stylized, spiky foliage. “Rugs offer everything you can possibly want in an artistic scheme—they sit at the intersection between art, craftsmanship, materiality and color,” says Campbell.
Rugs are increasingly not just reserved for floors, making a statement elsewhere in the home, too—displayed on walls or even used as headboards. “Some of our clients have started asking for a vertical solution,” says Bunting. “You might approach a rug from different angles, passing by or looking straight at it; it’s a completely different dynamic.” Winner also points to the positives of rugs as wall hangings: “They are really good for soaking up sound, something you don’t get with a piece of art. Rugs also have that beautiful tactile quality to them.”
Freed from the constraints of neutral colorways or regular shapes, contemporary designers have let their creative energies flow with the modern rug. Whether laid on the floor or hung on the wall, rugs are now artworks in their own right, bringing a sense of intrigue and fun to the home—perhaps in unexpected ways. 0 Helen Parton is a design journalist
AN EYE for detail
Material innovation, quality craftsmanship and pops of color are at the heart of New York architect Michael K. Chen’s interiors, says Alex Bozikovic
Michael K. Chen designs in full color. The New York architect’s houses and flats are splashed with grapefruit-hued plaster walls, avocado kitchens and cerulean ceilings. For Chen and his practice, Michael K. Chen Architecture (MKCA), color—as well as texture and the marks of handcraft— are parts of life, and therefore they belong in a home.
“We are lovers of color, and we are unapologetic about it,” Chen says. “In many cases, our clients know this about us, and they seek it out.”
Two impulses are central to the work of MKCA: a visual sensibility that departs from less-is-more asceticism in favor of variety and heterogeneity, and a genuine engagement with the fine details of domestic life. The interdisciplinary practice specializes in homes, ranging from Manhattan interior remodels to newly built houses on rural sites.
In one recent Manhattan apartment, dubbed Nomad Loft after its neighborhood, MKCA transformed a 200-square-meter zone of old industrial space for a couple with a taste for technicolor. A curving, limewashed partition in grapefruit orange frames the entry door and a coat closet; towards the center of the building, hunter-green linoleum and a heavily marbled onyx slab bring gravity to the kitchen.
In Clinton Hill, a remodel of a rundown 1895 house in Brooklyn, Chen’s team drew inspiration from the vivid colors they found on its crumbling plaster. The finished product is characterized by monochromatic blocks: a terracotta pink in the living room, a pale blue stair, and a pantry in oxblood red. On the parlor floor, 2,800 tiles in 17 custom colors transition from black, white and blue to green and pink in the kitchen.
Specifying custom tiles is not unusual for MKCA. North American designers often make a clear distinction between architecture and interiors; for Chen, that line is non-existent. “We are very focused on craft,” he says. “We think hard about detail, about processes of making, and we look for novelty and innovation.”
This often involves collaboration with other designers. In its Carnegie Hill Apartment, MKCA reinvents a labyrinth of a grand apartment for a family of five. Some of its most striking features are designed by other hands. MKCA engaged the sculptor Christopher Kurtz to create a four-meter-long dining table; its
Previous page: Architect and MKCA founder Michael K. Chen
Below: Chen’s colorful redesign of a brownstone in Clinton Hill
Right: An impressive slab of marbled onyx in the kitchen of Nomad Loft
“ WE ARE LOVERS OF COLOR, AND WE ARE UNAPOLOGETIC ABOUT IT
undulating surface of carved aluminum rests on a similarly formed base of cherrywood. “The clients eat at that dining table every night,” says Chen, “but they also entertain formally, so the table can expand to seat 14 people.”
A custom chandelier by Brooklyn’s Ladies & Gentlemen Studio hangs from the ceiling, curving metal plates dangling like an Alexander Calder sculpture. Thanks to custom hardware by the architects, the light can swing toward the center of the room, addressing a larger group at the table. “There’s a beautiful choreography in that room,” Chen says. “It’s not just about the architecture. There are so many other voices and authors in the room, all working together.”
The apartment’s central corridor reveals Chen’s commitment to craft. A steady rhythm of cerused white-oak panels marches along the corridor with classical pomp. This conceals mechanical systems and hidden doors, but is also decorative. The terrazzo floors, meanwhile, are inset with thin curving brass spacers that follow routes of travel and the swing of doors, transforming these patterns of everyday life into an evocative lattice of curving lines. Even the floor of a corridor can be a design project and a venue for beauty.
Elsewhere in the home, the principal bathroom features another Chen signature: highly figured natural stone, used sparingly. The pink Byzantine onyx of the custom vanity is marbled with veins of gray granite. It is used as a feature rather than all over, a recognition by the architects that natural stone often comes with a long trail of environmental impacts.
“ IF OWNERS ARE BUILDING A HOME, THEY WANT THAT HOME TO REFLECT THEIR VALUES ”
On a nearly complete new project, a country home north of New York called Watershed House, MKCA has engaged with a local family-run quarry to deliver green serpentine marble for the interior and the facade. This colorful stone, a 1980s favorite, has fallen out of fashion. Chen wishes to bring it back, and in so doing spur a local business that can deliver stone from a few miles away rather than from further afield, avoiding the extensive carbon cost that international transportation entails.
Likewise, Chen’s design practice is working with a local hardwood species, black locust, which is rarely used in architectural applications. It is very stable and solid, making it an ideal material to use in interiors, but since the tree is an invasive in the New York region, it is being cut down and its wood sometimes discarded. Chen sees great value in transforming this cast-off local material into an ingredient of a beautiful home.
Not every designer cares as deeply about the material supply chain as they do about the right choice of light fixture. Chen does, and he says this ethos is shared by his studio. “We think about the technical dimension of architecture and the intricacies of an interior simultaneously,” he says. “The same hands and the same minds are doing all this work.”
To Chen’s mind, a home should respect the priorities of the people who live there, not only in an aesthetic sense but in an ethical one. The Watershed House’s clients care about the environmental impact of their home, Chen says, and this opens the door to a mindful architecture, a strong conversation, and ultimately a more meaningful place. “If they’re building a home, they want that home to reflect their values,” Chen says. “And that is something that we care deeply about as well.” 0
Alex Bozikovic is a Toronto-based architecture critic
Left: The powder room in the Carnegie Hill apartment is fitted with a Cassiopeia marble vanity
Below: White-oak panels and a terrazzo floor with inlaid brass details, in Carnegie Hill’s entrance hall
LIVING ON the edge
From industrial port to livable cultural center, Toronto’s Harbourfront has seen a stunning transformation. The changes keep coming, says Lev Bratishenko
Ahundred years ago, Toronto’s Harbourfront was a bustling and dirty port full of noise and industrial activity. Ships hauling cargo frequented a landscape of huge wooden wharves and smokestack chimneys overlooking Lake Ontario.
Although Toronto surpassed Montreal as Canada’s leading city in the 1970s, its industrial decline meant this waterfront district needed new purpose, starting an ambitious process of transformation into an area for recreation and culture. A renovated quay opened as the Harbourfront Centre in 1982, which remains a leading venue for festivals, performances, film screenings and exhibitions to this day.
Over the years, several waves of investment have reshaped the area from a barren landscape to a pleasant, green and magnetic destination, helping the lake to become a much bigger part of Toronto’s daily life. More than 100 acres of parkland and public spaces lining the water are being created—by Waterfront Toronto, a public-private partnership established in 2001—and around 20 mixed-use developments are currently planned or proposed in the area, in the latest chapter for Canada’s most dynamic real estate market. The metamorphosis includes a batch of skyscrapers that will redefine the skyline—literally changing the face of the city.
Many leading designers have already contributed to turning Harbourfront into a leafy leisure and lifestyle destination. Landscape
designer Julie Moir Messervy collaborated with world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma to create the verdant Toronto Music Garden. Dutch landscape architecture firm West 8 reconnected the chopped-up waterfront wharves, adding charming promenades and parks, rippling timber decks, graceful boardwalks and petite piers for pleasure boats. Parallel to this restored waterfront is a world-class civic corridor that, on sunny days, zips with cyclists and pedestrians. West 8 designed the generous 18 kilometer-long Water’s Edge Promenade, a granite walkway planted with native maple trees, and a wooden boardwalk cantilevered over the water which is flanked by two parks. To the west, it leads to Ontario Place—a 1980s architectural archipelago used as entertainment and event venues—and the long public beaches beyond it. To the east, it leads
Previous page: Where vertiginous skyscrapers meet still water: Toronto’s waterfront
This page, clockwise from top left: A playful timber deck designed by West 8; The design of the Toronto Music Garden is inspired by “The First Suite for Unaccompanied Cello” by Johann Sebastian Bach; the waterfront in 1945
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to Sugar Beach. Named after the adjacent Redpath Sugar Refinery, this is one of several parks designed by Montreal-based Claude Cormier + Associés (CCxA). The two-acre site was transformed from a parking lot into a sandy urban beach and features pink sun umbrellas, always in high demand on a hot day, and raised vantage spots to watch what’s happening on the lake.
A MUCH
THE LAKE IS
BIGGER PART OF TORONTO’S DAILY LIFE
Elsewhere along the central waterfront, the firm also designed HtO urban beach, decorated with grassy hills and a sandy beach extending along the water’s edge. The park is dotted with yellow umbrellas and playful editions of the iconic “Muskoka” chairs—outdoor wooden lounge chairs you’ll find at any Canadian cottage. More recently, the firm opened Love Park, where an off-ramp of the nearby expressway once stood. This ambitious vision of taking obsolete infrastructure, redesigning it and opening up its full potential echoes the spirit found all over the neighborhood. Bringing positivity right after the pandemic, Love Park centers on a whimsical heart-shaped pond that’s ringed by mosaics and studded by bronze animal sculptures including, naturally, a beaver.
In the summers, the whole city flocks to the cool lakefront breezes, and this series of outdoor spaces hosts family picnics and gatherings, night markets, as well as the literary, film and performance festivals that Toronto is celebrated for—including the Toronto Waterfront Festival and its fleet of tall ships.
One of the cornerstones of the waterfront’s cultural activity is The Power Plant, originally a 1920s coal-burning powerhouse that reopened in 1987 as a public gallery dedicated to contemporary art. It has presented more than 100 exhibitions since, including a program of commissions of new work by leading artists, and hosts Toronto’s annual arts gala, the Power Ball. The Power Plant is also at the heart of this year’s Toronto Biennial of Art (September 21December 1), a celebration of contemporary art that takes over the city. Entitled “Precarious Joys”, this edition of the biennial features acclaimed artists Sonia Boyce and Cecilia Vicuña, alongside rising names such as Dineo Seshee Bopape, whose work will be shown in a solo show at The Power Plant.
But it’s not just parks and culture: the central waterfront is also becoming a fine dining destination. A particular highlight is Don Alfonso 1890, which found a new home in 2022 on top of the 38-story Westin Harbour Castle hotel. Celebrated as one of the best Italian restaurants in the world outside of Italy,
Claude Cormier + Associés (CCxA)
it is the only North American restaurant by three-time Michelin-starred chef Alfonso Iaccarino, one of the originators of the farm-totable movement. Decorated in pale, muted tones, the restaurant design centers on the panoramic views of the city and lake through floor-toceiling windows. Attention is also consumed by the exquisitely prepared food, which ranges from interpretations of classics like Muscovy duck and roasted red snapper to edgy concoctions such as savory eel gelato and sturgeon caviar on wild rose-scented tagliatelle.
New restaurants such as these—as well as homes and cultural spaces—will continue to emerge along Harbourfront. The next focus of development is an area called Quayside, with a vision for a sustainable and mixed-use neighborhood emerging just past Sugar Beach. It will turn a pocket of low-rise offices, parking lots and industrial remnants into a livable district with diverse amenities. There are set to be more than 4,000 new apartments, with a two-acre “community forest” running through the complex, alongside a multi-use arts venue.
Quayside’s architectural highlights will include The Western Curve, designed by Canadian-British architect Alison Brooks as a 70-story, 894-unit swoop of cylindrical forms, and Timber House, a gridded tree-house slab by Adjaye Associates with Toronto practice Architects—Alliance. It will be one of Canada’s largest mass timber buildings—a design innovation that promises to meet sustainability goals by using wood for a building’s main structure, drastically cutting its carbon footprint. Timber House will also feature more than a square kilometer of rooftop urban farms for residents, linked by a suspended pedestrian bridge. Then there’s the 64-story Overstory, a bronzed residential cake slab (with a twist) by Danish firm Henning Larsen Architects.
Quayside will be fully electrically powered, built with sustainability and extreme weather resilience as first principles, and feature a Community Care Hub promoting physical and mental wellbeing for residents, including daycare, seniors’ services and medical services. The area is abuzz with plans for more developments, including a new rapid transit line which, once built, will make this newest part of Harbourfront an even more appealing place to live. 0 Lev Bratishenko is a Canada-based writer
Right: The Power Plant contemporary art gallery hosts part of this year’s Toronto Biennial of Art
Below right: Farm-to-table cuisine at Don Alfonso 1890
Sky-High Lifestyle
Leading international architecture firm KPF designed the Ritz-Carlton Toronto as a soaring, glazed skyscraper in the heart of the city’s entertainment district, adjacent to the iconic CN Tower and overlooking both Harbourfront and the peaceful Lake Ontario beyond. The residences occupy the upper 30 floors of the 53-story tower, above the five-star hotel below. This 6,000 square-foot condominium comprises three luxurious bedrooms, five bathrooms, an office, 1,000-bottle wine cellar, generous open-plan living and entertaining spaces, and 180-degree panoramic views of the city and lake through floor-to-ceiling windows.
The cool, calm interior has been fitted with the highest quality design finishes, including millwork from acclaimed Italian brand Poliform. Residents have access to top-notch amenities including a fitness center, indoor pool, screening room, outdoor terrace and an exclusive spa—as well as the sumptuous restaurants and bars of the hotel.
$17,153,285
Property ID: KCEVFV sothebysrealty.com
Sotheby’s International Realty Canada Andy Taylor +1 416 994 2118
A bit of ROUGE
The “unexpected red ” trend—a burst of the color in an otherwise neutral space—is coming to an interior near you , says Paula Mejía
When the Brooklyn-based interior designer Taylor Migliazzo Simon takes on a new project, her first step often involves turning to Pinterest to stoke visual inspiration. Recently she was scrolling through the image-sharing social media service, trawling for ideas that might work for her clients. While absent-mindedly saving images, she eventually realized an unusual pattern that kept turning up again and again in her findings.
Migliazzo Simon, who admittedly favors textured tones and neutrals over typically bright colors, started noticing that many of these tasteful rooms that had caught her eye featured a single touch of red within them—anything from the subtle burgundy shade of a throw blanket, to a cherry-red picture frame or a scarlet-toned accent wall. To her, the inclusion of that single color made the space come together in an idiosyncratic way, even if the particular aesthetic varied wildly from, say, Brutalism to maximalism. “All of these rooms have that pop of red that looks really good and really intentional,” she remembers thinking.
After she noticed the trend on Pinterest, she began seeing it everywhere in her daily life. A stranger’s maroon-tinged socks peeking out under their pants on the subway. A pair of red shoes clomping down the sidewalk. A hint of shimmering red lipstick, a noticeable shock on an otherwise neutral outfit.
From these observations Migliazzo Simon developed her “unexpected red theory,” which she documented in a subsequently viral TikTok video. In it, she defines the theory as “basically adding anything that’s red, big or small, to a room where it doesn’t match at all and it automatically looks better.”
As an example, Migliazzo Simon showed an image of a modern take on a 1980s-era bathroom—with gold faucets and blue-green marbled tones— with red sinks lending a chic albeit unconventional feel to the washroom. “I feel that if you’re including that unexpected red in your wardrobe or your home, it’s a choice,” Migliazzo Simon says. “Almost tongue in cheek.”
Throughout history, red has been regarded as a maximalist hue signaling at once emotive passion and danger in the natural world. Studies have even
Left: In this home designed by Vellum Studio, an abstract red painting by Marisa Purcell counterbalances the neutral interior
“ THE INCLUSION OF THAT SINGLE COLOR MAKES THE SPACE COME TOGETHER IN AN IDIOSYNCRATIC WAY ”
shown that the color red is a potent marker of guiding attention within humans, even capable of impacting motor abilities. So it’s fitting that red similarly draws the eye in a design context.
The unexpected red theory is particularly well-suited to interiors, where countless design accents can enliven a space. But it doesn’t have to be solely relegated to interior design. A chunky, 18-karat yellow gold ring engraved with red insignias, for instance, or the striking coral of a stella-dial Rolex Day-Date watch can elevate a look to give it an irreverent and stylish feel.
The most important tip Migliazzo Simon can offer when applying the unexpected red theory—for styling artworks, thinking of accent design elements and within personal wardrobe choices alike—involves going into it with the right attitude. By including a potentially polarizing color like red, “you’re clearly making that decision and you’re making a bold choice to stand out,” she says. “That applies with interiors as well. You can’t be shy if you’re going to add a bold color like that, especially.”
The use of red within design circles can be contentious, of course, as it’s hardly a neutral tone. Migliazzo Simon says that clients of hers in the past have been skeptical about taking the step of using a bold red in their homes. Yet this design choice can often be surprising and result in intentional-looking spaces and sartorial proclivities alike. “If you’re choosing to do a red lampshade that would normally be beige, or if you’re doing a red rug that would normally be tan,” she says as an example, “it shows that you’re confident in what you’re wearing and what you decorate your home with.” 0
Paula Mejía is a writer based in Los Angeles
Below: A two-tone lacquer side table in red and off-white by London-based Studio Atkinson
Right: A statement doubleheight red door at the Carbon Beach House in Malibu, designed by Olson Kundig
Photos: Nicole Franzen; Felix Speller; Joe Fletcher.
SURREAL CITY
In the 1940s, creatives fleeing Europe found a home in Mexico’s capital, comingling with local artists to produce some of the most enchanting surrealist art, says Christopher Alessandrini
What conditions made Mexico City such fertile ground for the surrealists? In 1936, while planning a visit, French writer and surrealism co-founder André Breton asked the Guatemalan writer and diplomat Luis Cardoza y Aragón for an introduction to the city’s dynamic cultural scene. Aragón’s famous reply painted the metropolis in an appealingly mystical light: “We live in a land of convulsive beauty, the land of edible delusions,” he wrote. “A place for the mutable, the disturbing… in short, a land of dream, unavoidable by the surrealist spirit.”
Soon after, Breton moved there with his wife, the painter Jacqueline Lamba, and surrealism found its second home. The City of Palaces would soon play host to a cast of European expatriates who fled fascism to live among a vital community of Mexican artists and intellectuals.
“Mexico City in the 1940s was a fascinating nexus of different artistic currents, home to some of the most exciting avant-garde movements in the world at that moment,” says Emily Nice, a specialist in Latin American art at Sotheby’s. “In this decade, which scholars of Western art tend to think of as a dark period, Mexico City is a thriving hotbed of creativity as an old guard of established artists, the Muralists, mix with younger painters like Rufino Tamayo and Frida Kahlo, the influx of surrealists from Europe and American artists like Robert Motherwell and Edward Weston.” Against this backdrop of cultural syncretism and experimentation, many artists were inspired to channel new modes of creative expression.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Breton’s “Surrealist Manifesto,” 1924, which argued that once the strictures of bourgeois reason and etiquette were overthrown, the human imagination might finally defeat the drab tyranny of reality. After the unprecedented horrors of the First World War, widespread faith in the power of rationality was shaken. Artists and writers in the surrealist circle wanted to push beyond the veil of everyday affairs and probe the mysterious workings of the unconscious mind. Dreams and games quickly became hallmarks of surrealist art-making, from collaboratively authored works known as “exquisite corpses” to found objects, collages, assemblages and experiments in psychic automatism.
In Aragón’s “land of dream,” romantic couples often served as anchors of the bohemian scene. Their private psychodramas played out in studios and
Previous page: “Portrait of Frida Kahlo,” taken of the pioneering Mexican artist by surrealist photographer Dora Maar in 1949 Above: Leonora Carrington, “The Kitchen Garden on the Eyot,” 1946, from the the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
over meals, heavily influencing the movement’s prolific output. Divorce and remarriage were common; new romances were kindled at dinner parties amid the constant shuffle of personalities. Breton and Lamba were soon joined in the city by the Austrian artist and philosopher Wolfgang Paalen and the French poet and artist Alice Rahon. The most legendarily tumultuous union, however, was between the Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. When the pair first met, Rivera was one of the nation’s most celebrated painters, working on a major mural commission at the National Preparatory School in Mexico City, where Kahlo, aged 15, was enrolled.
Women, in Breton’s circle, were often extolled as—and reduced to—embodiments of pure feminine instinct. Frequently cast as handmaidens of genius or as muses, they were prized for their strength of feeling and special connection to the natural world. If their creativity was acknowledged, it was considered a naive, undisciplined brilliance—raw material awaiting its final refinement into high art. Such mythologizing of women as conduits of surrealist thought undercut the intellectual rigor of their artistic contributions. They were often treated as translators of preexisting ideals and rarely received credit as innovators in their own right.
In Mexico City, relationships between women were fundamental to the cultural milieu. One of the key figures was Inés Amor, director of the Galería de Arte Mexicano (GAM), the city’s most influential and commercially successful art gallery. Under Amor’s visionary leadership, GAM’s program included artists such as Kahlo, Rahon, Olga Costa, Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo. Amor offered more than a platform to sell their work locally and globally; she was committed to providing the resources necessary for her artists to develop their skills and interests. Friendships among artists also proved fruitful. Some of the most intimate and candid photographic portraits of Kahlo were taken by Lola Álvarez Bravo, and Kahlo developed a close friendship with Lamba based on their shared intellectual and artistic interests. Like Kahlo, Lamba was young when she met her future husband; she was 23 years old and “scandalously beautiful” when she married Breton, who later wrote in “Mad Love,” 1937, that he knew immediately their fates would be “entwined.” Lamba was an artist, although she did not begin to exhibit her work seriously until after her separation from Breton. She suspected, not incorrectly, that her marriage would overshadow any abiding interest in her art. Breton was also fascinated by Kahlo and
considered her art visionary. His admiration, however, was unrequited; Kahlo found him pretentious and “rotten,” and never fully embraced the label surrealist to describe her art.
Kahlo had a supportive, if unfaithful, partner in Rivera, who considered her his artistic equal. In the years leading up to and following the couple’s brief divorce in 1939, Kahlo experienced one of the most intensely productive periods of her entire career. She plumbed her own life for inspiration, from a bout of childhood polio to the life-altering bus accident in adolescence, producing intimate self-portraits and domestic scenes. These were translated through a refined sensibility that combined a highly personal language of objects with a vibrant quotational style that pulled omnivorously from art history, making allusions to Mexican folk painting, scientific drawings, photography and the Old Masters. Some of these works are among Kahlo’s most renowned, including the monumental “Las Dos Fridas” (The Two Fridas), 1939, in the permanent collection at Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City.
In Mexico’s capital, many European women seized a level of artistic freedom unavailable at home; no longer expected to play wife or muse, they could focus on their own work. The English artist and writer Leonora Carrington had already defied the restrictive gender roles of her upper-class Roman Catholic upbringing when she decided to pursue art. “I didn’t have time to be anyone’s muse,” she said. “I was too busy rebelling against my family and learning to be an artist.” Following a transformative and turbulent affair with the older German artist Max Ernst, Carrington fled to Spain, where she was institutionalized. Eventually she wed and moved to New York before settling in Mexico City, where she lived on and off for the rest of her life.
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There, Carrington discovered a strong desire to experiment with new media, including egg tempera, which led to a profusion of richly realized tableaux that married her feverishly mythological iconography with greater technical mastery. Some of her most iconic paintings date to this period, including her magnum opus “Les Distractions de Dagobert,” 1945: a garden of earthly delights in the Boschian tradition that includes many of Carrington’s leitmotifs across meticulously rendered vignettes illustrating the decadent life of Dagobert I, the storied seventh-century Frankish king of the Merovingian dynasty.
One of Carrington’s closest associates was the Spanish artist Remedios Varo. Like Carrington, Varo was a rebellious child; her engineer father taught her draftsmanship and encouraged her artistic talents, which inspired Varo’s lifelong interest in baroque machinery. In Spain, she was a peripheral participant in the surrealist orbit as the partner of the French poet Benjamin Péret. After the Spanish Civil War, the couple moved to Paris and mingled with the day’s leading artists, including Breton, Ernst and Salvador Dalí. Years later, as France faced the threat of Nazi occupation, she and Péret embarked for Mexico.
It was there that Varo, along with Carrington and the photographer Kati Horna, became known as one of the “three witches” for her obsessive interest
IN MEXICO CITY, EUROPEAN WOMEN SEIZED ARTISTIC FREEDOM ”
Above: The Blue House in Mexico City was once the residence of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and is now a museum dedicated to Kahlo Right: The studio inside the Blue House where Kahlo once worked
in esoteric knowledge, ranging from Indigenous cosmologies and preEnlightenment alchemy to metaphysics and tarot. This shared pursuit served as a powerful engine for their long-lasting friendships. Throughout the 1940s, while Carrington developed her craft and created some of her most acclaimed and uncanny works, Varo was employed as a commercial illustrator. From 1955 onward, however, Varo’s imagination and technical capabilities blossomed; in the final eight years of her life, she created some of her most sumptuous paintings, many of which featured in the captivating exhibition “Remedios Varo: Science Fictions” at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2023.
Scholarship on surrealism has often sidelined the friendships between women artists, although efforts to provide substantial accounts of these intricate networks have grown increasingly popular. Many women disavowed any direct association with the movement, displeased with its masculinist ethos and dubious idealization of the femme-enfant, or the naive child-woman whose channeling of surrealist values made her an ideal canvas for the projection of male fantasies. The Italian artist Leonor Fini, known for her blistering intelligence and flamboyantly theatrical dreamworlds, refused any official affiliation due to her distaste for Breton’s paternalistic authoritarianism in the surrealist circle; she also spurned the institution of marriage, preferring to remain autonomous in life as in art.
Over the last decade cultural institutions like The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice have mounted landmark exhibitions that convincingly revise and expand the surrealist canon. Increased attention to women artists associated with the movement has also led to several notable additions to public collections, such as the Museum of Modern Art’s recent acquisition of masterpieces like Carrington’s “And Then We Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur,” 1953, and Varo’s “The Juggler (The Magician),” 1956.
One of the most astonishing presentations, however, was a room of works by women artists in Cecelia Alemani’s watershed exhibition “The Milk of Dreams” at the 2022 Venice Biennale, which borrowed its title from a children’s book by Carrington. Displayed in a gallery called La Culla della Strega (“The Witch’s Cradle”) were videos of Josephine Baker and Maya Deren; photographs by Claude Cahun, Gertrud Arndt and Florence Henri; sculptures by Augusta Savage, Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller and Rahon; and a selection of paintings by Carrington, Varo, Fini, Meret Oppenheim, Loïs Mailou Jones and Eileen Agar, among many others. The gallery served as an intoxicating capsule of that moment’s revolutionary energy, reflecting a time when radical forms of artistic expression were born from a geopolitical reality that seemed fractured beyond repair.
Here, at the heart of the Biennale, Alemani orchestrated a moment of communion between women artists, decades after they defied convention to conjure new visions of reality. Gathered in the Giardini’s Central Pavilion, the works harmonized—a sublime testament to their enduring powers of enchantment. 0 Christopher Alessandrini is a writer and editor based in New York, where he works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
A CERTAIN GLOW
Riya Patel meets three designers playing with art, material and shape to light up your home
When it came to finding exciting and unusual lighting for her own home, the only options for Rowena Morgan-Cox were established design icons or trying her luck with vintage finds. The struggle to source something unique led the British creative to set up Palefire Studio: a London atelier making playful lighting in small batches. The venture brings together her background in fine art, and experience working with galleries and high-end design stores. “I knew I wanted to do something decorative, with a lot of pattern and color, and I wanted to have painted surfaces,” she says.
U/V Collection, Palefire’s debut range of table lamps, wall lights, ceiling and floor lamps are all made from the same material: recycled paper pulp. A family-run workshop outside Barcelona prepares the material by grinding down used paper with water, injecting it into moulds, and drying it. The raw forms, which come in five shapes that are mixed and matched to make up the collection, are sent to London where Palefire’s team hand-paints them with solid color, such as deep vermilion, or a pattern of wavy lines. “The paper pulp has this amazing texture, and the hand-painted color brings an intensity that can make it seem like it’s an entirely different material,” says Morgan-Cox.
Sustainability is important: natural paints low in volatile compounds—and thus better for humans and the environment—are used for the finish, and research is ongoing into other recycled materials for future projects. “We try as much as possible to have thoughtful practices without compromising on the aesthetic,” she says. “We don’t want our lighting to look like it’s recycled. We want it to look exuberant, with those sustainable elements in the background.”
Part of that exuberance comes through the shapes these lamps take, inspired by the elegance of art nouveau or the playfulness of postmodernism and 1970s “space age” design. These are then brought to life by their painterly surfaces, and color palettes that take cues from artists such as postwar painter Helen Frankenthaler. Art will continue to influence Palefire’s future direction, says Morgan-Cox. Grander lighting fixtures with more complicated elements are on the horizon, as well as the exploration of new color collections.
Another designer identifying a gap in the market for art-led lighting is Dubai-based Caroline Coirault-Jonqueres, who observed a lack of options through working on high-end residential interiors. “In architecture, light is fundamental in shaping the experience of a space,” she says. “Yet decorative lighting is often overlooked. Even though it’s functional, it can be artistic, adding real depth and presence to a room.” Inspired by the savoir faire of the craftspeople she had come to know through her work, the designer took the
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LIGHT CAN ADD REAL DEPTH AND PRESENCE TO A ROOM ”
Previous page: The Curve, a lamp by Caroline CoiraultJonqueres, installed at design gallery The House by M.A.H
This page: Rowena Morgan-Cox (left) designs lighting that draws on artistic techniques and references
step of sketching out her own lamps for them to make. The resulting line of distinctive table lamps typically features linen shades and chunky, angular bases made in marble, natural oak or scorched cedar. They are currently sold through London gallery, The House by M.A.H. Coirault-Jonqueres goes back and forth with the craftspeople via drawings, which are adjusted throughout the making process according to the whims of the material and how the piece is taking shape. “The skills and knowledge required to work a raw material into an object is what really inspires me,” she says. “Materiality, texture, a joint or a stitching detail… these small elements are all very significant to the end result.” She is drawn to earthy tones and materials, inspired by the Japanese wabi-sabi philosophy celebrating nature’s imperfections, and which she interprets as: “Showing that something has been made with intention; bringing an almost spiritual quality to an object.”
Lana Launay, a former jewelry designer who works between Sydney and Los Angeles, has a similar fascination with shape and material when it comes to designing sculptural lighting. Her made-to-order line of lamps is characterized by geometric paper shades and carved wood forms. “I find buyers come to me when they are looking for a handmade piece that isn’t saturated in the market,” says Launay.
Feels Like Home is a floor lamp standing on tall stacks of wooden spheres that recall beaded plant hangers from the 1970s, but Launay says her aesthetic inspiration is actually 20th-century brutalist sculpture and sci-fi set designs. “I admire the ‘what if?’ approach that you find in futuristic design, and I love the raw freedom and expression you see in brutalist sculpture and art,” she explains.
Despite the avant-garde precedent, Launay’s material palette is strictly natural, including timber, raffia and paper stained by hand. “I have always been drawn towards warm tones—I find them calming and romantic,” she says. “I often use paper, including Japanese washi paper, as a textile because I find the glow (that shines through) more consistent, but the fibers are more unique. The blessing and curse of using paper is the fragility. It offers a delicate beauty, but is not as durable.” The handmade lamps look incredibly lightweight—but this is also what makes them playful. For the Modular Launay Lamp, five different forms can be assembled as the user desires by threading them, like origami paper beads, onto a standing LED light source.
With warmth, charm and the imagination to look beyond lighting as just purely functional, these designers urge us to never overlook the humble floor or table lamp. “My designs are like a permanent guest rather than a piece of furniture,” says Launay. “With my work I want to create an illuminated presence that offers a sense of comfort in a room.” 0
Riya Patel is a London-based design writer and curator
Left: A pendant lamp by Lana Launay, made using paper and wooden beads, designed for the Sun Ranch retreat in Byron Bay, Australia
Above: Dubai-based designer Caroline Coirault-Jonqueres crafting her lamp bases
Anselm Kiefer’s “Engelssturz (Fall of the Angel)” was created specifically for the courtyard at Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, as part of his “Fallen Angels” exhibition
PAST meets PRESENT
The invitation for contemporary artists to create site-specific works in historical homes can cast heritage in a new light, says Amah-Rose Abrams
History and how we research and present the past has gone through a significant reckoning in recent decades; historical houses and palaces, symbols of power, have become vehicles for this reflection. As many have engaged public audiences with programs of contemporary art, conversations are sparked by the positioning of new, site-specific work amid these homes and their collections—chiming with the cultural sphere’s self-examinations. Three recent exhibitions of contemporary work show the ways in which traditional residences—whether still private homes or transformed into public museums—commission and present art in dialogue with cultural and social heritage.
Few institutions have been as transformed by a contemporary art program as Florence’s Palazzo Strozzi, a Renaissance palace and seat of the Strozzi family until 1937. Spearheaded by a cultural foundation established for the building in 2006, the program has been credited with making the palace one of Italy’s most popular contemporary art locations, although it once served as a symbol of the Strozzi family’s defiance against the rival power of the Medicis.
This year, the institution opened the exhibition “Fallen Angels” by German artist Anselm Kiefer—an admirer of the palace since first visiting in the 1960s. An exhibition of diverse works was presented alongside a large, specially commissioned painting occupying the central colonnaded courtyard. “We use what we have: our palace, our building… (and) we invite artists to respond to it,” says Arturo Galansino, general director of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and curator of “Fallen Angels”. Galansino believes artists should not treat historic palaces as monuments or vitrines, and instead “be engaged by the past.”
In giving artists agency in how they respond to the setting, the resulting commissions can have surprising outcomes. “No one had ever suggested having a painting in the courtyard before,” says Galansino. Kiefer, he adds, welcomed the idea that the work would be exposed to the elements, transforming over time.
The painting in question, “Engelssturz (Fall of the Angel),” 2022–23, depicts the Archangel Michael in flight against a golden sky, driving rebellious angels out of heaven into a tumultuous ravine below. Expressive of Kiefer’s longstanding interest in myth and history, its narrative theme of ruination nods to the political turmoil and decline that beset the Strozzis in Florence. The work complements the majesty of the courtyard space and recalls ambitiously scaled, gold-leafed Renaissance works of religious art, often commissioned by influential families of the time.
In the English county of Norfolk, Houghton Hall was built in the 1720s for Prime Minister Robert Walpole—and is now lived in by his direct descendent, David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley, and his wife Rose. Since 2000, Cholmondeley has commissioned contemporary art for the grounds, turning it into a sculpture park, and organized installations throughout both the house and the park.
“Our aim is to bring something of our time into a historic setting—whether as a temporary ‘intervention’ (as in an exhibition), or more permanent site-specific works,” he explains.
“ IN GIVING ARTISTS AGENCY IN HOW TO RESPOND, THE RESULTING COMMISSIONS CAN HAVE SURPRISING OUTCOMES ”
“Not in competition or opposition, but in a symbiotic relationship to the house, its landscape and history.”
“When planning any exhibition, it is so important to consider the history of the place,” says the ceramic artist Magdalene Odundo, who was the focus of an exhibition at Houghton this summer. “Houghton Hall has always had all forms of art and artefacts around the house. Understanding the house, the art, the objects, and the family has been crucial. This gave me the perspective to intervene and place my own work with its own story in an interesting juxtaposition.” The exhibition entered into a dialogue with Houghton’s 18th-century state rooms, designed in decorative neoclassical detail by English architect William Kent. The family’s collection throughout the rooms includes paintings by Salvator Rosa, Artemisia Gentileschi, William Hogarth and Thomas Gainsborough, as well as Roman marble busts, 17th-century Mortlake tapestries and Sèvres porcelain. Odundo’s exhibition featured pieces from across her three decades of making, including eight new works conceived for the show, and a large ceramic sculpture produced following a residency at traditional English porcelain manufacturer Wedgwood. The intricately detailed piece—created using historic Wedgwood moulds—responds to Odundo’s research into company founder Josiah Wedgwood and his role in the 18th-century abolitionist movement. Its surface decoration depicts scenes and legacies of slavery as well as contemporary political protest. At Houghton, it prompted connections between Walpole and Wedgwood’s politics and influence (Walpole’s son, Horace, voted for the abolition of the slave trade).
Left: The Stone Hall in the U.K.’s Houghton Hall has hosted a number of contemporary art exhibitions and installations
Above: Ceramic artist Magdalene Odundo, whose residency at porcelain manufacturer Wedgwood resulted in a table centerpiece (top right) for her exhibition at Houghton Hall
The Orangery at the Palace of Versailles, France, exhibited Eva Jospin’s work, including her large-scale embroidery, “Chambre de Soie (A Room of One’s Own),” 2021 (left)
“ THE SCULPTURE RECLAIMS THE FEMALE GAZE IN A MALE-DOMINATED LANDSCAPE ”
The Palace of Versailles in France, an opulent monument to King Louis XIV, has also attracted attention for its contemporary art installations in recent years. This summer, a tapestry by French artist Eva Jospin was unveiled in the 17th-century Orangery, housing a central gallery more than 150m long. “Chambre de Soie (A Room of One’s Own),” 2021, echoed the heady grandeur of the setting, and spoke to the history of fabric at Versailles: Louis was pivotal in the rise of France’s textile industry, banning imports in order to center and expand French craft. During his reign, he commissioned and collected thousands of lavish tapestries for the palace, holding the art in higher regard than painting.
Jospin’s 105m-long embroidery work depicts an abstracted landscape scene in silk, cotton and jute and was initially inspired by the embroidery room of the Palazzo Colonna in Rome, which is decorated with 17th-century gold and silk tapestries. For the installation of her delicate but monumental work at Versailles, Jospin added a new panel, taking inspiration from the groves of the palace’s gardens, particularly Apollo’s Baths Grove.
These are not the only site-specific contemporary works in historic homes this year. In the U.K., Compton Verney in Warwickshire—an 18th-century home transformed into a gallery by the Sir Peter Moores Foundation—recently opened a sculpture park. Alongside works by artists Louise Bourgeois, Sarah Lucas and Larry Achiampong, a sculpture by Brazilian artist Erika Verzutti was commissioned to sit by a lake, in the grounds designed by famed English gardener Lancelot “Capability” Brown. “Naked Venus,” 2024, forms part of Verzutti’s series based on the ancient sculpture of the Venus of Willendorf; positioned at Compton Verney, it aims to reclaim the female gaze in what can be seen as a male-dominated landscape.
By engaging with the complex histories of how some of these institutions came to be, inviting in contemporary artists to create responsive work has allowed a tradition of cultural patronage to continue through the lens of today’s thinking. The exhibitions also bring in new audiences, opening up what have been considered closed or exclusionary environments to a wider public—to the benefit of both. 0
Amah-Rose Abrams is a London-based arts and culture writer
Erika Verzutti’s site-specific work “Naked Venus,” 2024, is a new addition to the permanent collection at the U.K.’s Compton Verney Sculpture Park
EXTRAORDINARY GLOBAL PROPERTIES
One-of-a-kind spaces that really make the kitchen the heart of the home
They say you always find people in the kitchen at parties. With the holidays approaching, it may be time to consider just how party-ready that kitchen is. Is it spacious enough to fit a large gathering, does it have unique amenities, or is it designed thoughtfully enough to impress the most discerning of guests?
These are all feats that have been achieved by this stunning array of properties. From the mountains of Colorado, to the coast of Honolulu, and the canals of Amsterdam, these homes offer show-stopping spaces for cooking, dining and entertaining.
In San Francisco, the Beaux Arts apartment block at 2006 Washington Street—designed in 1924 by Conrad A. Meussdorffer—is one of the most revered buildings in the city. Here, a penthouse with wraparound terraces boasts an intimate but striking west-facing kitchen with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the ocean beyond, through French doors that open onto a private balcony. Imbued with Georgian features, painted in a muted shade of blue and featuring a classic marble counter breakfast bar, this space creates a decadent environment for any passionate cook. The opulent apartment has undergone renovations by architect Andrew Skurman and interior designer Suzanne Tucker—who featured the property in her book “Extraordinary Interiors.”
North of the city, in Sonoma County, a rustic estate inspired by countryside retreats in the south of France offers a cottage-style kitchen with limestone-plastered walls and ceilings, and wooden beams and finishings. Previously home to British interior designer Wendy Owen—who referred to it as La Maison de la Pierre (the House of Stone)—the space is replete with eclectic vintage touches, such as a yellow kitchen table and a French stone laundry sink. A wine fridge reflects the property’s prime location in a food and wine haven, which is home to more than 400 vineyards and a variety of slow food farms and restaurants.
Traveling across the Atlantic, a stately 18th-century canal-side home in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, offers a classically decorated open-plan kitchen and dining room, with a tiled patio and green
space through French doors. Historic wooden beams line the room’s full length, and solid wood cabinets are complemented by a marble countertop and brass fixtures. A climate-controlled wine cellar sits just down the hall.
Back in the U.S., a compound in rural Maine provides a private escape for large holiday gatherings and equestrians. Architect Frank Robinson designed the main house as an homage to the organic architecture of the modernist legend Frank Lloyd Wright, incorporating warm wooden paneling, large windows and rich earth tones. The open-plan kitchen and dining space is impressive, with vaulted ceilings and a double-height glazed wall, offering breathtaking views of the surrounding rolling hills and forests.
Properties in Telluride, Colorado and ChamonixMont-Blanc also benefit from incredible views of their surrounding landscapes, bringing true beauty to the experiences of cooking and entertaining.
Set in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, the Telluride home seemingly floats above the clouds, at almost 9,000 feet above sea level. The retreat’s open-plan kitchen, living and dining space is completed by an impressive stone fireplace, creating a relaxing and cozy atmosphere. Sliding doors open onto a wooden deck with outdoor entertaining space and a firepit with views of snow-capped peaks.
Meanwhile, with a spacious kitchen offering tripleaspect views onto the Alps, holiday parties are sure to impress in the chalet-style Chamonix property, which also benefits from a vegetable garden for growing fresh produce during the warmer months and harvesting just before the festive season.
But for those craving warmth and sunshine, a contemporary home in an exclusive gated community in Honolulu, Hawaii, offers a uniquely designed kitchen that stands out against the island’s natural beauty. Contemporary copper Snaidero cabinets by Italian design company Pininfarina are complemented by tiled floors, glass counters and high-quality appliances—topped by a sweeping view across Oahu island.
San Francisco, California, U.S.
With its grand entertaining rooms, high-quality design and sweeping panoramic views, this 5,700-squarefoot residence at 2006 Washington Street is the crown jewel of Pacific Heights apartments. Its meticulous renovation introduces a Georgian vernacular into a Beaux Arts-style building. Large French doors open
onto wraparound terraces. The chef’s kitchen faces west to capture mesmerizing vistas of the Golden Gate Bridge and seascape beyond. As San Francisco’s leading cooperative, 2006 Washington serves residents with a 24-hour attended lobby, elegantly landscaped gardens and two-car parking garage.
$29,000,000
Property ID: 2KG7W7 sothebysrealty.com Sotheby’s International Realty –
Telluride, Colorado, U.S.
Nestled in one of the most spectacular areas of the Telluride region, this five-bedroom retreat offers breathtaking views from every room. With an open floor plan and floor-toceiling retractable windows in the main living area, one can relax and experience the natural beauty from multiple spaces. In addition to the primary living quarters, a separate guest wing provides two bedrooms and a bunk room with an adjacent game room and bar. Above the three-car garage is a private guest bedroom, with fantastic views of Wilson Peak.
$21,000,000
Property ID: 5PHJBB sothebysrealty.com
LIV Sotheby’s International Realty Lars Carlson +1 970 729 0160
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Built in 1730, this impressive, monumental canal house—rich in centuries of history— has recently been tastefully and authentically restored by a world-renowned interior designer. The property is perfectly situated in the area of the famous “Nine Streets” and holds the status of a national monument. The property is divided into a front house and a rear house, connected by a beautiful staircase and a central light court. There are six bedrooms, four bathrooms and a range of spaces for relaxation and entertainment, including a bar, a fully equipped gym and a beautifully landscaped garden.
€13,000,000
Property ID: D4PCY8 sothebysrealty.com
Netherlands Sotheby’s International Realty
Sanne van der Zaag +31 88 37 47 000
Sonoma, California, U.S.
Discover an unparalleled blend of elegance and rustic charm at 6015 Grove Street, nestled in the serene west side of Sonoma County. Hand-laid stone walls and terraces seamlessly integrate the home with its natural surroundings in the heart of wine country. A mix of luxurious earthy textures, the interiors feature radiant-heated limestone floors and limestone-plastered walls. Adjacent to the main home, the guest house provides a tranquil accommodation for visitors. Outdoor living is at its finest, with a stone dining room, pavilion and a charming potting shed.
$4,950,000
Property ID: YM5G66 sothebysrealty.com
Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty Cristian Isbrandtsen +1 707 294 7879
Freeman Township, Maine, U.S.
Windledge Farm is set on 308 acres of land— including paddocks and walking trails—with staggering views of the protected High Peaks of Maine. The contemporary main house is designed as an homage to Frank Lloyd Wright, showcasing outstanding quality and craftsmanship in an open-plan concept. The home offers a retreat for those that require state-of-the-art amenities and security, yet yearn for the feel of comfort, serenity and privacy. The handsome stable block offers all the amenities needed for the optimum care and comfort of horses, supported by additional living quarters.
$5,200,000
Property ID: LW55TE sothebysrealty.com
Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty
Glenn Jonsson +1 207 776 0036
Marika Clark +1 207 671 6927
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
This fully renovated residence is a testament to luxury and elegance on Oahu. Located in the most prestigious gated community with 24/7 private security, the property offers breathtaking ocean views. Designed by award-winning architect Jeff Long, the home also features interior finishes that are handcrafted by artisans known for their expertise on superyachts. The kitchen includes Snaidero cabinets designed by Pininfarina, a Ferrari design company, with top-quality appliances from Gaggenau, Sub Zero, and Miele. The property also benefits from a movie theater, infinity-edge pool, elevator, and hurricane shutters.
$19,880,000
Property ID: KQPE8J sothebysrealty.com
List Sotheby’s International Realty Akimi Mallin +1 8083974480
Menaggio, Como, Italy
Overlooking Italy’s iconic Lake Como, Villa Pietralba offers a balanced combination of classic charm and modern comfort, having undergone a meticulous renovation led by a renowned architect in close collaboration with the owners. The main villa, built in 1903 in the Liberty style, has six en-suite bedrooms, alongside living and entertaining spaces. The property also features a threebedroom guest house, a staff house and a private pool complex, including a gym. In warmer seasons, soak in the Italian sun in the extensive gardens that have been beautifully designed and maintained.
Price upon request
Property ID: SK67YS sothebysrealty.com
Italy Sotheby’s International Realty
Diego Antinolo +39 031 538 8888
GALLERY
The finest agents and properties in North Texas
Lometa, Texas
In the famed Texas Hill Country, the Colorado River Ranch is a vast oasis that offers majestic views, luxurious lodging and exotic wildlife that includes sable, zebra and buffalo. This $60 million stunner is just one of the many properties represented by the unique Ranch & Land Division of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty.
Learn more on page 66.
HOW TO BUY IT
Buying a home is one of the most significant experiences you will ever have — one with emotion and money at stake. That’s why Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty has created unique guides to doing it assuredly — and with the most valuable resource of all: one of our professional, personable real estate advisors or teams. Crucial navigators, risk minimizers, wealth maximizers: It’s not just informed advice our experts give you — it’s confidence. See the industry’s best buyer’s guides at briggsfreeman.com/buyers.
WHY LAND IS THE NEW LEGACY
There is nothing like land. Big. Beautiful. Bountiful. Working ranches or luxury retreats, buying or selling, there is a legendary group who can make land your legacy. The unique Ranch & Land Division of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty is a world-class group of teams and individuals who specialize in land, farm, recreation and rural properties. They sell in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Mexico and the rest of the world, because they are also part of the $143 billion Sotheby’s International Realty ® network in 83 countries and territories. For leisure, legacy or investment, you
FROM PAGE 2
Two of the finest neighborhoods in North Texas have one brokerage that knows them best. Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty was founded in the Park Cities — the insider name for neighboring Highland Park and University Park — in 1960. Every day since, discerning buyers and sellers have turned to our advisors for historic and architecturally superb homes, such
couldn’t be in better hands. Why? These expert advisors don’t just love the land, they live the life. And they know that investments that pay in ways other than economic returns — family, fun, time spent outside — have become much more important. But, land is historically and increasingly a very wise monetary investment, too. They’re not making any more of it — which means you could see some returns on it as big as those starry skies. (You know, the ones they write songs about.) Explore ranches, land and the specialized real estate advisors who know them best at briggsfreeman.com/ranch.
as 4226 Arcady Avenue in Highland Park, pictured here, designed in the 1920s by noted architect Hal Thomson. To live in these idyllic neighborhoods takes the networks and knowledge that only the advisors of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty have — hence their renown in the towns and their many record-setting sales. Meet the Park Cities pros and see our unique Highland Park and University Park listings at briggsfreeman.com.
AVAILABLE / 4226 Arcady Avenue / Highland Park / 6 bedrooms / 6.2 baths / $13,900,000
Land and luxury: Cedar Hill Farm in Cedar Hill, Texas
WHAT RALPH REALLY KNOWS.
In an era of watereddown luxury, why one agent transcends
He knows homes — the good ones. He knows architecture. He knows decorating and design and who had which house, when. He is Ralph Randall — the lauded real estate advisor, architecture advocate and house whisperer. In a career that has accelerated for 41 years and counting, Randall has the most coveted contact list in the business, scores of happy clients and the respect of his peers. (Something ever rarer in any field.)
The credentials are as good as they get. Part of the award-winning Jobst Randall Group at Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s
International Realty, Randall specializes in Dallas’ most prized neighborhoods. He has held records for the most expensive residential property sold in Dallas County and the largest sale of land in Highland Park. He has been recognized by D Magazine as one of its Best Real Estate Agents since the honor’s inception, in 2002. He is a member of the elite Dallas Masters of Residential Real Estate network, the Greater Dallas Association of REALTORS® and several advisory boards. Randall is also a Preservation Dallas Historic House Specialist and has chaired multiple tours of important houses.
But it isn’t just record-breaking sales and encyclopedic knowledge that make Randall a success. It’s his relationships. He takes great pride in his devotion to his clients, his attention to detail and his discretion in every dealing. He has immersed himself in the community for decades, too, as a passionate supporter for everything from medicine to education to architecture. In a world gone wild, Randall is a civilized, sophisticated sort — an ally for his clients, a mentor to his colleagues and a lover of the good life for all, in Dallas and beyond.
WHERE THE HOME EXPERT CALLS HOME
Ralph Randall lives in Greenland Hills, also known as the M Streets, one of the largest collections of Tudor architecture in the country, and has called seven other Dallas neighborhoods home: Highland Park West + University Park + Uptown + Turtle Creek + Knox-Travis + Northern Heights + Victory Park
Ralph Randall
Jobst Randall Group 214-533-8355
rrandall@briggsfreeman.com
PRESS CLIPS: MR. RANDALL IN THE MEDIA
“The guy in the business to deftly handle the purchase or sale of an important house.”
—Modern Luxury Dallas
“Randall’s multifaceted neighborhood knowledge and industry experience have contributed to his success.”
—CultureMap Dallas
“So calm, so funny, so gracious, so knowledgeable about the market.”
—Candy Evans, Candy’s Dirt
A WORK OF ART:
HALL ARTS RESIDENCES UNVEILS GALLERY PENTHOUSE
Superluxury high-rise in downtown Dallas reveals first penthouse in its collection
Perched high above the vibrant Dallas Arts District, the newly announced Gallery Penthouse at HALL Arts Residences is more than a home: It is the backdrop for a life well-lived.
With its harmonious balance between strong architecture and quiet, inviting spaces, the full-floor penthouse on level 26 has been meticulously designed by nationally renowned Abeyta Tibbs Architecture. Within its 7,688 square feet, the residence offers four bedrooms, four full baths, two half baths, thoughtful luxuries and effortless elegance.
Every day will be a memorable experience. As the elevator doors glide open to reveal the private foyer, you are greeted by hand-troweled artisanal plaster
walls — a subtle yet profound introduction to the artistry that defines the home.
For those who value both privacy and grandeur, the Gallery Penthouse offers spaces for both. The library, just off the foyer, is a haven for quiet contemplation, in a setting that speaks to your refined taste.
The formal living room, meanwhile, stands as the heart of the residence, offering expansive panoramic views of the Dallas skyline, a grand fireplace and a unique bronze floor pinstripe.
The kitchen is its own masterpiece, with the finest in German design. Gaggenau appliances and sleek Bulthaup cabinetry ensure that every culinary endeavor is executed to the highest standards. Whether you’re hosting a dinner party or enjoying
a quiet evening at home, the kitchen and adjoining butler’s pantry offer flexibility and function that complement your every need or whim.
In the primary bedroom suite, complete with a private terrace, wake up each morning to sprawling views of the city stretching out beneath you like a work of art. The spa-inspired bath, with its heated stone floors, graceful soaking tub and natural sunlight, is a sanctuary within a sanctuary. Adjacent to it, two expansive dressing rooms provide personalized spaces that speak to individual style.
For a connoisseur of life who seeks a home where beauty, sophistication and functionality converge in harmony, time is most certainly of the essence. HALL Arts Residences is fully sold out from floors 19 and below. Only nine homes remain in the Masterpiece Collection, located on floors 20 through 25, and only three homes remain in the Penthouse Collection, spanning floors 26 through 28. Now is the time to call HALL Arts Residences home.
Exclusive representatives: Cindi Caudle and Kyle Richards of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty; 214-991-2990; 214-263-4065; briggsfreeman.com; hallartsresidences.com
HALL ARTS RESIDENCES
is a 28-story tower in the heart of the Dallas Arts District with just 50 thoughtfully designed homes, each with unparalleled views and best-in-class amenities and services. Its many luxuries include an
amenity terrace with an infinity-edge lap pool, fireplace and putting green; a fitness center and treatment room; a private dining room; a wine-tasting room; wine lockers; and a dog park. The building was awarded LEED Gold certification in 2022 and was named the first multifamily tower in Texas to receive WELL Certification, in 2023. hallartsresidences.com
Di erent
The experts in easy living.
While they represent properties of all sizes and styles, Pam Brannon and Jeannie Nethery are known especially for their expertise in zero-lot-line homes. Within their specialty, Pam and Jeannie work predominantly in lock-and-leave communities in Preston Hollow, North Dallas and the Park Cities. And as residents of these communities themselves, they don’t just know the lifestyle — they live it, too.
Pam Brannon
Global Real Estate Advisor 214-912-1756 pbrannon@briggsfreeman.com
AVAILABLE / Glen Lakes / Dallas, Texas / Gated community /
Glenmeadow Court
“Vicki and her team are wonderfully dedicated and courteous. It’s obvious she loves her job.”
—Elizabeth and Neil C.
VICKI, WITH THE VISION.
Vicki Foster isn’t just a real estate advisor. She’s an investor, who knows how multiple properties can finance your future. She’s a renovator, who knows how to transform homes into havens. And, she’s an advocate for her buyers and sellers — repeat clients who entrust her with their real estate needs and recommend her wholeheartedly to their families, friends and colleagues. Foster contributes her incredible success of more than 30 years to every one of them.
As one of the most connected real estate professionals in the industry, Foster proves every day that her clients benefit from her trusted network and knowledge of unpublished homes for sale. Known in Dallas as one of D Magazine’s Best Real Estate Agents, Foster is a consistent top producer and a founder of the Foster Greco Team at Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty, where she helps clients buy and sell exceptional homes and estates. An added bonus? With her vast experience in construction, remodeling and home staging, Foster has been able to provide her clients not only with an education, but also with an edge.
Wise investments. Worthy renovations. Vicki Foster has that vision.
Vicki
Foster Foster Greco Team
214-642-8966
vfoster@briggsfreeman.com
The key to Krista’s success? Her no-limits approach to luxury, where white-glove service knows no bounds and high-style living is always attainable. Her interior design background, home-staging expertise and marketing savvy don’t hurt, either. Not to mention her work ethic, open-communication style and total commitment to her clients. But Krista’s biggest talent? Knowing how to turn the ordinary into extraordinary
Houses, townhomes, lots. Upsizing, downsizing, relocating. First-time buyers, growing families, empty nesters. At every stage in life, you need real estate experts you can count on. The team who was there for you then is the team who is here for you now: The Ryan Group. Pete Ryan 214-957-3547 • pryan@briggsfreeman.com
1747 Leonard Street #302
$3,850,000 | HALL Arts Residences
Arts District | Dallas, Texas
THE SPECS
3,240 square feet | 2 bedrooms
3 baths | 11-foot ceilings
Private terrace
THE VIEWS
Winspear Opera House
Wyly Theatre
Meyerson Symphony Center
THE DETAILS
Bulthaup kitchen system
Gaggenau appliances
Dornbracht polished-chrome fittings
Lutron motorized shades
Wide-plank oak floors
THE AMENITIES
Wine cellar
Fitness studio
Spa-treatment room
Lap pool
Dog park
24-7 concierge + valet
Putting green
One of a kind.
A veteran agent with more than 25 years of experience. A natural-born connector. A generous spirit. A skilled negotiator who operates with grit and grace. An expert in bespoke care and luxury real estate. A fully devoted, unwaveringly dedicated pro who delivers exceptional service.
Melissa Frantz Ellerman Global Real Estate Advisor
404-791-3686
mfrantz@briggsfreeman.com
Fort Worth, Texas
Welcome to 6960 Laurel Valley Drive, a sprawling Ranch-style home in one of Fort Worth’s most exclusive neighborhoods. Sited on 1.2 acres in gated, guarded Mira Vista, this 7,729-square-foot residence features four bedrooms, four full baths and two half baths — plus a game room, study and wet bar. The expansive property, which overlooks a golf course and pond, also includes a guesthouse, four-car garage, covered patio with full kitchen, multiple outdoor seating areas, re pit, pool and spa.
briggsfreeman.com
$9,950,000
Donna Kyle Veale Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty 970-708-1535
Abiquiú, New Mexico
Premier Legacy Compound –Abiquiú Valley Farm
One of New Mexico’s most significant equestrian properties. With over 220 majestic acres along the banks of the Chama River consisting of a private riverfront bosque, fertile pastureland and natural ponds, this tranquil oasis has stunning views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Pedernal that drew Georgia O’Keeffe to the Southwest. The compound is anchored by a luxurious 6,500-sq. ft. main house–designed by renowned architect Theodore Waddell–that features a central atrium fountain, elegant living spaces, great room with facing fireplaces, art gallery, floor-to-ceiling paneled library, fabulous chef’s kitchen, formal dining room with fireplace and hand-painted ceiling
from Italy and inviting bedroom and bath suites. A local artist designed the 3,500 sq. ft., 3-bedroom, 5-bath guest house, which features a central courtyard, open plan kitchen, dining and living areas and two separate ensuite casitas surrounded by gardens. The Art Barn is a 5,700-sq. ft. cathedral-style adobe with large open spaces and includes a kitchen and two apartments. Impressive equestrian facilities include a 10-stall Morton barn with dry paddocks, in-ground waterers, a heated tack room with a bath and laundry facilities, outdoor wash stalls, six irrigated pastures, Kentucky-style fencing, and an outdoor sand dressage arena. As the state’s only Demeter-certified Biodynamic organic farm, the property has been producing medicinal herbs, alfalfa, and other forage crops.
AbiquiuLegacyCompound.com
Offered at $16,000,000
Jackson, Wyoming
Serenity on the Snake
Welcome to your luxurious retreat in one of the most desirable areas of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This stunning property in Wilderness Ranches offers the perfect blend of high-end luxury and breathtaking natural beauty. Situated on the banks of the majestic Snake River, this is a dream come true for those seeking a truly exceptional living experience. The outdoor patios, which are a true highlight of this property, offer the perfect vantage point to capture the scenic mountain and Snake River views that surround you. Imagine sipping your morning coffee while listening to the soothing sounds of the river, or hosting unforgettable evenings under the starlit sky. Vaulted ceilings and meticulous craftsmanship throughout the home add a touch of grandeur, while the
beautifully landscaped grounds adorned with mature flowers and plants create a serene oasis around it. Just a short distance from the main house on the banks of the river sits the Bear Cabin, a one bedroom guest home with additional garage and spacious storage area, perfectly appointed with a full kitchen, comfortable living area with fireplace, and large deck with sweeping Snake River views. For those seeking the ultimate in luxury real estate, this property is a true gem. With its prime location just minutes from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and the town of Wilson on the Snake River, you’ll have direct access to world-class fishing and a private walking trail along the river. Don’t miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a piece of paradise in Jackson Hole. This property is sure to exceed your expectations.
sothebysrealty.com/id/V85FX8
“The world would be a better place with more Penny Cooks.”
—Cathy H.
“I don’t think there is a more caring, driven and committed agent.”
“So kind and thoughtful. I can’t imagine working with anyone else.”
Meghan N.
Why Penny wins awards.
Over a career that just gets better — and spans generations — the industry awards continue to come. “I’m so grateful to receive these accolades,” says luxury specialist Penny Cook, “but the biggest honor comes in the form of kind words from my clients — and getting to be a part of their biggest moments.” Big moments. Big results. That is why Penny wins the wows.
“Penny is much more than just your agent: She is your advocate and friend.”
—Lauren and Matthew P. “She was honest and straightforward [and] always did what she said she would do.”
—Patrick A.
“Penny is a 10 out of five.”
—Scott M.
—John G. trust
D Magazine Individual Top Producer and D Best Advocate Top REALTOR® RealTrends Veri ed: #518 in Texas, individuals by volume
