It’s an enormous residence in a Fifth Avenue cooperative building, and for a long long time, it was one of the most accommodating and spectacular to see and to visit. The Gutfreunds, graced by their choices and their interior designer, Henri Samuel, achieved a grandeur that was warm and inviting as well as quietly, but clearly (that word again) spectacular.
Now the apartment has been sold, and its longtime chatelaine is packing up, dismantling and organizing three and a half decades of acquisitions, fashion and otherwise. JH and I took some shots of some of the items.
There are racks and racks of couturiers’ designs both formal and everyday. They are being donated to Parsons/Paris, to the Met and to the Museum at FIT. There are round tables covered with the lady’s shoes, dozens and dozens of pairs. They are going to Vanessa Noel’s Shoe Museum. Many other items are being tagged for auction at Christie’s.
