"The Power of a House" for VIE May 2023

“My childhood abodes in Africa birthed my faith in the power of houses. Because my father was a diplomat and we moved frequently, our homes were more than shelters for our family. They were tools that helped us quickly connect with the communities where we were sent, until my father was posted somewhere else—or until a civil war erupted and we evacuated. Although temporary segments of our lives, those houses of my younger life sparked my feelings of how to be in this world—that it is possible for homes to reflect and respect our privacy while providing a conduit to the community around us….”

Read more in the May 2023 issue of VIE Magzine HERE!

'A Woman in Her Own Right' for VIE May 2022

Portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner in Venice by Anders Zorn

“This woman was a trailblazer. Bella made her first blockbuster purchase (without the aid of an art advisor) in 1892 when she bought Johannes Vermeer’s The Concert (c. 1664) at auction. She was the first American to own a Botticelli and the first to bring a Matisse to an American collection. There were no limits to her learning or collecting. Whatever moved her, she bought: Titian, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Manet, Degas, Whistler, and Sargent, of course. She trusted her gut. Her collecting partner, Bernard Berenson, once sold her a Rembrandt that she was not crazy about but, on his urging, bought anyway. A hundred years later, her instincts proved impeccable—it was discovered to be a fake.

Even today, this sui generis woman would be a renegade. Anyone who knows what moves them and dives in, learns more, and makes it their lifelong passion and pursuit can move mountains. Isabella Stewart Gardner is considered one of America’s greatest art collectors and museum builders. Her gift opens up a new world and invites us to see things in a different way.”

Read more about Isabella Stewart Gardner, her incredible art collection and house museum in Boston, in the latest issue of VIE Magazine HERE.

'The Art of the House Drink' for VIE June 2021

Serve your House Drink in any vessel you choose! (Credit: CR Fashion Book)

“I am a fan of having a house drink and a go-to menu until they’re fully mastered at every step: cooking, mixing, and presentation. Then when the excitement has evaporated or the season has changed, the time comes to move to new terrains. This steady progression of building culinary and cocktail house signatures adds to your skills through the decades. During the learning period, the practice provides stability, predictability, and comfort to those you feed and water, something guests look forward to when invited. Then, to keep you and yours on your toes, choose new treats.

In that vein, I propose settling upon a house cocktail for a while.…”

Learn how (and why, and when) to serve up a variety of champagne cocktails while entertaining at home, in the latest issue of VIE Magazine HERE!

'The Pink Teacup' for June VIE

“I seem to have lived in a series of pink houses throughout my life. The first was in Mogadishu, Somalia, when I was a young girl. The second, in the early 2000s, was an eighteenth-century townhouse on Rainbow Row in Charleston, South Carolina. Now I live in another eighteenth-century pink house around the corner on Church Street, one of the most beautiful streets in the city. The house is the size of a teacup—with the charm of one too. The special appeal of the abode is the small balcony overlooking the street. Unbelievably, no one stepped onto the balcony for over thirty years.

I chose the pink teacup because of that balcony and the street’s busyness below, which reminded me of cities in my childhood. The streets in the Middle Eastern and African cities were newspapers in motion, all sections: front page, editorial, sports, even advertising pages. The verbal secret newspaper. Gossip central. News, free for all!”

Read more about the Pink Teacup house, its balcony overlooking (and overhearing) Church Street, and all the changes endured…in the latest issue of VIE Magazine HERE.

'The Ultimate House Party' for January VIE

“I visited Tony and Carla in their home in southern France for two summers, and now we are family. We’ve adopted each other. When I need a lift, I tap into the memories of those halcyon days at the Hendra’s place. What could be better than reveling for a week (yes, a full week!) in communal bliss—eating, drinking, swimming, and walking around a charming village, with time for long conversations and hours of cooking? All the while, you’re leaving the frenzy of your trials and tribulations behind, at least for a spell.

A house party host must possess an overflowing heart, a hugely generous spirit (and often, an open pocketbook), boundless energy, and a willingness to carve out time for others. The house party host is the exact opposite of self-centered. The tasks are multiple, but so are the rewards for those of us who have organized house parties and been recipients of these idyllic stays. Making a group of people feel safe and loved, watered and fed for a few days is a fabulous gift….”

Read the rest of the Dean’s How To’s of World-Class Hosting (learned in large part from the Hendras) in the January 2020 issue of VIE Magazine HERE!

"Walking into a Perfume Bottle" for October VIE

“A ballroom needs structure to contain its empty party space, and a garden ballroom is no different. Four ‘walls’ were a way of containing the area but open to the sky where anything seemed possible: a place for sitting still or dancing among a crowd. One wall was an avenue of thirteen twenty-foot holly trees, and another was a line of five black cement pillars with gigantic pots of pink sasanqua trees shaped like umbrellas. (This was the view from the kitchen table.) Two clipped hedges formed the north and south walls. Four pots of standard orange trees stood in the corners. Ballrooms look grand with a piece of art, so we installed a sculpture — a seven-foot-long hippopotamus bench made of Pennsylvania granite….”

Suzanne writes of her time spent living in the Elizabeth Barnwell Gough house (c. 1780) in Beaufort SC, where she restored the gardens to their original glory with her signature nod to modern. In case any readers are like us — faced with fallen trees and perhaps a future blank slate in your backyard, desperately needing the ultimate yard inspiration after Hurricane Dorian — read the rest of this article in the October issue of VIE Magazine HERE!

An Enlightening Speech (and a Pitcher of Manhattans) at Drayton Hall

Drayton Hall Lecture Series at Society Hall; Carter Hudgins: Preserving the Past, Preparing the Future: Celebrating Ten Years of Wood Family Fellows at Drayton Hall.  [Full schedule here.]

The Charleston Academy loves house museums. We are endlessly curious about every nook and cranny of these behemoth beauties from the 18 and 19th Century -- how they were designed, who lived in them, daily schedules -- but mostly we want to figure out if there is anything they did that we should be doing in our own households right now.

On September 17th at Society Hall, Carter Hudgins, acting director of Drayton Hall (America’s first Palladian house, now a house museum), held the audience at Society Hall in rapt attention as he wove historical facts, personalities, stories, photos past and present and described the Wood Family Fellowship’s impact on Drayton Hall, ending with an emotional punch.

Among the lessons learned:

• John Drayton is something like an 18th century version of Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery.  Based on Drayton Hall’s architecture and other material culture such as the Edwards watercolors, it is clear that Drayton is well-educated and must have spent time in the UK.  However, Drayton Hall doesn’t have any hard written evidence of his travels or education. 

• The impact of a family foundation run correctly for ten years spreads far and wide.  The Wood Family used a tragedy -- Tony Wood's brother's death as a young college graduate working as a restoration apprentice at Drayton Hall in  1980 and the death fourteen years later of his parents -- to establish a fellowship in the family name ten years ago. This position breathed new life and knowledge into Drayton Hall, and gave nine young scholars a career path.

• Our messy basements are nothing!  One fellow, Sarah Stroud, organized over one million artifacts stored in zip lock containers since the 1970’s according to excavation context, i.e. in both horizontal and vertical manners. Think of the entire site with an imaginary grid of 5-foot squares superimposed on landscape.  Sarah worked to identify which squares the artifacts came from as well as from layer of soil in the ground.  Thankfully the artifacts were labeled with these details in the 1970s and 1980s.  Now they are being cataloged to learn about what happened across site at various times.  Less than 2% of entire site has been excavated, yet more than one million artifacts have been recovered.

• Find measuring drapes or hanging paintings difficult? Trish Smith, another Wood Family Foundation fellow, puts us to shame. With the help of Natalie Woodward, Trish meticulously measured every inch of Drayton Hall to develop AutoCAD drawings.  Then she took these drawings forward to complete 3D renderings, so the early interiors, paint colors, furniture, lighting is another aspect of the house museum experience.

Before the Society Hall event, the Academy hosted a small reception to honor Carter Hudgins and Tony Wood. The party was only one hour long, but it was the first reception in a night of many.

Our advice on staging a 4:30PM cocktail party for 25:

• Choose one specialty cocktail and only two, at most three, hor’s doervers. NO MORE.

• Make the guest of honor’s favorite drink. NO reason to set up a full bar; guests don’t need to make decisions.  And FYI, even at that hour, folks in Charleston will drink a cocktail.

• If there are many parties in one night, insist on yours being first. Yours will be the most memorable -- too much drinking at the other parties makes later memories blurry ☺ -- plus your workload is easier.  Nobody wants much to eat  much at 4:30.

On the Bar:

• A pitcher of Manhattans

• Perrier & white wine

• Bowls of pistachios, Parmesan crisps & chips and guacamole.

A Pitcher of Manhattans

Serves 12

3 cups rye whiskey

1 ½ cups sweet vermouth

1 teaspoon Angostura bitters

ICE (Pro. Tip: You can never have enough ice at a party.)

Brandied cherries

Combine whiskey, vermouth and bitters in a pitcher. Stir and store in refrigerator until guests arrive. Put large ice cubes in silver cups or crystal coupes, pour in cocktail and garnish with cherry.