Welcome back to Monochromes, a Friday mini-series wherein Curbed delves deep into the Library of Congress's photographic annals, resurfacing with an armful of old black-and-white photos of architecture and interior design of yesteryear. Have a find you want to share? Hit up the tipline; we'd love to hear from you.
Snagged from the pages of Empty Mansions, a book all about the many old money homes of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark, are these incredible photos of the interiors of Bellosguardo, the family's estate in Santa Barbara, and, above, the old Clark Mansion on Fifth Avenue. In their NYC palace, the dining room boasted 167 vertical panels carved from a single piece of black oak. The ceilings, according to the Huffington Post, were laced with gargoyles and classical figures. Since her death in 2011, the 17,000-square-foot mansion has been sold off in piecemeal slivers.
↑ Huguette's mother's room in their Santa Barbara manse. The painting, according to Huffington Post, is by Sargent, of "a woman dancing the tarantella for a man on a rooftop in Capri." The estate is said to become something of a museum. After Clark died (at 104!), her estate established the nonprofit Bellosguardo Foundation whose directive is to "foster and promote the arts."
· Eerie Photos Reveal The Lonely Life Of A Reclusive Heiress And Her Empty Mansions [Huffington Post]
· Empty Mansions [official site]
· All Huguette Clark posts [Curbed National]
· All Monochromes posts [Curbed National]
· All Dwelling posts [Curbed National]
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