building heroes

Yesterday on our way back, my wonderful family indulged me with a pilgrimage to one of my heroes houses. Edith Wharton‘s The Mount  looms large in my imagination as an important Place in American history.  The property itself, the ground in particular are amazing. The sylvan drive to the house is worth a novel.  The house interiors are very well renovated with beautiful attention to the “simple” carvings on the walls that were a Wharton requirement.

I was bothered and distracted by the 2004? Decorator Show House interventions. Really, a dog bed? I hope that the interiors will get striped down again at some point to reveal the elegant proportions that Wharton orchestrated with the architecture.