Sorry for the lack of posts lately; I was vacationing in LA and wasn't online as much as I would have liked. Before I bring you the highlights from that trip, I wanted to share with you the interiors of the McCormick Apartments that I talked about last week.
The building has 4 massive full floor units at 11,000 SF each and 2 smaller apartments on the first floor along with accomodations for dozens of servants.
Seen above is the typical floor plan for the 4 main units and the first two photographs show the elegant oval entry foyer.
I mentioned earlier that the building luckily contains many of the original details from when it was finished in 1915; basically everything except the bathrooms. This may be in part due to the National Trust for Historic Preservation which has taken such great care of the building since buying it from the Brookings Institute in 1977 and using it as their headquarters.
The top floor apartment, famously occupied by Andrew Mellon, features numerous skylights which flood the unit with light. Above is the laylight into the foyer and one of numerous fireplace mantels.
The original butler's pantries (bigger than most studio apartments) retain the original silver safes.
Many of the interior mahogany doors still have their elegant original hardware.
The long bedroom hall still has a row of 11 beautiful cedar closets with mahogany doors, useful for storage of winter clothes while the residents would leave for the summer, abandoning sweltering DC.
I loved the hidden drapery pockets in the living room.
Light is a theme throughout the apartments. The public spaces have glass french doors and transom windows allowing light to pass room to room.
The 25'x45' living room is still as elegant as ever, in this case used as the main conference room on the 2nd floor.
Here is a photograph of Andrew Mellon taken in his living room in the McCormick in 1929.
His living room was not very comfortably furnished perhaps, but I'm sure the art collection in it was amazing; his collection formed the base for the National Gallery of Art afterall, put together while living in this very apartment!
The dining room is nearly as large as the living room at 25' x 35' and opens directly into it. I love the pedimented overdoors.
Another famous tenant was Lord Duveen, the famous art dealer, who rented the apartment below the busy and aging Mellon so that he could preview different works of art in the privacy of his own apartment building. 
Mellon returned the favor to Duveen by purchasing every work of art he had brought: 24 paintings and 18 sculptures at the cost of $21 million (1930s dollars!).
In 1941, the state department requisitioned the apartment building (due to a lack of office space in the city) from the McCormick estate and leased it to the British Embassy. Later in 1950 the building finally left the McCormick hands and was sold to the American Council on Education. Above - plasterwork in the library.
The servants quarters are open to the main apartments but split the high 14' tall ceilings into 2 levels with an upper and lower floor with tiny bedrooms opening off a miniscule corridor.
The 2 smaller apartments on the first floor have recently been renovated and are offered to rent as the National Trust doesn't require the entire building.
I love how they have respected the historic mouldings while adding more efficient modern lighting.
Living in the McCormick wasn't cheap, as one would expect. The main apartments contained 6 bedrooms and 4 baths as well as the public spaces and would set back the renters $15,000 a year (later dropping to $12,000 a year during the great depression).
I mentioned earlier that the building luckily contains many of the original details from when it was finished in 1915; basically everything except the bathrooms. This may be in part due to the National Trust for Historic Preservation which has taken such great care of the building since buying it from the Brookings Institute in 1977 and using it as their headquarters.The top floor apartment, famously occupied by Andrew Mellon, features numerous skylights which flood the unit with light. Above is the laylight into the foyer and one of numerous fireplace mantels.
The original butler's pantries (bigger than most studio apartments) retain the original silver safes.
Many of the interior mahogany doors still have their elegant original hardware.
The long bedroom hall still has a row of 11 beautiful cedar closets with mahogany doors, useful for storage of winter clothes while the residents would leave for the summer, abandoning sweltering DC.
I loved the hidden drapery pockets in the living room.
Light is a theme throughout the apartments. The public spaces have glass french doors and transom windows allowing light to pass room to room.
The 25'x45' living room is still as elegant as ever, in this case used as the main conference room on the 2nd floor.
Here is a photograph of Andrew Mellon taken in his living room in the McCormick in 1929.
His living room was not very comfortably furnished perhaps, but I'm sure the art collection in it was amazing; his collection formed the base for the National Gallery of Art afterall, put together while living in this very apartment!
The dining room is nearly as large as the living room at 25' x 35' and opens directly into it. I love the pedimented overdoors.
Another famous tenant was Lord Duveen, the famous art dealer, who rented the apartment below the busy and aging Mellon so that he could preview different works of art in the privacy of his own apartment building. Mellon returned the favor to Duveen by purchasing every work of art he had brought: 24 paintings and 18 sculptures at the cost of $21 million (1930s dollars!).
In 1941, the state department requisitioned the apartment building (due to a lack of office space in the city) from the McCormick estate and leased it to the British Embassy. Later in 1950 the building finally left the McCormick hands and was sold to the American Council on Education. Above - plasterwork in the library.
The servants quarters are open to the main apartments but split the high 14' tall ceilings into 2 levels with an upper and lower floor with tiny bedrooms opening off a miniscule corridor.
The 2 smaller apartments on the first floor have recently been renovated and are offered to rent as the National Trust doesn't require the entire building.
I love how they have respected the historic mouldings while adding more efficient modern lighting.
Living in the McCormick wasn't cheap, as one would expect. The main apartments contained 6 bedrooms and 4 baths as well as the public spaces and would set back the renters $15,000 a year (later dropping to $12,000 a year during the great depression). Historic photographs of the Mellon apartment from the book 'Best Addresses' by James M Goode
The evolution of a building is natural, much bemoaned by strict preservationist but it is the nature of time, particularly in cities; another topic for another day. A building which started out as the most luxurious apartment building here in Washington, DC now finds itself a distinguished office building holding none other than the 
I was lucky enough to have a tour of the building a few months ago and while many changes have been made to the interiors to accomodate offices, it's extraordinary how many of the original details have been retained. 
The neighborhood, Dupont Circle, was the heart of the cultural center of the city at the time (and some may argue still is) and the new building was designed to fit into this city beautiful movement stretching across the country.
Unlike luxury apartment buildings in the city today, there were no shared amenities per say. Rather, the public spaces, while beautiful, are small and efficient. No swimming pool , roof deck or gym were offered to the tenants!
From the entry lobby, one stepped up into a marble lined vestibule which contained doorways into two smaller apartments, 3 seperate elevators (one for service staff) and the main staircase (which wraps around the primary elevator).
The plaster work in the lobby is astounding and even more amazing is that it has survived intact for so many years.
The marble floors are an added bonus in Washington as it gets rather hot here in the summer and this was built pre-air conditioning. However, most of the tenants were here only during the winter 'season' and would not have had to worry about this inconvienence.
The landings outside of each apartment continue the simple moldings and 12" square black & white marble floors.
Join me next week as I show details from these original apartments, a typical floor plan is below to whet your appetite!
Chalfin chose to decorate the room in a romantic Venetian interpretation of French Rococo style. The room features an antique period mantelpiece but the centerpiece remains the magnificent canopied bed.
The house has a piano nobile design with the primary spaces on the 2nd floor. However, a study and dining room open out onto the back yard from the first floor (the front entry is on the right on the plan above while the backyard is to the left).
The study was decorated by 
Next to it was the dining room, done by 
Many features of the current house were required to be kept by the current owners who generously loaned the house, leaving a lot of fixtures and finishes for the designers to work around.
One such thing was the wallpaper in the dining room which Matthew ingeniusly decided to frame using drapes, much like a view. I loved the fresh look this gave the traditional space.
The living room, located on the 2nd floor (see #7 on the floorplan above) stretches out along the width of the house on 63rd street. Decorated by 
Also on the 2nd floor was 
The finishes in this room were spectacular, however I'm not sure what was original and what Platt was involved with. I especially loved the hidden doors flanking the fireplace which had venetian plaster above a low wood wainscot. That door hardware is like jewelry.
The 'her' master bedroom was decorated by 
The paneling had to remain and I suspect some wallpaper as well, which Amanda covered with some silk fabric.
I loved the gilt lucite table with the 'floating' design.
The glamorous master dressing and bathroom were done by 
While the design/build firm has been involved with the showhouse many times in the past -this is the first time they have done a room designed by themselves.
Joy Licht, the owner and founder of the company, was able to show me around the spaces and point out some of the great details. I especially loved the 'mirror' in the dressing room - a video camera and tv screen so you can see yourself 'live' (modeled so well by my friend Eric who joined me on the tour!).
The tile work was done by artistic tile while the floors were the original antique wood parquet.
These cute light fixtures dotted the space.
No less glamorous than the master bedroom was the one done by 
The room was tiny and lacked a fireplace, unlike most of the other main rooms. Barbara added an antique mantel and filled it with wood -who would have guessed it was fake!
Winning most fun room of the house (awarded by myself) was a childs room (#16) decorated by 
Antique, smokey mirror covered the walls and the furnishings were colorful, fun and inventive with a lot of personal touches. 
If I was able to stay overnight in the house this is the room I'd choose; how fun would that be?! The pillow cover was a couture fabric covered in rhinestones adding a lot of fun 'bling'.
Next to Barbara's bedroom was a den done by 
After the closeness of the house below, it was like breathing fresh air when you walked up onto the fourth floor of the house. Wide and open with balconies on either end, this is the space any homeowner would spend their time in.
The rear terrace housed these really great trellised pavilions that I had to share with you to close; painted a french gray. See what I mean - beautiful rooms but you would never leave the top floor!