While leafing through my ancient copy of The Book of Gardens and Gardening edited byCountry Life from 1924, I found these amazing pictures of Elsie de Wolfe’s garden. The garden was at her Villa Trianon in Versailles just outside of Paris. What caught my eye first were the standards which are not the usual roses, but pink geraniums in a bed of blue aubretia which must have been very striking against the green grass.The stylish Miss de Wolfe had a walk lined in ivy topiary arches which … (View original article)

The inevitable has happened. New Jersey’s most expensive estate, The Stone Mansion, has lowered its asking price by $16 million to $52 million. Listed back in June of 2010 for a whopping $68 million, this lavish gated 30,000 square foot mega mansion boats 12 bedrooms, 14 full and 5 half bathrooms, 3 kitchens, 4 bars, a home theater, wine cellar, indoor basketball court, swimming pool, tennis court and so much more. It is located at 1 Frick Drive in Alpine, NJ, one of the nation&rsq… (View original article)

Last fall, I was scouting Westchester for period upscale homes when I happened to find a gem, located far back from the road on an enormous plot of land.

I try not to get my hopes up for this type of thing – for a property of this sort, most of the time, the owners simply don’t want the hassle of a film crew invading their lives. But a “For Sale” sign at the edge of the road gave me hope…

…and I was in luck! I received a call back soon af… (View original article)

Manhattan is one of the five regions of New York City. It is situated in Manhattan Island at the mouth of Hudson River. It is also one of the major commercial centres of United States of America. Manhattan has some of the best hotels in the world. If you are looking to plan your holidays in Manhattan, then there are a number of luxury hotels that can make your memories last for a life time….

Coco Rocha, among the top 30 models of the 2000s voted by Vogue Paris, is not… (View original article)

It’s basically just a bit of fashion eye candy. Ferragamo’s Resort Collection showing was held at the Duke Mansion in Manhattan in late June. Emma Roberts, Eva Mendes and of course, fashion’s finest were in attendance.

The girls looked lovely in designs by Massimiliano Giornetti, and overall, it’s just a pretty little trip into Italian fashion by way of an NYC mansion.

(View original article)

ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema has demolished his Sandton home, and is building a multi-million-rand mansion in its place, according to the Sunday Times.

According to neighbours, workers began knocking down the R3.6-million Johannesburg home earlier this year.

“[We] are in horror because this was a perfectly beautiful house. Paving was done around the house and many other big renovations… and then he brought the whole thing down,” an anonymous neighbour told the Su… (View original article)

Sag Harbor – This past Saturday, July 9, was the fifth annual luau at the Sag Harbor Whaling Museum. Music was played the talented Caroline Doctorow while catering was handled by Cynthia Battaglia Distinctive Catering.
The museum is planning events to bring more visitors to view its treasures, such as this whale bone. (Christopher Beninati) HereLocated at 200 Main Street, the beautiful building that once was a mansion has housed this East End historic gem since 1936. The museum displays an … (View original article)

The Bel Air mansion belonging to Elizabeth Taylor been sold to an unnamed buyer. Details of the purchase price have also not been released. The house, a 1960’s ranch-style, was where the Oscar-winning actress lived for 30 years, before she died of congestive heart failure in March. Taylor lived to be 79. The market price was $8.6 million. Christopher Wilding, Elizabeth’s son, said “(The house was) where we all gathered, especially at Thanksgiving and Easter… She never entertained the noti… (View original article)

A makeshift laboratory in a double-storey mansion in the heart of the upmarket Pretoria suburb of Waterkloof Heights operated undetected for two years, churning out huge amounts of cheap drugs.

The tranquility of the leafy suburb, home to top politicians and ambassadors, where houses are priced in the millions, was broken yesterday by heavily armed members of the Organised Crime Unit, who scaled the electric fence around the property to swoop on the tik (methamphetamine) … (View original article)

For a quick history on this property, read just the facts.

According to Timothy Sawyer’s “Old Charlestown,” Cordis Street was set out as early as 1799 “over the pasture of Captain Joseph Cordis.” He was a ship-master and merchant who became a large real estate holder in the 1780s, during post-Revolutionary War reconstruction.

A few homes on Cordis Street were built in the early 1800s. The mansion at 33 Cordis St. was part of the building boom of the 1840s and 1850s, fo… (View original article)