2. A marble shortlist bust.

1 GATEKEEPER: WORLD OF FOLLY My idea was to make the armory grand. It’s very solid—almost like visiting Downton Abbey. 2 MARBLE BUSTS I lined the armory’s walls with 1860s marble busts and over­ scale Victorian things. 3 CATTLEYA ORCHIDS I’ve grown these since I was a child living in Hawaii. They were quite 5. All Eyes carpet by Hunt Slonem fashionable in the 1950s, but for Groundworks phalaenopsis, which I call through Lee Jofa. the dandelion of the Upper 3. A Cattleya orchid. East Side, has taken over. 4 GOTHIC REVIVAL HUNT SLONEM SCENT BOTTLES THINGS HE CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT These are glass bottles in metal Hunt Slonem has been in a pro- Gothic Revival bases, made from the 1840s to the 1860s. I got most lific outpouring since the mid-1970s. A South- of mine from the estate of Lee B. Ander­ ern spiritual kin to , he is perhaps son, the godfather of Gothic Revival. best known for his repeat of rabbits 5 LEE JOFA and birds. Slonem has also turned his eye to the I take little vignettes from my paintings revivification of historic properties. Unsurpris- and turn them into patterns for wall­ papers, fabrics, and carpets for Lee Jofa. ingly, his restorations have been on a grand It’s something artists in other periods scale, including three plantations in Louisiana, have done a lot. two houses in New York, and a mansion in 6 SIEBRECHT SOFAS 8. A parrot. Scranton, Pennsylvania. A recent endeavor—a Henry Siebrecht was a cabinetmaker 100,000-square-foot armory also in Scranton— based in Louisiana. There are only five is the subject of the Assouline book Gate- known Siebrecht sofas in the world; I have three of them, and one is in the keeper: World of Folly, out in June. Slonem has Metropolitan Museum of Art. transformed the former home of the Pennsyl- 7 LOUISIANA vania National Guard into a magical kingdom I studied at , and I brimming with chandeliers, portraits, and a just loved the state from the minute 7. Slonem’s conservatory worth of plants. “My mother said, I set foot there. I did a series of bayou Albania paintings at my Albania plantation plantation ‘Well, you’ve wanted a castle since you were a in southern Louisiana. in Louisiana. little boy,’ ” he says. VANESSA​ LAWRENCE 8 PARROTS They live forever. I have maybe fewer than 60? I was in a relationship with

somebody who loved parrots for a PORTRAIT: LUIGI CAZZANIGA; 1, 2, RESOURCES 4, 6, COURTESY 7: SEE DETAILS, OF FOR HUNT SLONEM LEEJOFA.COM. STUDIO; GROUNDWORKS, FOR 3, SLONEM 8: GETTYHUNT IMAGES; 5, BUNNY FABRIC: while. We broke up, and I got the parrots.

1. An interior from Gatekeeper: World of Folly.

4. A Gothic Revival scent bottle.

6. A circa-1850 Henry Siebrecht–designed sofa.

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