Hard to believe, but it's been nearly a year since La Ronda, the Mizner designed Mansion outside of Philadelphia, met with the wrecking ball. The day it was torn down proved that although the historic preservation movement has come so far in the past 20 years, we still have a long way to go. Obviously a lot of people in this country still don't value the importance of our heritage.
The great start of historic preservation in the US may have been the destruction of Penn Station in 1963, which even Jackie Kennedy couldn't save. Many organizations (and bloggers!) brought much needed attention to the fate of La Ronda but it was sadly too late. However, the bright spot is that it again brought our architectural heritage into the media spotlight and I hope none of us loose this passion we had for this place. As La Ronda had fallen into obscurity, hopefully other great works will come to light before it is too late.
A great article summing up the whole debacle is in the October 2010 issue of Architectural Digest, written by Jay Pridmore with fantastic photographs by Craig Kuhner. Hopefully this fantastic issue (the best I've seen in years) heralds the direction of the magazine under its' new editor. I'll leave you with the strong closing statement from the article, a quote from Lori Salganikoff:"People have to think past their personal ownership of resources because there are some things that ought to outlive them"
Ditto, Lori.
I know many of us still mourn the loss of many of our state-side magazines, but don't forget that there are some great foreign magazines out there! While at the beach I had picked up a copy of the British July 2010 House & Garden which always is pretty fantastic. 
In this issue was the much talked about restored ancestral home of John Coote, Bellamont Forest, which he had put on the market (seen in these top 3 photographs). I especially love the main saloon seen in the top image -who knew I could like pink! I especially am into that ceiling and those yummy white slipcovered armchairs.
The front hall is only made better by the addition of the pooch :-) The article proclaims it as 'Ireland's most perfect Palladian villa' and I just may have to agree! Photographs by Luke White
If Bellamont Forest is the most perfect villa in Ireland, then a house recently restored by Russell Page in Normandy may just hold that distinction in France! Photographs by Fritz von der Schulenburg
The library / dining room is probably my most favorite room I've seen in a few years in any magazine. I could live in that room and never want to leave!
I was also intrigued by an article about antique glass and different uses for it in interiors. I'm not generally a fan of any chintz or overly floral fabrics, but I loved the notion of putting it behind VERY antiqued glass for a ghostly appearance as seen in these bottom 2 beautiful photographs by Adrian Briscoe.
I especially like this idea in a bathroom, as in the image above -just windex your bathroom clean! What do you think of this technique, I know it's somewhat unusual. Has anyone done this before themselves?
