The Connecticut estate of British art historian & Picasso biographer, Sir John Richardson, was featured in the September issue of The New York Times’ T Magazine in 2014 and we happened upon it again recently on Instagram and fell IN LOVE with it all over again. There are two houses on the property, a main house that Richardson purchased in the 1970’s from an actor and an interior decorator, and a second house that sites atop a small hill overlooking the swimming pool, comprised of a large single room where the writer & historian (92) now lives. Designed by Richardson himself with the help of the Cuban architect Ernesto Buch, it was built in the early 1990’s, its design inspired by an early 19th-century villa in Berlin by the great Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. This Guest House is referred to as “The Library” by writer.
As Ian Buruma states in his piece featuring Richardson, “You need talent, as well as a great deal of energy, to create your own Arcadia. To work, it has to be utterly personal. It’s no good building and decorating a house just to display great wealth, or to demonstrate the owner’s fine taste (especially when that taste has been bought from a professional). For such displays are meant for others to admire. A personal Arcadia is more private — a paradise that is not just lived in but a place of individual associations, memories, eccentricities, humor, love.” This home is just that — a personal Arcadia that reflects the art historian’s very essence. It is a maximalist dream of fine taste, but more importantly, a beautiful expression of his character and love for beauty and life. Click through for a tiny glimpse . . .
