Scene Last Night: Martha Stewart, Charles Royce, Church’s Olana
In a room filled with palm trees and lush bouquets of roses, Charles Royce of Royce & Associates LLC and lifestyle empress Martha Stewart last night celebrated a creaky old house known as Olana.
The venue was the New York Public Library’s Edna Barnes Salomon Room, and the occasion a fundraiser for the Olana Partnership, which helps maintain Olana.
That’s the name landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church gave to the Persian-style pile he built in Hudson, New York, after visiting Damascus, Jerusalem and Beirut.
“It’s a fantasyland,” said Morrison Heckscher, chairman of the just-reopened, renovated American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Even a fantasyland requires upkeep. This summer the roof will be repaired with a $1 million grant from New York State, the Olana Partnership’s president, Sara Johns Griffen, said. A restoration of the stone walls and farm pastures on the property, which is two hours’ drive north of Manhattan, is under way with $350,000 raised privately, Griffen said.
On the wish list: funds to put carriages back on the paths.
“Church had donkeys for his,” Griffen said.
Richard Sharp, a securities lawyer and chairman of the Olana Partnership, traced his own path to becoming a supporter.
“I love hiking,” Sharp said. “Then, I started collecting Hudson River School paintings -- they captured the same views I saw on my hikes. And then, I discovered Olana.”
His goal as chairman is simple enough: “We can make our dreams a reality if we’re able to be successful with the fundraising,” he said.
‘Foie Gras’
Helping butter up guests last night was a fine meal prepared by the staff of Daniel Boulud. It included foie gras and creamy sunchoke soup.
“After taping two shows, it’s really lovely to come to a dinner like this,” Stewart said.
Heckscher and Stewart were the honorees of the event. Stewart said she visited Olana on Saturday. “I could feel what Church must have felt when he found that property,” she said. “I was jealous, really jealous.”
Heckscher, meanwhile, was thankful that so many senior staff from the Met had come to the dinner in his honor. Among them: the museum’s director, Thomas Campbell, President Emily Rafferty and trustee Lulu Wang.
The honorees received miniature replicas of the frame of Emanuel Leutze’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware,” made by fine-art framer Eli Wilner.
(Amanda Gordon is a writer and photographer for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. Any opinions expressed are her own.)
To contact the writer on this story: Amanda Gordon in New York at agordon01@bloomberg.net or on Twitter at @amandagordon.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
Olana Partnership
Amanda Gordon?Bloomberg
At the Olana Partnership's fundraiser, cocktails were served in the Edna Barnes Salomon Room of the New York Public Library.
At the Olana Partnership's fundraiser, cocktails were served in the Edna Barnes Salomon Room of the New York Public Library. Photographer: Amanda Gordon?Bloomberg
Olana Partnership
Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Emily Rafferty, president, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Martha Stewart, founder, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
Emily Rafferty, president, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Martha Stewart, founder, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Olana Partnership
Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Morrison Heckscher, chairman of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Morrison Heckscher, chairman of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Olana Partnership
Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Lansing Moore, art restorer, and Charles Royce, president, Royce & Associates, and co-chief investment officer, the Royce Funds.
Lansing Moore, art restorer, and Charles Royce, president, Royce & Associates, and co-chief investment officer, the Royce Funds. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Olana Partnership
Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Elizabeth Miller, Lulu Wang and Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, the Anthony W. and Lulu C. Wang Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Elizabeth Miller, Lulu Wang and Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, the Anthony W. and Lulu C. Wang Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Olana Partnership
Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Mika Matsuura, a creative director, in a dress of her own design.
Mika Matsuura, a creative director, in a dress of her own design. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Olana Partnership
Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Foie gras appetizers by Daniel Boulud.
Foie gras appetizers by Daniel Boulud. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Olana Partnership
Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Saana Wang, a photographer, explaining an image she shot of Olana to Betsy Scott, a former trustee of the Olana Partnership.
Saana Wang, a photographer, explaining an image she shot of Olana to Betsy Scott, a former trustee of the Olana Partnership. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Olana Partnership
Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Alex Bush and Young Sohn, who recently photographed Olana for a series that brings contemporary artists to the site in Hudson, New York.
Alex Bush and Young Sohn, who recently photographed Olana for a series that brings contemporary artists to the site in Hudson, New York. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Olana Partnership
Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Carrie Rebora Barratt, an associate director at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Warrie Price, president, the Battery Conservancy.
Carrie Rebora Barratt, an associate director at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Warrie Price, president, the Battery Conservancy. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Olana Partnership
Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Eli Wilner, a fine-art framer, and Stephen Hannock, a landscape painter who donated a work (framed by Wilner) to the event's live auction. The work, depicting Niagara Falls, sold for $35,000.
Eli Wilner, a fine-art framer, and Stephen Hannock, a landscape painter who donated a work (framed by Wilner) to the event's live auction. The work, depicting Niagara Falls, sold for $35,000. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
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