Sorry for the lack of posts lately; I was vacationing in LA and wasn't online as much as I would have liked. Before I bring you the highlights from that trip, I wanted to share with you the interiors of the
McCormick Apartments that I talked about last week.
The building has 4 massive full floor units at 11,000 SF each and 2 smaller apartments on the first floor along with accomodations for dozens of servants.
Seen above is the typical floor plan for the 4 main units and the first two photographs show the elegant oval entry foyer.
I mentioned earlier that the building luckily contains many of the original details from when it was finished in 1915; basically everything except the bathrooms. This may be in part due to the
National Trust for Historic Preservation which has taken such great care of the building since buying it from the Brookings Institute in 1977 and using it as their headquarters.
The top floor apartment, famously occupied by Andrew Mellon, features numerous skylights which flood the unit with light. Above is the laylight into the foyer and one of numerous fireplace mantels.
The original butler's pantries (bigger than most studio apartments) retain the original silver safes.
Many of the interior mahogany doors still have their elegant original hardware.
The long bedroom hall still has a row of 11 beautiful cedar closets with mahogany doors, useful for storage of winter clothes while the residents would leave for the summer, abandoning sweltering DC.
I loved the hidden drapery pockets in the living room.
Light is a theme throughout the apartments. The public spaces have glass french doors and transom windows allowing light to pass room to room.
The 25'x45' living room is still as elegant as ever, in this case used as the main conference room on the 2nd floor.
Here is a photograph of Andrew Mellon taken in his living room in the McCormick in 1929.
His living room was not very comfortably furnished perhaps, but I'm sure the art collection in it was amazing; his collection formed the base for the
National Gallery of Art afterall, put together while living in this very apartment!
The dining room is nearly as large as the living room at 25' x 35' and opens directly into it. I love the pedimented overdoors.
Another famous tenant was Lord Duveen, the famous art dealer, who rented the apartment below the busy and aging Mellon so that he could preview different works of art in the privacy of his own apartment building.
Mellon returned the favor to Duveen by purchasing every work of art he had brought: 24 paintings and 18 sculptures at the cost of $21 million (1930s dollars!).
In 1941, the state department requisitioned the apartment building (due to a lack of office space in the city) from the McCormick estate and leased it to the British Embassy. Later in 1950 the building finally left the McCormick hands and was sold to the American Council on Education. Above - plasterwork in the library.
The servants quarters are open to the main apartments but split the high 14' tall ceilings into 2 levels with an upper and lower floor with tiny bedrooms opening off a miniscule corridor.
The 2 smaller apartments on the first floor have recently been renovated and are offered to rent as the National Trust doesn't require the entire building.
I love how they have respected the historic mouldings while adding more efficient modern lighting.
Living in the McCormick wasn't cheap, as one would expect. The main apartments contained 6 bedrooms and 4 baths as well as the public spaces and would set back the renters $15,000 a year (later dropping to $12,000 a year during the great depression).
Historic photographs of the Mellon apartment from the book 'Best Addresses' by James M Goode 
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Rounding out the collection of rooms at the Getty is the Neoclassical style (possibly my favorite). Together, these styles make up the collection of decorative arts at the museum.
The highlight of the Neoclassical collections is a paneled room designed by the famous Parisian architect Claude-Nicholas Ledoux. Designed for the house of a wealthy plantation owner from Santo Domingo as a Parisian base, the paneling entered American hands after demolition of the Ledoux designed complex in the late 19th century.
You can clearly see the emphasis on ancient Greek and Roman design of the Neoclassical movement, born out of the rediscovery of ancient Pompeii and Herculaneum. This was a direct and contrary response to the fluidity of the previously popular Rococo style (again, you see this following the political climate of a populace fighting against their ancient aristocracy during the age of enlightenment).
The details in this room are simply amazing and I love all of the mirrored surfaces. Hopefully now you can see why I love the Getty so much, and not just for the gorgeous Richard Meier designed campus!
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The front door leads directly into a casually furnished living room .
Each bungalow has a small kitchen that I imagine myself spending most of my time.
If you ever find yourself in LA, I highly recommend a stay at the Chateau! For more pictures and information -visit the post by HabituallyChic from last year 
I'm happy to report to those naysayers, that the Getty 
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