Tag: art

A Question of Borwick
Matthew Steeples asks Conservative candidate for Kensington Lady Borwick five questions; he put the same to the Liberal Democrats Annabel Mullin also whilst Labour’s Emma Dent Coad failed to respond

In the final hours of the 2017 General Election campaign, I asked the Conservative candidate for Kensington, Lady Borwick, five questions I considered relevant to voters in one of Britain’s most wealthy constituencies. I publish below her answers in full and unedited form and beneath also include the responses of the Liberal Democrat candidate, Annabel Mullin, to the same questions.

Emma Dent Coad, Labour’s candidate, was also given the opportunity to answer but failed to respond to several requests.

The five questions to Lady Borwick (initially and then more generally to Annabel Mullin and Emma Dent Coad) were:
- Hidden homeless: “What will you do to help the ‘hidden homeless’ of Kensington?”
- Money park Kensington: “How will you help local businesses counter such decline if re-elected?”
- Brexit: “How, going forward, will you credibly represent the 48% who voted to ‘remain’, as someone who went on the phones to support ‘leave’?”
- Answering constituents: “How will you improve your pathetically low 18% response rate to constituents’ correspondence, as registered on TheyWorkForYou.com if re-elected?”
- Ivory: “Will you continue to lobby Theresa May about ivory in spite of such being highly unpopular with constituents and others such as Deborah Meaden?”
Pictured above: Annabel Mullin campaigning, Lady Borwick during the Brexit referendum and Emma Dent Coad

Pictured above: Annabel Mullin campaigning, Lady Borwick during the Brexit referendum and Emma Dent Coad

Victoria Borwick, Conservative Party

What will you do to help the ‘hidden homeless’ of Kensington?”

In Parliament, the Homeless Reduction Bill was recently passed –which was almost the last bill to be “signed off” before Parliament broke for the election. This puts pressure on local councillors to provide a range of early intervention solutions.

Current local services – There are a number of local churches who are working in this sector such as St Cuthbert’s (who I visited earlier this week) and our local charities.

From my previous work at the GLA, I know that although there is a hostel place for everyone that is not enough. People need more and longer-term help which is why there are some good charities working locally, for example the Glass Door Project and Homeless Link. I have also worked with several of the veterans’ charities whose aim is not “no second night out” but “no first night out”.

The situation with those that are “street homeless” – these are the people who, for a complex number of reasons, spend time living on the streets. Some do have somewhere to sleep at night, but spend the day on the streets and some live on the streets full time, including overnight.

The first port of call for street homeless people is a hostel and these fall into two categories. “Direct access” and those that require a referral from an agency. These agencies provide not only shelter but some way to address the terrible loneliness, mental health and other problems that most street homeless people feel. We need to look at the provision of hostels, but also work with the organisations that provide longer term support, to help people get over their crisis and get back on their feet – and this can take months, and sometimes longer.

There has to be short-term accommodation but also ways of dealing with the causes of street homelessness. There needs to be “move on” accommodation, for those that have managed to get themselves into a stable state, and where they are becoming independent, but may still need some ongoing support. I have visited services where they have a range of provision in the same location, I.E. those in immediate crisis and those that are more capable.

We need to provide services to help people with drug and alcohol problems which causes so many people to become street homeless, and also with the mental health problems that afflict so many of these people. The council’s Public Health Department has made this a high priority. I particularly welcome the changes to our mental health laws that the Prime Minister has pledged to bring in. These should make a big difference for homeless people with mental health problems.

Money park Kensington: “How will you help local businesses counter such decline if re-elected?”

I have grown up in Kensington and lived here all my life, with my family.

Supporting our small and medium sized local businesses is very important for all of us in Kensington. Local businesses are the backbone of our economy and provide employment and opportunities in our community.

Firstly we have to stop losing small independent businesses, as you have refereed to, so that people do not lose their opportunity to be working locally and also to start business locally. RBKC has continued with our planning exemptions, otherwise across London small businesses were being turfed out of their premises. Many local restaurants have sadly closed.

I have lobbied the Chancellor, and if re-elected will continue to lobby the Chancellor against the rash of additional regulations for small business – the proposed quarterly reporting, the apprenticeship levy – should be for larger firms, the pensions levy and of course the revaluation which has negatively impacted on our shops – and not on the out of town warehouses for mail order.

I recently undertook a survey of many local shops and businesses, either in writing or by visiting in person. On the basis of the response, I wrote to the Treasury, as indeed did the Borough, and also raised it personally with the Chancellor to see if there is any other way of looking at the rates – so that rateable value could be examined to take into account factors such as turnover, size of premises, whether the shop is independent or a chain of premises and so on. If re-elected, I shall continue to raise these concerns with other central London MPs as they affect us all.

I will continue to support local businesses by supporting any legislation in Parliament which will promote businesses and support our local economy.

Buy to Leave – This is a real issue in Central London, and this is something that, as an MP, I discussed with other Central London MPs from all parties. As we are aware this is “investment purchasing” where investors buy, usually a new property, and then do not live in it, and treat it as “money in the bank” which is why they don’t want it to be lived in as they want to keep it new.

When discussing this and researching what is actually happening – RBKC undertook a survey, as have Westminster Council on this topic. There is a pocket of properties where this is very prevalent, however there is not overall interest in this because it affect so very few nationally.

That does not make it any less of a problem – the previous Mayor tried to address this by saying that properties have to be marketed in the UK first, but we are often used to getting a mortgage first and these overseas buyers are cash buyers so naturally they can jump in. The new Mayor is also examining what measures can be taken.

There are examples in Switzerland and Australia where they have tried to tackle this issue. Buy to leave homes have a very negative effect on the community as there are less “eyes on the streets” less community activity and it is difficult for local business to survive.

By continuing to have schools and local amenities it brings together a community and encourages homes for families.

Brexit: “How, going forward, will you credibly represent the 48% who voted to ‘remain’, as someone who went on the phones to support ‘leave’?”

I previously worked for Open Europe which was working with the previous administration on renegotiation, which was my preferred stance. I had hoped that the EU would and could use this time to examine its own processes and undertake reform. I realise the result of the referendum is not the outcome for which everyone might have hoped. My chief concern was accountability, and it became clear there was little that could be done to persuade the Commission towards greater transparency.

As a country we voted to leave the EU. Parliament has voted on two occasions to implement the result, with cross-party support. All sides have agreed to respect the referendum and to get on with the re-negotiations. The Lib Dems may have also offered a second referendum on the result of the negotiations. Theresa May has said she will bring the final agreement to Parliament for a vote.

For Kensington, if re-elected, my role will be to lobby for reciprocal rights for all our long-term residents. Over 50% of the residents in Kensington were not born here and many have made Kensington their home for many years. We should continue to make sure they are welcomed and can continue to play an active part in our community. Many are also great contributors to voluntary and charitable works.

I will represent the views of Kensington in Westminster if I am re-elected; working closely with Ministers to make sure they understand the complexity of Kensington.

The choice for everyone is: “Who should be leading the Brexit negotiations?” Which team do you want? I am supporting Theresa May and her team. I support the PMs ambition to strive for a good outcome for the country.

Answering constituents: “How will you improve your pathetically low 18% response rate to constituents’ correspondence, as registered on TheyWorkForYou.com if re-elected?”

I have always prioritised urgent casework when responding to the vast amount of correspondence my office receives. I receive referrals and pleas for help from individual constituents, charities, churches, the mosque and other religious groups, along with organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureau and free legal advice clinics. We have helped several thousand families over my time in Parliament. These referrals, usually from someone in crisis, do not come through “They Work for You” thus they are not logged in this way.

People tend to write to us on “They Work for You” if they are asking for our views on a particular campaign. If the campaign has nothing to do with Kensington residents, then I put my views on the website, so that people can see my opinion. However, I try not to comment on things that are not directly relevant to the majority of Kensington residents.

As a team – my priority is casework and dealing directly with residents, and meeting residents each week. I try to avoid “lobbying emails”. Obviously with complex cases we need to see the residents a number of times, and help them with their various meetings with officers or officials and if appropriate I also work with their local councillors (from any party) to make sure they are not left without support.

A Member of Parliament is often the last resort for people on housing, immigration and benefits. I have been able to help a great many residents since elected and I hope to continue to do this if re-elected.

Ivory: “Will you continue to lobby Theresa May about ivory in spite of such being highly unpopular with constituents and others such as Deborah Meaden?”

I supplied a full response to Deborah Meaden who said she was content with my response and why I am representing the antiques trade in Kensington and our great museums. She kindly offered to send my response to others who were concerned. I have offered to meet her should I get re-elected.

I support the current proposals which are to make sure we enforce the ban on trading in modern ivory.

No antique dealer wants to kill elephants; no antique dealer supports poaching. The only ivory that can be sold in this country is antique and carved. However, there are countries, including those in Europe who still permit the trading of tusks, although this is shortly to be outlawed – not before time.

We can and should preserve works of art that are our shared cultural inheritance for future generations, while at the same time doing everything in our power to ensure that these terrible assaults on wildlife do not continue. The next generation need to be able to grow up in a world with healthy herds of elephants. However, these are not mutually exclusive positions. This is a view expressed by some of our leading museums, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum.

As you will be aware many musical instruments contain ivory “tinkling the ivories – playing the piano” comes to mind as well as significant treasures in our churches. In our area we have three magnificent museums – the Natural History, V&A and Science Museums – and they all have ivory – antique and old ivory.

Both elephants and our shared cultural inheritance are there for us all; we need to work together to look after both, and I have no doubt that this is possible.

Annabel Mullin, Liberal Democratic Party

What will you do to help the ‘hidden homeless’ of Kensington?”

Rough sleepers and the homesless have had a very tough time of late. Funding has dried up, centres have closed and specialist help has become less frequent. We need to provide holistic care – that means that we must look at social care with mental health for these individuals alongside.

Money park Kensington: “How will you help local businesses counter such decline if re-elected?”

I would like to bring a private members’ bill to fundamentally change business rates as they are killing our local businesses.

Brexit: “How, going forward, will you credibly represent the 48% who voted to ‘remain’, as someone who went on the phones to support ‘leave’?”

As a passionate European and Remainer who feels we are best placed in the European Union, I will fight especially for being in the single market (not just access) and to protect the rights of all EU citizens and their freedom of movement.

Answering constituents: “How will you improve your pathetically low 18% response rate to constituents’ correspondence, as registered on TheyWorkForYou.com if re-elected?”

It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know people in and around Kensington over the last nearly seven weeks. It would be a privilege to serve Kensington and communicate with everyone.

Ivory: “Will you continue to lobby Theresa May about ivory in spite of such being highly unpopular with constituents and others such as Deborah Meaden?”

I find it incredible that China has a ban but the current MP for Kensington does not support it.

Emma Dent Coad, Labour Party

Emma Dent Coad (pictured with Gina Miller of Best For Britain)

Ms Dent Coad failed to respond to repeated requests from The Steeple Times to answer the five questions. They were put to her via email.
June 8, 2017
A Take On Theresa

Artist Enzina Fuschini showcases her take on Theresa May at an exhibition in Chelsea; the work is supposedly anything but political

Italian artist and designer Enzina Fuschini held a press preview for her ‘Impact’ exhibition at Chelsea’s 508 Gallery on the Kings Road last night.

Aside from eleven 100cm by 100cm oil on canvas works, ranging in price from £3,000 to 4,000, and one larger canvas at £6,850, this energetic “pictorial force” has included a timely portrayal of Theresa May. The painting contains all the colours of the Tory leader’s “red, white and blue Brexit” but, according to its artist, presents “her in a timeless style with an ageless expression”.

Of the work, a spokesman for Fuschini remarked:

“[Enzina sought to] portray the woman behind the politician. The painting is not political. She had already started the painting three months before the General Election announcement and intends to give the painting to Theresa May as a keepsake”.

‘Impact’ will be shown at 508 Kings Road Gallery, London, SW10 0LD until 19^th June.

One of thirteen works by Enzina Fuschini on display at the exhibtion

June 7, 2017
Mucking Up A Manor

“Grand” Grade II* listed Midlands manor for sale for just £350,000; it comes with a 49-seat cinema and several unexpected catches

Where there’s muck, there’s money and a late 18^th century Midlands manor house currently for sale for just £350,000 ($451,000, €402,000 or درهم1.65 million) provides an example of the tale of the progress and decline of industrial wealth in once Great Britain.

Built in 1757 for a family of Black Country industrialists, Wordsley Manor in Wordsley, near Stourbridge has been owned by the Firmstone family and their relatives since around 1850. A red brick built, four floor “small mansion” that extends to 7,464 square foot in total, the building has been Grade II* listed since 1976 and was expanded in the 19^th century with the addition of two service wings.

Comprising of 3 reception rooms, 7 cellar rooms, 4 bedrooms and just 1 bathroom, dilapidated Wordsley Manor is – giving explanation for its extremely low asking price – in need of complete renovation. It comes, however, with an unexpected bonus: Where bedrooms previously existed on its second floor, there is currently an art studio and a quirky 49-seat cinema with a Christie organ, box office and projection and switch rooms.

Architect Christopher Firmstone and wife Joan have been occupants of Wordsley since inheriting it in 1991. They have attempted to maintain the house but in 2011, Mr Firmstone told the Birmingham Mail:

“I took it on and sorted it out as best I could. Most people would have run a mile, but I had a real sense of attachment to it [he spent his childhood there also]”.

“I spent a bit more than I could afford on it, but I was unable to do everything that needed doing”.

In 2013, the couple followed in the footsteps of relatives who had sold off much of the surrounding land for housing in the mid 20^th century and agreed a deal with a firm of developers named David Alexander Homes. In exchange for yet another parcel of the former estate’s grounds – that was subsequently marketed rather cheesily as a residential complex named “To the Manor Bourne” – a £400,000 ($512,000, €460,000 or درهم1.88 million) payment is to be made towards the restoration of Wordsley Manor.

In their sales brochure, agents The Lee, Shaw Partnership state: “Best and final offers must be made for Wordsley Manor by 5.30pm on Tuesday 27^th June”. They add: “Only cash purchasers” need apply.

May 30, 2017
Spirit & Speed

Chelsea studio house built for “spiritual artist” Arild Rosenkrantz and later home to the extremely eccentric lesbian heiress and powerboater ‘Joe’ Carstairs for sale for £8.95 million

“Spiritual seeker” and artist Baron Arild Rosenkrantz (1870 – 1964) was born in Denmark, studied in Rome and married his Scottish cousin, Louise Mackenzie, in 1901. His commissions included ceiling panels at Claridge’s Hotel in Mayfair and illustrating the Danish edition of Edgar Allen Poe’s Tales of Mystery Adventure and now a Chelsea home built for him is for sale for £8.95 million ($11.5 million, €10.6 million or درهم42.4 million).

Designed by the Maidenhead based architect Clifton Robert Davy (1879 – 1929) and Grade II listed since 1997, red brick built, 4-storey 5 Mulberry Walk is described as being of a “stripped Classical Mannerist style”. It features the artist’s initials on the rectangular profile downpipe and was his home from when it was finished until 1922.

Baron Arild Rosenkrantz and one of his works

Marion ‘Joe Carstairs’ once remarked: “I was never a little girl. I came out of the womb queer”; of her biographer Kate Summerscale added: “She was blithe, bold, courageous, unself-conscious, imperialist, impervious to social change”

Subsequently sold to the eccentric and extremely masculine heiress Marion Barbara ‘Joe’ Carstairs (1900 – 1993) for £3,000 in the early 1920s (the equivalent of just £167,000, $215,000, €197,000 or درهم791,000 today), 5 Mulberry Walk became the party venue for the “fastest, artiest, gayest, not to mention the most alcoholic and drug-addicted set in London at the time”. Carstairs – a lesbian described as “usually dressed as a man, having tattooed arms, and loving machines, adventure and speed” – remained there well into the 1930s and even had a name plaque for a doll she was obsessed with, ‘Lord Tod Wadley’, placed on the building’s door.

Extending to 3,163 square foot in total, 5 Mulberry Walk is currently divided into two apartments. The first, a ground floor studio with a 32-foot wide garden, has 1 bedroom whilst the second covers three floors and has 4 bedrooms. Each has a large artist’s studio space and in total there are 2 kitchens, 3 bathrooms and a roof terrace as well.

5 Mulberry Walk, which is most definitely ready for modernisation and reconfiguration internally, is offered by Russell Simpson.

May 14, 2017
Staging the Dollars

Prominent banker attempts to sell San Francisco mansion for a sum 205% higher than it achieved in 1993; it comes with an outdoor theatre

Built in 1904 of brick on a wood frame and subject to a seismic upgrade in 1994, 3444 Washington Street in Presidio Heights, San Francisco was sold for $15.2 million in 2006 (the equivalent of £11.8 million, $18.4 million, €13.9 million or درهم55.8 million today) and before that for $5.9 million in 1993 (the equivalent of £7.8 million, $10 million, €9.1 million or درهم36.7 million today). It is currently owned by the banker David A. Coulter and his “social entrepreneur” wife Susan Weeks Coulter and has recently been placed for sale for £14 million ($18 million, €16.5 million or درهم66.1 million).

Offered by Linda Mayne of Mayne & Company, the 9,074 square foot “Georgian-style residence” comes with not only 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms but also an outdoor amphitheatre complete with terraced seating and an al fresco kitchen with a barbecue. The 4-storey building was last remodeled in 2008 and also includes a media room with wet bar and views of the Golden Gate Bridge, a wine cellar with capacity for 1,600 bottles, a lift, staff quarters and a 2-car garage.

Susan Weeks Coulter and her husband David A. Coulter (left and right)

3444 Washington Street, Presidio Heights, San Francisco, California, CA 94118, United States of America

The garden features an amphitheatre complete with terraced seating

The view from the house

Property taxes on the house were a not insubstantial sum of £154,959 in 2015 ($199,685, €182,686 or درهم733,690). Mr and Mrs Coulter attempted to sell 3444 Washington Street in 2008 but subsequently withdrew it from the market after reducing their then asking price from $17.5 million to $12 million (the equivalent of £13.6 million to £10.6 million, $19.9 million to $13.6 million, €16 million to €12.4 million or درهم64.3 million to درهم50 million today). They also own reportedly bought a penthouse at 55 East 72^nd Street in New York in 2012.

Pennsylvania born, Carnegie Mellon University educated Mr Coulter, currently a special limited partner at Warburg Pincus, was previously vice chairman of JP Morgan Chase & Co. from 2001 to 2005. He was chairman and CEO of Bank of America Corporation for two years from 1996, but was unceremoniously fired when that organisation was “eaten alive” by Hugh McColl’s NationsBank in October 1998.

https://vimeo.com/212072933

May 13, 2017
Fun at Faringdon

£144,000 per year sought for Oxfordshire mansion that was the scene of a most curious ménage-a-trois; it is owned by the writer Sofka Zinovieff

“Tall and willowy” writer Sofka Zinovieff inherited Faringdon House in Oxfordshire at the age of 25 from her eccentric, bisexual uncle, Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, partner of the owner of the house since 1918, the 14^th Lord Berners, Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson (1883 – 1950). She has recently placed it on the rental market at a price of £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700 per month) through Knight Frank.

Artist, composer and writer Lord Berners and “uninhibited” Heber-Percy occupied Faringdon House as a ménage-a-trois with the latter’s wife, Jennifer Fry, for several years and during that time visitors included everyone from the poet Sir John Betjeman to the artist Salvador Dalí, the Communist politician Tom Driberg MP and the writer H. G. Wells. Heber-Percy died in 1987 and it was at this time that the Georgian property passed to its current owner.

Lord Berners famously once entertained Penelope Betjeman’s horse Moti to tea at Faringdon House

Dyed pigeons are still to be found at the property

Sofka Zinovieff

Of her home, which she has variously herself occupied and also let to “cover the impossible costs”, in May 2016, Zinovieff told House & Garden:

It’s funny how it has all worked out. The inheritance hasn’t changed me in the ways that my mother feared it might. I never wanted my identity to be bound up with my house and my life in Greece has saved me from that. No one there has ever even heard of Faringdon.

Extending to 14,510 square foot, Grade I listed Faringdon House was built between 1770 and 1785 for the poet Sir Henry Pye (1744 – 1813). It includes 5 reception rooms, 12 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, stands in grounds that extend to 14.81 acres and comes with an outdoor swimming pool with turreted changing rooms and a lake.

Lord Berners’ gravestone is situated within the grounds and on it appears an epitaph he wrote himself. It reads:

Here lies Lord Berners

One of the learners

His great love of learning

May earn him a burning

But, Praise the Lord!

He seldom was bored

Curiously, another testament to the activities of the property’s eccentric former occupants lives on at Faringdon in the form of pigeons dyed in “jewelled hues”. Pictured in marketing literature for the house, a charity, the Pink Pigeons Trust, is named in their honour also.

May 12, 2017
Take Me To The Titanic

Apartment in mansion block in Sloane Square for sale for £6.2 million in spite of needing updating; it is within the building from which a Mayor of Chelsea lived and departed to his death on RMS Titanic

A third floor flat in a portered mansion block on Sloane Square has gone on sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons in spite of being decorated like a relic from the 1980s. It is situated above Hugo Boss’ flagship store and within Grade II listed Wyndham House, the building from which a former Mayor of Chelsea went to his untimely death aboard the RMS Titanic in 1912.

Previously priced at £6.5 million ($8.4 million, €7.7 million or درهم30.9 million) when marketed by Russell & Simpson in February 2016, the 2,684 square foot lateral apartment includes a 30-foot long reception room, 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and features such details as ornate ceiling friezes and plasterwork and working fireplaces. A larger 5 bedroom flat within Wyndham House sold for the staggering sum of £12 million ($15.5 million, €14.2 million or درهم57 million) in July 2015 according to Land Registry records.

Wyndham House resident and Mayor of Chelsea from 1909 to 1911 Charles Head (1869 – 1912) perished aboard RMS Titanic, his body was never recovered but a sundial was erected in his memory in nearby Cadogan Place Gardens

Aside from being one of Chelsea’s grandest residential blocks, Wyndham House was at home to one of the victims of the Titanic maritime disaster in the early 1900s and it was from here that Charles Head, Mayor of Chelsea between 1909 and 1911, went to his death in April 1912. Head, a Cambridge educated barrister turned director of Head & Co. insurance brokers and underwriters at Lloyds of London, was a well known supporter of the arts, a councilor from 1906 and had only married 18 months earlier. He travelled alone on a £42 first class ticket (the equivalent of £4,400, $5,700, €5,200 or درهم20,900 today) on the Titanic’s maiden voyage and bizarrely had taken out a £25,000 insurance policy “against ocean accidents”. His precaution left his widow very well provided for given such a sum was the equivalent of £2.6 million today ($3.4 million, €3.1 million or درهم12.4 million).

May 8, 2017
Gilded Glory

New York’s “last intact Gilded Age mansion” for sale for £38.75 million; it comes with a room that cannot be wiretapped

An Upper East Side “Beaux Arts palace on a small scale” described as “Manhattan’s last intact Gilded Age mansion” has gone on sale for £38.75 million ($50 million, €45.96 million or درهم183.65 million) with Douglas Elliman.

854 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, New York, NY 10065, United States of America

Offering 20,000 square foot of accommodation over nine floors, 854 Fifth Avenue stands opposite Central Park and between 66^th and 67^th Streets. It was built in 1905 for a stockbroker named Robert Livingston Beeckman and constructed by architects Warren & Wetmore at a cost of $60,000 (the equivalent of $1.6 million, £1.2 million, €1.5 million or درهم5.9 million today). The residence was landmarked by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission as a “superb example of the French classic style of Louis XV” in 1966 and to this day, the 32-room property retains original features including hand-carved balustrades of white marble, ceiling frescoes of angels and clouds, an original working stove and two of the city’s first private elevators.

Robert Livingston Beeckman (1866 – 1935), Emily Thorn Vanderbilt Sloane White (1852 – 1946) and Henry White (1850 – 1927)

Sold next to George Grant in 1912 after Beeckman – later 52^nd Governor of Rhode Island – abandoned New York to spend more time at his Newport estate, Lands End, for a then record sum of $725,000 (the equivalent of $18.3 million, £14.1 million, €16.8 million or درهم67.2 million today), 854 Fifth Avenue was then offloaded to Henry White and his heiress wife Emily Thorn Vanderbilt Sloane White for the much lower sum of $450,000 in 1925 (the equivalent of $6.3 million, £4.9 million, €5.8 million or درهم23.1 million today).

Twice married financier of New York’s Sloane Hospital for Women Thorn Vanderbilt Sloane White and her ambassador husband are said to have “added their own touches” to the mansion and after she died, 854 Fifth Avenue was sold to the then nation of Yugoslavia. It has served as a government building since and was most recently used as the Permanent Mission of Serbia and Mission of Serbia to the UN.

Bombed on 11^th July 1968 but thankfully subject to little damage in that attack, the mansion still to this day features a ‘Faraday Cage’ – a secret metal-padded room where officials could meet without the fear of being wiretapped – as well as bulletproof windows to its Central Park elevation.

Last week, of the property, Tristan Harper of Douglas Elliman told The Real Deal:

“Everything is virtually intact. Whoever buys it will own a piece of New York history. [The six individuals who have already expressed interest in purchasing 854 Fifth Avenue are] all extremely high-net-worth individuals of different backgrounds”.

Once bordered by houses of a similar scale, 854 Fifth Avenue is now adjoined by two behemoth-like apartment complexes. It stands sturdy and represents a little reminder of the glorious era of Carnegies, Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Whitneys.

April 28, 2017
A Smoking Aston

1996 Aston Martin shooting brake complete with humidor to be sold at auction

One of just three 1996 Aston Martin V8 coupé shooting brake conversions is to be offered for sale at auction by Bonhams in May.

The car’s most unusual extra is this humidor

The left hand drive, automatic 1996 Aston Martin V8 Sportsman estate offered is presented in British Racing Green with matching interior trim and “plentiful walnut embellishment”. Ordered as one of a pair by two Swiss brothers, the car was rebuilt by the factory in 1999 and then sold to a French art collector based in Monaco.

Upgraded with a satellite navigation system, the vehicle has covered just 13,000 miles from new and is described as being “a very clean car”. Auctioneers Bonhams have set an estimate of £300,000 to £350,000 ($384,000 to $449,000, €358,000 to €418,000 or درهم1.4 million to درهم1.6 million) and will offer the vehicle at their 13^th May sale at Aston Martin’s Newport Pagnell Works Service.

April 21, 2017
Alexander Newley – What’s on your mantelpiece?

A 20-question interview with contemporary artist Alexander Newley

The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?

Eros, anger, anxiety, love – in perfect and contradictory admixture.

“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

When fate raises its sword to make you tremble, go forth into it and you will find bliss.

Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2017?

Who’s that? Cancer/Steve Bannon – basically the same thing…

Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?

No missing – still on target.

What might you swap all your wealth for?

I have no material wealth. Health and creativity is ALL, although I’d like some new drapes in the kitchen.

Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank”. What’s your view on the state of the financial system?

The dollar rocketed when Trump came in. Need we say more?

What phrase or word do you most loathe?

“The UK” delivered in a peppy, north London accent and “Your call is very important to us, please stay on the line…”

In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home”. What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?

I couldn’t agree more. Everything is a spiral: work from the centre out. I have just raised a fair bit for the St. Martin-in-the-Fields homeless charity through the auction of my paintings.

The judge in Law Abiding Citizen states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?

A necessary evil. Can you imagine life before? The carousel goes faster and faster and we have to find a way to stay on it. That said, the counter-revolution: silence, mindfulness, not giving a fig is pretty good, too.

Portraits of Dominick Dunne (1925 – 2009) and Sir Nigel Hawthorne CBE (1929 – 2001) by Alexander Newley

If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?

Shakespeare (of course), Oscar (of course), Churchill (large brandy in hand), Chaplin (tearing tickets), my father (Anthony Newley), Sheela (my love), Ava (my daughter), Freud x2 (grandfather and grandson) and the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders (for perfect Surrealism).

If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?

A tuna melt with ketchup, on the undercliff in Lyme Regis, watching the sun sink on a balmy summer’s eve.

What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?

10:45am (if it be a mixture of German dessert wine and seltzer).

A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

Tea please, milk, no sugar (although I want the sugar).

Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

I rarely enjoy them because I don’t go to enough, and you have to invest in the social whirl before it pays back. I’m still working on that—but I did have a pretty good time at Hugh Hefner’s once.

Who is the most positive person you know?

Myself, although periodically encumbered by massive humbug.

What’s your most guilty pleasure?

The occasional bout of self-love.

If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?

A minotaur rampart on a bed of roses.

If you were a car, what marque would you be?

A prototype Isotta Fraschini. Only two were made and one crashed at very high speed.

Cilla Black presented Surprise, Surprise. Tell us the most surprising thing about you.

I can identify almost anyone from the back; the habit of a portraitist.

What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

Two vases of anemonies, one tall one short.

Alexander Newley is a contemporary artist. His subjects have numbered Steven Berkoff, Christopher Reeve, Oliver Stone, Gore Vidal and Billy Wilder and his work features in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Follow him on Twitter at @alexandernewley.

April 13, 2017