Domesticities: At Home with the New York Times Magazine

by Pilar Viladas

Book Overview

The houses and apartments that have appeared in The New York Times Magazine represent the foremost work of today's best architects and interior designers. For the first time in decades, a selection of the most outstanding of these residences is featured in one volume. Domesticities presents more than twenty-five homes from the cutting edge of contemporary design. Book jacket.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0821257102
• ISBN13: 9780821257104
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Bulfinch Press
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 9.4" x 11.3"

Customer Reviews

Domestic, But Not In The Usual Sense

These residential interiors, mostly from the New York City area, were published in the previous 8 years in THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE and printed in book form in this November, 2005, edition. It is interesting to compare these projects with the ones featured in the previous NEW YORK TIMES interior design book published in 1978. Although never best to generalize, one cannot help but notice the change in what is published. Editor Pilar Viladas is much more interested in photographic effect than design that contributes to creating a liveable setting. Architecture plays a part in some of the presentations, but more often the focus is clearly on Display, as if the photograph was of a store window display and the interior was just created fo effect. The projects are grouped into 6 or 7 at a time into chapters: The New Classics, The Mavericks, Modern Living, and Personality Profiles. The Display Approach works in the loft apartment of designer Thomas Jayne who did a temporary installation of his belongings prior to a planned renovation, and in Albert Hadley's furnishing of a New Jersey house that looks like a fair exhibition shed. And who's to say that living in a Funhouse set like the apartments (yes, two) of designer Anthony Baratta wouldn't be amusing? The Anti-Decoration of the art-filled Harlem townhouse of Christie's print specialist Cary Leibowitz seems just to be styled for the photo shoot however. And the former home of Houston art patrons John and Dominique de Menil which is now used as the site for special events by the de Menil Foundation also has the appearance of a staged setting, down to the Charles James ball gown hanging on the shower curtain rod. Other projects, dramatic but liveable, include a Westchester County house furnished by product designer Kevin Walz, Cuban-born architect Carlos Apairicio's own Upper East Side apartment, and actor Joel Grey's downtown loft which utilizes furnishings from previous apartments designed by Albert Hadley and by John Saladino. Thanks to bargain pricing, this book with 28 featured projects is good value for those who enjoy more contemporary American residential interior design. All photos are color and well-produced, and the text is literate and informative. Not necessarily recommended for the average do-it-yourself-er, however. It would be better suited for serious amateurs and the libraries of interior designers and architects.

Great Book

Most books I buy there may be one or two pages you like, but the rest is a dud. This book has beautiful pictures and great home decor ideas. Many different styles.