Indholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2026 i Veranda

EARLIER THIS FALL, VERANDA was recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation at the Trust’s 75th anniversary gala. The honor was humbling and deeply gratifying. Nothing is more core to our mission than preservation, which has been a part of our DNA since our first issue, when our founder, Editor Emeritus Lisa Newsom, wrote that how we live—“inextricably bound to the past but committed also to the present and future—is the theme of VERANDA.” Newsom understood that the study of history and the value of historic places, including homes, has as much to do with how we live today—and our future—as it does with yesterday. It’s a sentiment the Trust itself has championed as well. “Preservation sparks experiences of awe and joy. It creates economic opportunity and builds community,”…

A NCIENT ROME GLEAMED WITH MARBLE in its statuary, architecture, and antiquities. And while Carrara and other luminous varieties may have blanketed strongholds like the Forum of Augustus and the Pantheon, Bulgari has ushered in a new material monarch to decorate its Octo Finissimo timepiece. Verde Alpi marble, sourced from Italy’s finest quarries with swirling deep green coloring, is cut to remarkable thinness (0.8 mm) to adorn the dial and whispers of long ago. And yet the technical prowess of the watch is decidedly modern, much like the Rome of today. The movement itself is only 1.95 mm, making it a feat of precision, and features a flying tourbillion, an armature that helps balance the pull of gravity (and is mastered by few horologists). A satinpolished yellow gold case and green…

On a recent visit to Dennis Severs’ House in the Spitalfields area of East London, seven of us huddle on wooden benches in the darkened cellar, forbidden to speak. “Good e-e-e-v’ning,” begins our guide, appearing out of the gloom, holding a candle in one hand and a picture frame in the other. Clearly this is no ordinary house tour; it is performance. “Tonight,” she intones, presenting the candle through the frame, “I will take you thr-r-rough the picture frame and into the picture,” thus commencing a story of the fictional Jervis family, Huguenots who fled persecution in France, bringing their silk-weaving skills with them. The house is less a museum than a mise-en-scène, where the scène feels momentarily vacated by its inhabitants—the Jervises—so that we curious visitors might peer into…

If you build it, they will come—or so the cliché promises. But when the “it” is a 17,000-squarefoot Caribbean villa with views of the ocean from each of its eight bedrooms, “they” is likely to be everyone you know, plus a few you’ve barely met. Kathryn and Ron Herman’s Dominican Republic home is so well laid out by legendary architect Ernesto Buch that even a horde of houseguests can’t strain its sense of congeniality. “I never feel like I have to entertain,” says Kathryn, a noted Connecticut-based landscape designer and, like Buch, devoted classicist. “Just being here is the entertainment. We’ll gather at night—cocktails at 7, dinner at 8.” Until then, everyone does as they please, from swimming in the pool or playing golf on an adjacent course, to beachcombing,…

ASCENDING A CHAPEL wall in Paris’s Église Saint-Sulpice, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel is one of three impassioned murals to which the ailing French painter Eugène Delacroix dedicated the final artistic phase of his life. Even in 1861, when the Romantic master completed his final public work, his genius was layered atop what was already a palimpsest of presence: Saint-Sulpice is the site of Baudelaire’s baptism, Victor Hugo’s marriage, and centuries of structural history commingled with incense and the light of countless votives. In sacred spaces such as this, we feel atmosphere: the presence of the devotion and art, study and ritual, that have taken place within it over decades or centuries, and whose traces now permeate its walls. “What could be more overwhelmingly mysterious than Presence,” writes American poet…

Sir John Soane’s Museum In the central London neighborhood of Holborn, a relatively unassuming Neoclassical townhouse contains thousands (yes, thousands) of antiquities, architectural models, paintings, sculptures, and furniture—and the recently restored and newly opened drawing offce of architect Sir John Soane. The museum was established during Soane’s lifetime in 1833 and has been kept largely as it was when he died in 1837. soane.org Leighton House The Holland Park home, studio, and lifetime obsession of artist Frederic (Lord) Leighton (1830–1896) was quite the Victorian bachelor pad, complete with a model’s entrance and breathtaking Arab Hall, soaring with Syrian, Persian, and Turkish tilework. Of course, his first major art sale was to Queen Victoria, making for a nice after-hours icebreaker. rbkc.gov.uk Sambourne House Down the road from Leighton lived…

I am one of those people who really love Christmas. I think you hold on to the traditions that you grow up with, and then expand on them as you get older. At least that’s been true for me. Growing up in California, I spent the holiday with my mother’s extended family on their cattle ranch. Our heritage is like a Northern European melting pot, with Swedish, German, and Danish ancestry, and as a kid, it felt so magical to be part of a big family with oldschool traditions. We celebrated with a fish dinner and all kinds of Scandinavian desserts. The food felt festive, like something we could all participate in. I carry on these traditions. For instance, I cannot let the season pass without breaking out my great-grandmother’s…

TIDINGS OF COLOR & JOY Interior design and architecture: Franz Potisek; potisek.com. Landscape architecture: Louis Benech; louisbenech.com. Pages 68–69 Wallcovering: Verel de Belval; metaphores.com. Curtain fabric: Nicole Fabre & Company; nicolefabredesigns.com. Rug: Casa Lopez; casalopez.com. Dining chair fabric: Le Crin; metaphores.com. Pages 70–71 Rug: Casa Lopez. Millwork and door paint color: Dimity by Farrow & Ball; farrow-ball.com. Green pillows: Pentreath & Hall; pentreath-hall.com. Blue sofa fabric: Thevenon; thevenon1908.com. Pink fringe: Houlès; houles.com. Page 73 Wooden chair fabric: Prelle; prelle.fr/en. Pink chair fabric: Tulu; tulutextiles.com. Pink pillow: Pentreath & Hall. Curtain fabric: Verel de Belval. Tree star: Edith Mezard; instagram.com/edithmezard. Page 74 Dining chair and banquette fabric: Thibaut; thibautdesign.com. Page 77 (top right) Rug: Casa Lopez. Wallcovering, bed upholstery fabric, canopy fabric: Charles Burger; charles-burger.org. Chair fabric: Carolina Irving Textiles; carolinairvingtextiles.com.…

A Debonair Cocktail Nook For mixing it up with the neighbors or unwinding after work, this inviting respite calls for bourbon-hued woods, bespoke cabinetry, and a sommelier-worthy wine cooler. Come on in, the bar’s open. A Lively Game Room Spirited patterns, fun fringed seating, and opulent materials like French oak flooring and aged brass turn Friday night parlor games into the most coveted invitation on the block. Gin rummy, anyone? A Sumptuous Snug Curl up with a novel (or a stack of them) among decadent jewel-tone fabrics and romantic library lighting. You may never fall behind on your book club reading list again. A Gracious Kitchen The de facto family hangout enters an alluring new era as utilitarian essentials take on fashionable—and innovative—new forms. The more, the merrier.…

INSIDE A HISTORIC telephone “Bellhouse” in San Antonio is an alchemist’s laboratory, shimmering with 18-karat gold, multicolored sapphires, and translucent tourmalines. Moroccan lanterns and Asian furnishings whisper of long stretches spent abroad. It’s a fitting home for Cultus Artem, the atelier founded by the creative powerhouse Holly Tupper, whose recent fine jewelry collection—a capsule entitled The Flats—debuted in November and includes roughly 25 pieces This latest assemblage of jewels celebrates the land’s raw, subtle beauty. Gold is molded in the spirit of a metal screen that was “long-buried beneath the windswept land” or etched to echo the curves of sidewinder rattlesnakes; glimmering garnets evoke prairie verbena in bloom. “The name for this collection was inspired by the flat topical geography of the ranch,” Tupper says. “What looks like a barren…

EVERY MONDAY evening, artist Jonathan Green holds court at the Thoroughbred Club at Charleston Place hotel. He started the ritual, a generous serving of urbane hospitality with a dash of spontaneity, when he moved back to South Carolina full-time as a way of reconnecting with friends, admirers, and collectors who want to hear what Green has to say about art, and about life. He never knows who will be there—only that he’s having salmon and a glass of champagne, and he won’t be dining alone. Watching Green field questions about everything from his Gullah upbringing to his formal training at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, you’d never know he wasn’t allowed to have friends as a child. “I had a calling to be an artist from birth.…

When Guests Ask What They Can Bring “Never call to ask what you should bring—just show up with something! It will feel more personal if the idea comes from the guest, rather than the host’s suggestion. The price and grandeur is irrelevant; the intention is what counts.”—Elizabeth Bolognino of Elizabeth Bolognino Interiors, New York City Extreme Tardiness “It’s just common courtesy to give a heads-up if you’re going to be late. Showing up an hour after a gathering has started with no communication feels a bit rude.”—Kristin Harrison of Georgia & Hunt Design House, Northern Virginia Eager Early Birds “For us, guests showing up early is a bigger pet peeve than guests who arrive late. In those last few minutes before a party starts, the host is pulling together the…