LENOX, Mass. — Phillip James Dodd, Architect and Author, will discuss his latest book "An American Renaissance Beaux-Arts Architecture in New York City" with a foreword by Julian Fellowes. 

 

A tea will follow his presentation.

 

His book takes a close look at twenty of the finest examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in New York City and is now available in the  gift shop. While showing public exteriors, its main focus is on the lavish interiors that are associated with the opulence of the Gilded Age – often providing a glimpse inside buildings not otherwise viewable to the public.  While some of the buildings and monuments that are featured are world renowned landmarks recognizable and accessible to all; others are obscure buildings that history has forgotten.

 

It recounts not only the stories of some of New York's most famous and significant Beaux-Arts landmarks, it also recalls the lives of those that commissioned, designed and built them. These are some of the most acclaimed architects, artists and artisans of the day – Daniel Chester French, Cass Gilbert, Charles McKim, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and Stanford White – and some of the most prominent millionaires in American history – Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, Jay Gould, Otto Kahn, J.P. Morgan, and the ubiquitous Astor and Vanderbilt families. Names that - as Julian Fellowes notes in the book's foreword – "still reek of money".

 

Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Phillip James Dodd is an alumnus of the Prince of Wales' Institute of Architecture in London. He moved to America more than twenty years ago, and after training with some of the most recognized classical architecture firms in the country founded his eponymous design firm Phillip James Dodd: Bespoke Residential Design LLC in 2015. He has a masters in architecture from the University of Notre Dame, and an undergraduate degree in Architecture from the Manchester School of Architecture. He is a Fellow Emeritus of The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, and serves as a commissioner on The Town of Greenwich Historic District Commission. In 2013 Phillip was elected by his peers as an Honorary Fellow of the INTBAU College of Traditional Practitioners, an invited international body for practitioners in traditional architecture, under the auspices of H.R.H. The Prince of Wales. His most recent volume on the architecture of the Gilded Age includes a foreword by Julian Fellowes (the acclaimed creator of Downton Abbey and the HBO series The Gilded Age), and has been featured in Architectural Digest, The Associated Press, The New Criterion, Washington Post, and World of Interiors.

 

Tickets are $30 for members and with advance reservation; $35 day of; $22 for students 22 and under. Reservations are strongly encouraged as seats are limited. Walk-ins accommodated as space allows. For reservations visit https://gildedage.org/events/ or call at (413) 637-3206. Please note that all tickets are nonrefundable and non-exchangeable... The historical mansion is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox.

 

The summer series of Tea & Talks is sponsored by the Dobbins Foundation.