House Tour

Like the Russian czars and the French aristocracy that she adored, Marjorie Merriweather Post inherited her vast wealth.  Still, it's hard to fault her taste in art and furnishings.  Portraits of Nicholas and Alexandra are prominently displayed at the entrance.  Perhaps she identified with them.

Portraits of Post's parents hang from either end of the first-floor library, where a model of the family yacht is also displayed.

Ms. Post, painted above and sculpted below, married four times.

EF Hutton, Dina's father, was number two.  Ms. Post maintained her maiden name along with a narrow waist and enjoyed sexual relations well into her later years, although it's probably safe to assume this mustachioed boy toy was more interested in the size of her bank account.

Nothing says wealth like a Faberge egg or two.

Or this nuptial crown in her very own Russian Sacred Arts Gallery.  During a stay in Moscow after the 1917 Revolution, when much of the imperial collection had fallen into the hands of unsentimental Communists, she "rescued" many of the items with her capitalist fortune.

Feast your eyes on the European treasures a good eye with money could once acquire!

Ms. Post considered every detail, including the parquet floor (which duplicates the House of Romanov family crest),

. . . the upholstery fabric,

. . . the drape tasells

. . . and the light switches.

Her guests dined elegantly

 

. . . while she breakfasted in a more intimate room worthy of a cereal heiress.

Only the kitchen looks utilitarian at Hillwood.

If Ms. Post's two closets look small, it's because they're built to hold only a week's supply of her clothing at a time.

Her bedroom is decorated in the French style.

Love the embroidered bedspread!

An 18th-century tapestry depicting an Italian country fair hangs in the French Drawing Room, which overlooks the Parterre Garden.  This detail focuses on a "peepshow" of all things.

Ms. Post certainly has a thing for royalty who came to an untimely, bloody end.  This leather swivel chair belonged to Marie Antoinette.  It made powdering her hair easier.

Apparently, even Ms. Post wasn't immune to kitsch.  She displayed these tchotchkes just outside the Pavilion where her guests dined or watched movies from the balcony.

Many thanks our "virgin" guide.  We never would have known it was his first tour if he hadn't told us!