Designer Tricia Foley Decorates Vanderbilt Mansion for the Holidays
The renowned designer and author Tricia Foley has just completed decorating eight rooms for the holidays in the Spanish Revival Centerport, Long Island, mansion of Rosamond and William K. Vanderbilt II. Built in stages from 1910 to 1936, the grand waterfront house is the centerpiece of the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
(Above right: Tricia Foley (right) and assistant Bridget Swift decorate the tree in the Vanderbilt Mansion library. Vanderbilt Museum photos.)
Five local garden clubs – Asharoken, Centerport, Dix Hills, Nathan Hale, and Three Village – decorated an additional eight rooms. The stunning results will take visitors on trip back in time at the estate of a prominent family whose guests included famous Americans and British royalty.
Elizabeth Wayland-Morgan, Executive Director of the Vanderbilt, said, “The historic mansion has never looked more stunning for the holiday season, thanks to the extraordinary vision of Tricia Foley, her brilliant team, and their collaboration with the garden clubs. The mansion is bright and alive with earthy elegance and the inviting scents of the season – a magical and timeless atmosphere.”
Foley, who has decorated houses at Colonial Williamsburg, is principal of Tricia Foley Design. She specializes in all aspects of home design and restoration and is known for her simple, classic style.
“The challenge in decorating historic houses is, what is period appropriate?” she said during a decorating break at the mansion. “In the early days, people did not use much décor. They might place a sprig of greenery on a mirror or looking glass, as they were called.
(Above: The Vanderbilt Mansion dining room.)
“Here, we want to bridge the gap. The mansion is elegant, with original furnishings, tapestries, sconces, lamps, and crystal. Red and green is expected, but we’re using silver, gold and cream. Instead of color, we’re using candlelight and crystal – as much sparkle as we can get.”
Foley said she wanted to create a “natural” look, with greenery, garlands, ribbons, and ornaments on the mantelpieces. She also made use of decorative objects the museum had from past years – Tiffany boxes with gold bows, and small brass instruments.
“There are so many beautiful things to work with,” she said. “The Vanderbilts were not here in December, so we have to imagine what it would have been like. If they had been here, they would have used poinsettias, apples, oranges, and greenery.”
She has decorated homes for House Beautiful, Victoria, and Country Home as well as four historic houses in Yaphank, Long Island, for their historical society. Her own house on the East End of Long Island has been photographed for Neiman Marcus, the Pottery Barn, and Land’s End for their Christmas catalogs
Foley’s work includes residential design, magazine editorial, book publishing and branding, she is now putting this experience to work on historic preservation projects, exhibition design and nineteenth-century house restoration. She is on the Curatorial Committee of Preservation Long Island, on the Board of Trustees of the Yaphank Historical Society, and Curator of the Mary L. Booth House Museum.
Foley’s clients have included the Gettysburg Foundation, The American Folk Art Museum, Wedgwood, Ralph Lauren Home, Waterworks, Target, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s Home Stores. She is author of twelve design/lifestyle books, from Having Tea and Williamsburg Style to At Home with Wedgwood: The Art of the Table. Her most recent book, A Summer Place: Entertaining by the Sea, was published in 2023 by Rizzoli.
Quick Watercolor Portraits by Artist Sara Marie Martin
Have your portrait painted in watercolor by local artist Sara Marie Martin
Sunday, November 17, from 12:00 to 4:00 pm
Sunday, December 8, from 12:00 to 4:00 pm
Strike a pose! Your custom watercolor portrait will be painted within 10 minutes!
$20 per 5 x 7 (up to 4 people per painting)
Payable via cash or Venmo on site
*General Admission Required
Journey Through Space? Step Right This Way.
The Vanderbilt Reichert Planetarium – with full-dome video, surround sound, and 197 comfortable new seats – will take you on enthralling, immersive journeys through the Solar System.
On Friday and Saturday nights, you can enjoy two amazing astronomy shows and very popular laser music shows.
The Planetarium offers great daytime programming for children and adults Friday through Sunday
On Friday from 9:00 to 10:00 pm, it’s FREE to observe the night sky in the Observatory (weather permitting).
Name a New Chair in the Reichert Planetarium
When you name a new chair in the Vanderbilt Reichert Planetarium chair, you support innovative planetarium education and entertainment programming.
Observe a milestone, honor a loved one, or name a chair for your family or organization.
Dedicate | Celebrate | Recognize | Memorialize
Your nameplate will remain in place for the life of the seat. (It does not reserve the use of the seat.)
Give a Unique Gift That Will Last a Lifetime
Looking for a fresh, unique, everlasting gift for a loved one?
Purchase and engrave a brick that will become a permanent part of the Vanderbilt Museum.
Your donation will help the Vanderbilt to bring outstanding science, history, and art education to more than 25,000 students annually.
Your brick will be installed and displayed in your favorite brick walkway around the Vanderbilt Mansion and Terrace, or on the 43-acre grounds of the beautiful waterfront Estate.
For more information, email jaimie@vanderbiltmuseum.org.
‘Laser Taylor Swift’ Extended through December 29
Showings of the Vanderbilt Reichert Planetarium‘s wildly popular show, Laser Taylor Swift, have been extended again through December 29. If you were not able to see one of her shows on the Eras tour, Laser Taylor Swift is the next best thing!
With more than 200 million records sold, a shelf full of Grammys, and an army of fans, Taylor Swift is an inspiration for generations. This dynamic show takes her biggest hits and brings them to life in dazzling laser light.
Tickets: $18. (Free for Museum members.)
Setlist: You Need To Calm Down, Love Story, Anti-Hero Exile, Look What You Made Me Do, Willow, Lavender Haze, I Knew You Were Trouble, Blank Space, You Belong With Me, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Shake It Off.
‘Haunting Menagerie’, Museum’s First Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition
Wendy Klemperer
On Earth Day, April 22, 2023, the Vanderbilt Museum debuted Wendy Klemperer: Wrought Taxonomies, the first exhibition of outdoor sculpture at the historic summer estate of William Kissam Vanderbilt II.
Wendy Klemperer’s sculptures—a haunting assemblage of animal forms that span imaginary, endangered, familiar, and exotic species—celebrate natural history and the nonhuman world through evocative interactions with the surrounding environment.
Using materials salvaged from scrapyards, she composes ecological narratives that respond to the history and collections of Suffolk County’s first public park and museum. Her brilliant use of gestural lines captures the spectator’s attention and invites museumgoers to reflect on the relationship between an interest in animal life and the incessant push of human industry.
Wrought Taxonomies is the inaugural exhibition in the Vanderbilt Museum’s outdoor sculpture program and the institution’s second exhibition of contemporary art focused on the relationship between culture and animals. Visitors will see large pieces visitors as they stroll the grounds of the Vanderbilt, one of the few remaining Long Island Gold Coast mansions. Smaller pieces suspended from trees wait to be discovered along the Vanderbilt’s hiking trail. Other works will be found near garden areas and the Marine Museum.
The Vanderbilt Museum occupies the former Gold Coast mansion and estate of William Kissam Vanderbilt II, the great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt and a pioneer of American motorsport. Located in Centerport on the north shore of Long Island, it is renowned for its extensive marine and natural history collections, Spanish revival architecture, and picturesque parklands.
All sculptures are viewable with general admission to the Museum grounds. Educational programs and workshops associated with the themes and content of Wendy Klemperer: Wrought Taxonomies will be offered throughout the exhibition. Special thanks are due to the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, whose generous support made Wrought Taxonomies possible. The exhibition will run through April 2025.
Visitors are encouraged, during these weeks of mild autumn weather, to enjoy a picnic on the grounds.
