We are thrilled to welcome David Netto back to the Main Reading Room on the heels of the release of his latest printed work – a visual compendium of the work of Rosario Candela – designer and architect who gave form to a New York of his dreams. Blocks of pre-World War II apartments on the Upper East Side showcase the brick-and-limestone stone façades discreetly embellished with Italianate details – epitomizing old-world and patrician elegance which at the time served as a benchmark for aspirational goals of taste and refinement. The residential masterworks of this Jazz Age architect are as significant in their impact on the character of New York as the skyscrapers of Wall Street. With a forward by Aerin Lauder, David Netto (with contributions from co-writers Paul Goldberger and Peter Pennoyer) brings Candela’s designs to light through the lens of exteriors and urbanism, planning and interior architecture, and the circumstances and stories of creation.
If you are unable to attend the event, but would like to purchase one or more signed copies, please visit Buxton Books here.
About the Book
Known and celebrated for many of the apartment buildings on Park Avenue, Fifth Avenue, and in Sutton Place – 82 in NYC, including the storied 740 Park, sometimes called the richest and most powerful address in New York and whose famous residents included John D. Rockefeller Jr. – Candela’s work is at once timeless and profoundly of its time. Classical in styling and even modest on the exterior, it is on the insides, in the apartment interiors, the floor plans, the extraordinary and frequently luxurious arrangements of rooms and space, where his designs set a standard that serves as a benchmark and aspirational goal of taste and refinement. Lavish and comprehensive black-and-white vintage photography as well as color imagery of the exteriors, original plans, and a collection of exceptional interior views give historical perspective (including a seductive Slim Aarons’ Park Avenue streetscape) and contemporary sizzle (as seen in Derry Moore’s depiction of K. K. Auchincloss’s penthouse at 1040 Fifth).
About David Netto
David Netto dropped out of Harvard’s Department of Architecture to found his studio in New York in 2000. He has written on architecture and design for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Cabana, and other publications, and he currently writes the “Case Studies” column for Town & Country. He is the author of monographs of François Catroux and Stephen Sills, and his interiors have appeared in Vogue, ELLE Decor, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, House & Garden, Town & Country, and Veranda. He divides his time between Los Angeles and Amagansett, Long Island.
