Before she moved to Charleston and became the grande dame of Southern Charm, Patricia Altschul lived in a fabulous Fifth Avenue maisonette once owned by design legend Sister Parish. Decorated by another design legend, Mario Buatta, Architectural Digest has featured the before and and afters. I am obsessed with all things Patricia Altschul and Mario Buatta, so of course I was thrilled and intrigued to see these…
Such fun to get a behind the scenes glimpse of Mario Buatta working his magic! If you don’t already own his book, Mario Buatta: 50 Years of American Interior Decoration, I highly recommend it. It is one of my favorites. To tour Patricia Altschul’s Charleston home – also decorated by Buatta – please click here and here.
This feature originally appeared in the February 2008 issue of Architectural Digest. Before photography by Billy Cunningham; after photography by Scott Frances. Captions are from Architectural Digest.

Great post! Mario is such a genius!
His art is in knowing how to make something difficult into something appearing very simple. Almost effortless!
They are a match made in traditional heaven…quite a duo and quite an apartment! Thank for sharing.