One of my favorite new books released this fall is New York Splendor: The City’s Most Memorable Rooms, published by Rizzoli.  It features a glittering tour of some of New York City’s finest residential rooms – past and present. Design authority Wendy Moonan explores many of the city’s best interiors, all selected for their “wow” factor. Some are very grand, others sparingly modern or eclectic. All are exceptional and unforgettable.

The book presents a range of spaces by today’s top designers alongside rooms that no longer exist but are remembered by the design cognoscenti. Groundbreaking interiors include Brooke Astor’s elegant library by Albert Hadley; Gloria Vanderbilt’s sublime patchwork bedroom; Donald Judd’s dramatically spare art-filled loft; fashion designer Adolfo’s opulent uptown rooms; a Peter Marino–designed penthouse atop the Four Seasons hotel; Susan Gutfreund’s own lavish winter garden; and Jamie Drake’s stunning designs for Gracie Mansion, home of the city’s mayor.

Other illustrious interior designers and architects represented in the book include Mario Buatta, Robert Couturier, Albert Hadley, Denning & Fourcade, Mark Hampton, Philip Johnson, Charlotte Moss, Thomas O’Brien, Paul Rudolph, Bunny Williams, Brian J. McCarthy, and Steven Gambrel. This is a book that design lovers and professionals will find inspirational and a joy to peruse.

Author Wendy Moonan has been writing about architecture, design, and antiques for thirty years for outlets including the New York Times, Town & Country, House & Garden, Architectural Digest, and 1stdibs.com. She studied at Wellesley and the Sorbonne, and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard. Nonetheless, she says she learned more by sitting in the living rooms of connoisseurs, artists, and patrons than anywhere else. The foreword is by Robert A.M. Stern, the founding partner of New York–based Robert A.M. Stern Architects and the former dean of the Yale School of Architecture.

New York Splendor: The City’s Most Memorable Rooms is now available for purchase through Amazon.