Today is the final installment of our three-week series exploring past Sotheby’s auction catalogues, and I am delighted to welcome Elizabeth Donaldson, a private sale associate at Sotheby’s, back to The Glam Pad! To get caught up on Elizabeth’s first two posts, please see Wallis in Wonderland – The Private Rooms and Enchanting Taste of The Duchess of Windsor, and The Residences and Vacation Homes of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Today Elizabeth is showcasing Bunny Mellon’s exquisite style, and we will tour her cherished Oak Spring Farm, as featured in Sotheby’s November 2014 sale, Property from the Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon.
Welcome Elizabeth!

Mrs Mellon at Oak Spring, 1980s Source: Vogue, Condé Nast
As Elaine Whitmire, former Head of Sotheby’s Single Owner Sales department commented, “Mrs Mellon was a woman not only of exceptional taste and style – she had a vision, and that is an even greater rarity.” Throughout her life, Rachel Lambert Mellon was a prominent patron of each of her passions: landscape, design, art, and horticulture, and infused each into her life with simplicity, elegance, and personality. In 2014, Sotheby’s hosted a three day auction of Mrs Mellon’s interiors collection, which included fine art, furniture, porcelain, silver, glassware, décor and memorabilia from the family’s residences in the United States and abroad. The results of the record breaking sale more than doubled expectations, with proceeds benefitting the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation, founded by Mrs Mellon in memory of her father.
Mrs Mellon’s love of gardening enchants each view of her interiors and each of her possessions – from topiary themed tableware to her arbre-atic living room moldings, the indoor spaces she designed read as a garden of curiosities in close conversation with her interests. Her love of gardening began from a young age when she discovered the gardens of England, France and Italy. It is said that at the age of five she began constructing miniature gardens in her window boxes with small topiaries and wild flowers, and became interested in the academia behind gardening at the age of twelve. Her husband, Paul Mellon (son of Andrew W. Mellon) said of her: “Everything she does in life – her reading, her architecture, her love of pictures – is related in one way or another to this one main interest.” As time passed, Mrs Mellon’s expertise became highly sought after among her close friends. In addition to the White House Rose Garden, Mrs Mellon worked with Mrs Kennedy to design a garden for the Kennedy home on Martha’s Vineyard and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, and with Hubert de Givenchy on his Manoir du Jonchet in France.

Unique molding in Mrs Mellon’s Manhattan apartment Source: Michael Dunne

Assorted group of Mrs Mellon’s embroidered table linens Source: Sotheby’s

A group of Mrs Mellon’s silver miniature garden implements, Tiffany & Co., late 20th century Source: Sotheby’s
Mrs Mellon designed gardens and garden-influenced interiors in each of her personal family homes in New York, Paris, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Antiqua and Virginia. She worked throughout her life with renowned interior decorators including Syrie Maugham, Paul Leonard, Colefax & Fowler and Billy Baldwin, and artists such as Diego Giacometti in each of her residences. Upperville, Virginia served as the Mellons’ primary household. Comprised of three principal buildings, the main residence on the property, Oak Spring, a Neo-Georgian style brick house, was designed by architect William Adams Delano in 1941. In the late 1940s, Mr and Mrs Mellon commissioned H. Page Cross to design the “more intimate environment” of Little Oak Spring. Mrs Mellon designed the gardens around the property herself and in 1980 worked alongside Edward Larrabee Barnes to build Oak Spring Garden Library overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains, which she described as “a working library where mystery, fascination, and romance contribute to centuries of the art of gardening as a source of discovery.” Over the course of the Mellons’ lives, Oak Spring estate was host to many distinguished guests including Queen Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Prince of Wales.
Today we will tour the Mellons’ home in Upperville, Virginia:
Oak Spring Farm, Upperville, Virginia

View of Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

View of Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Entryway, Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Entryway, Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Living Room, Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Living Room, Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Living Room, Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Living Room, Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Dining Room, Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Hallway, Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Fireplace, Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Bedroom, Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Bedroom, Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Bedroom, Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s
Garden Room, Oak Spring Farm, Upperville, Virginia

Mrs Mellon in her Greenhouse, Oak Spring Farm Source: Henri Cartier Bresson, 1962/Magnum Photos

Garden Room, Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Garden Room, Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Garden Room, Oak Spring Farm Source: Sotheby’s

Mrs Mellon in her Garden, Oak Spring Farm Source: The New York Times/Redux
The Rose Garden, White House, Washington DC

President John F. Kennedy Returning to the White House Source: Bettmann/Corbis

The Rose Garden Source: Brooks Kraft/Corbis

The Rose Garden Source: John F. Kennedy Library

Details from Scrapbook Hand-Made and Illustrated by Jacqueline Kennedy in 1966s Detailing the Construction of the Rose Garden Source: Sotheby’s

Details from Scrapbook Hand-Made and Illustrated by Jacqueline Kennedy in 1966s Detailing the Construction of the Rose Garden Source: Sotheby’s

Details from Scrapbook Hand-Made and Illustrated by Jacqueline Kennedy in 1966s Detailing the Construction of the Rose Garden Source: Sotheby’s

Details from Scrapbook Hand-Made and Illustrated by Jacqueline Kennedy in 1966s Detailing the Construction of the Rose Garden Source: Sotheby’s
This concludes our special series of past Sotheby’s auction catalogues, although I hope to share more in the future. A huge thank you to Elizabeth Donaldson for providing such fascinating content! You can read more about Elizabeth here, and please follow @elizabethdonaldson on Instagram.
For more on Bunny Mellon’s storied life, I recommend Bunny Mellon: The Life of an American Style Legend and The Gardens of Bunny Mellon. Auction catalogues for this sale are difficult to find, but here is a set currently being offered via eBay. You can read an interesting article about Oak Springs’ new owners here.

This was a woman with very understated yet exquisite taste , with her “i’m so rich , i dont have to flaunt it” attitude ., and whose philosophy of decorating was “nothing should be noticed”.
I stayed at Oak Springs overnight a couple years ago! The property now runs Oak Springs Foundation, and hosts retreats for conservation groups. It was an absolute treat. Some guests stayed in the house’s main bedrooms and guest rooms, while other stayed in newly renovated suites in what used to be the stables. We ate in the main dining room, had happy hour in her parlor, and toured the exquisite gardens. Truly a phenomenal opportunity.
Always a sympathetic with his love for horseracing fan of PaulMellon’s , I am tight now amid readimg a wonderfully informative bio on Bunny Mellon . I cannot believe all the > interesting things I’ve learned ftom reading about this so vital & very creative woman’s life. I will carry her spirit with me alwatys. Barbara Mc Nagny
I am interested in purchasing the interiors Sotheby’s catalogues from the November 2014 Mrs. Paul Mellon auctions and wondered if you could direct me to a source.
Thank you.
I am wondering if Bunny Mellon and Pauline de Rothschild ever crossed paths as their design aesthetic was so iconic. I have never read anywhere that they even knew of each other’s existence yet they created sublime settings to live in. It is also interesting to note that even though Mrs. Mellon was a school mate of Sister Parish and was married the second time in Parish’s home that the legendary designer never got to decorate any of them. I guess Mrs. Mellon knew what she wanted and did not want to be dictated to by Sister Parish. Is it that simple? I also read somewhere that one of Parish’s daughters worked for Bunny Mellon.There’s an interesting back story there on Jackie Kennedy, Sister Parish and Bunny Mellon that has more to do with their relationship and falling out than with the story about Sister kicking Caroline in the White House and Jackie kicking Sister Parish out of the White House.