The Kips’s Bay Show House is an annual rite of spring in Manhattan, where top designers pull out the stops and redecorate a notable city dwelling for charity.
On April 4th, the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, the group that masterminds the showhouse, celebrated its 100th anniversary with a dinner at Cipriani 42nd Street. The interior design world glitterati turned out in numbers, with guests including lifestyle doyennes Martha Stewart and Aerin Lauder; designers Jamie Drake, Thom Filicia, Bunny Williams, Jonathan Adler, Alessandra Branca, Alexa Hampton, Mara Miller, Jesse Carrier, Timothy Whealon, David Kleinberg, David Scott, and Christopher Spitzmiller.
The annual President’s dinner is always a glam prelude to the group’s largest fundraising event of the year, the equally glam Decorator Show House; this year the dinner gala brought in over $1,00,000 for the organization, benefiting 12,000 Bronx youngsters with after-school and enrichment programs.
How the showhouse works—Top interior decorators and architects throughout the country are invited to transform a luxury space in Manhattan, where they highlight the latest trends in design. For over a month the space is open to the public; typically drawing, as it has in past years, over 20,000 visitors. Designers and firms like Drake/Anderson, Daniel Richards, David Collins, David Kleinberg, Timothy Whealon, Victoria Hagen, Alex Papachristidis Interiors, and Clive Christian Interiors, will participate in the show this season.
The showhouse, now in its 44th year, will be staged at The Carlton House Townhouse, 19 East 61st Street, adjacent to The Carlton House. That property, originally a hotel dating from 1940 is being transformed by Extell Development and architect Beyer Blinder Belle into a 68-unit luxury condo. The townhouse, which has a separate private entrance along East 61st Street, is currently a raw space that can be customized to a buyer’s specifications.
The Kips Bay Shophouse will be open to the public from May 12th through June 9th, seven days a week. Don’t miss it. For more information: kipsbaydecoratorshowhouse.org
