My homes are my life's work—making old houses into a new form of my art.
— HUNT SLONEM
Searles Castle, 1915
Great Barrington, Massacusetts
“I’ve admired the castle forever, and I’m thrilled to turn it back into what I can. All these houses have endless things to do — it’s just mind-boggling." - Hunt Slonem.
Madewood Mansion, 1846
Napoleonville, Louisiana
This 10,000 mansion is located on Bayou Lafourche, is a National Historic Landmark. Architecturally significant as the first major work of Henry Howard, Madewood is one of the finest Greek Revival mansions in the American South. Each doorway is signed by the artist, Cornealieus Hennessey.
Lakeside Mansion, 1832
Batchelor, Louisiana
Built upon land once given to the Marquis de Lafayette from a grateful Thomas Jefferson during the Louisiana Purchase, Lakeside mansion's distinctions are myriad. Beyond its famously pink-painted exterior, there is a unique wrought-iron balcony, imported from Paris in the early 19th century; an elaborate series of gardens; and a ground-floor room with deep red walls and matching velvet sofas.
The antique furnishings, which Slonem has handpicked from markets and dealers, feel at home among the 18-foot-tall ceilings and Zuber wallpaper. As he puts it, this is a “primordially remote, quintessential romantic house.”
Belle Terre, 1906
South Kortright, New York
The sprawling Belle Terre estate was first built as a summer home by copper baron James McLean. The estate embraces well beyond 30,000 square feet of quiet wilderness by the Catskills Mountains, complete with a private lake and rolling hills—ideal for fox hunting, which is what McLean had in mind when building it.
Eleanor Roosevelt, a frequent guest and friend of McLean’s daughter, once hosted a party on this site for 6,000 guests—an event that inspired Slonem to paint and hang several portraits of the former first lady around the property. The house’s Georgian architectural style marked a new direction in Slonem’s acquisitions, and his ongoing design emphasizes its original moldings and carvings while recapturing the elegant guilded age, selecting appropriate furniture to recreate the mood of its origins.
Scranton Armory, 1897
Scranton, Pennsylvania
When Slonem first heard about the Scranton Armory, he was not thinking of adding it to his collection—it was a largely vacant space he rented in between moving studios in New York. But when he stepped inside this massive Romanesque Revival structure, he found an opportunity to preserve a crucial piece of American history: five presidents have stood at the armory’s drill hall, delivering campaign speeches to local voters.
The property is equipped with a unique series of underground tunnels and original swimming pool, and Slonem has since furnished the armory’s plentiful rooms with period furniture, new artworks and refurbished chandeliers.
