HUNTOPIA - Catalog - Page 33
T H O R N TO N
Your passion for preserving and restoring grand mansions and plantation houses has led you to save and
reinvigorate seven homes in Louisiana, New York State, and Pennsylvania. What draws you to these sites?
SLO NE M
I think they pick people. I am made aware of them, but not by searching for them. They just come to my
attention and I can’t say no, in many cases. I really want to bring them into the next century, if we have one
[laughter]. No, we do.
T H O R N TO N
[laughter] Are you sure about that?
SLO NE M
I hope so. There’s a great term in Louisiana, “Vestiges of Grandeur,” Richard Sexton’s book title. There was a
very elegant past that we’ve come recently out of and I’m trying to, like in nature, preserve this elegance
that I don’t see too much in this age; but forgive me for saying it. I’m just fascinated by lost grandeur. There’s a
house I’d really love to save called Lynnewood Hall, great palace outside of Philadelphia that’s not in good
shape, so I just hope that it survives long enough for others to enjoy it. And we watch countless civilizations
come and go and we still get excited about the fragments that we know of in this lifetime. So I’m just
excited, as people have been in every age … about remembering and fantasizing about this other quality of life
that once existed, not perfect life certainly, but interesting.
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