Talks at Vizcaya: The Importance of Being Furnished

Step into a world of refined intrigue and bold design in this intriguing talk led by Wheaton College professor R. Tripp Evans, as he unveils his provocative new book, The Importance of Being Furnished: Four Bachelors at Home. Discover the private worlds of four remarkable figures—each a confirmed bachelor whose dazzling abodes echo the iconic elegance of Vizcaya.

The stories of these “surprisingly domestic bachelors” (as the press dubbed them) reveal the complicated depths beneath their homes’ brilliant surfaces. The bachelors in question include:

• Charles L. Pendleton (1846-1904), the reclusive gambler who amassed one of his era’s finest collections of eighteenth-century furniture
• Ogden Codman, Jr. (1863-1951), a renowned interior decorator who inherited his family’s pedigree and vices
• Charles H. Gibson, Jr. (1874-1954), a writer who transformed his Boston home into a personal literary shrine and monument to his own beauty
• Henry Davis Sleeper (1878-1934), who created his Eastern Point masterpiece, Beauport, for the love of his extended circle of friends, including painter Cecilia Beaux, Harvard economist Piatt Andrew and collector Isabella Stewart Gardner.

TICKETS | $5; FREE for students and Vizcaya Members

Vizcaya Members reserve tickets here.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with complimentary wine | Talk starts promptly at 7:00 p.m.

Featured speaker: R. Tripp Evans

R. Tripp Evans specializes in American art and architecture, with a focus on the material culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He received his B.A. in Architectural History from the University of Virginia and his M.A. and Ph.D. in the History of Art from Yale University. Evans is the author of three books and won the National Award for Arts Writing in 2010. His most recent book focuses on the role of the American house museum, as seen through four historic homes located in New England. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Providence Athenaeum in Providence, Rhode Island, and was appointed to the Rhode Island State Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission in 2017. 

Host or Publisher Vizcaya Museum and Gardens