Perusing the treasures at the Park Avenue Armory’s Winter Antiques Show (through January 30; winterantiquesshow.com) is a yearly treat for me. But what makes it really special is that all ticket sales benefit the heroic work that goes on at East Side House Settlement (eastsidehouse.org) in the South Bronx. I visited three of the settlement’s sites last week and was totally overwhelmed and inspired by the people I met. At the Mott Haven Community Center, director Vernell Reed showed me this classroom used by some of the 200 kids in the settlement’s early-childhood program. Photo: Wendy Goodman
These late-period Egyptian bronze eyes (664”332 B.C.) stopped me in my tracks; they’re yours from Peter Petrou Antiques for a cool $33,000. Photo: Wendy Goodman
These unusual burr-wood toggles made of hua-mu (flowery wood) are nineteenth-century Chinese fixtures used to create a pouch in clothing. They are sold by Peter Petrou as a set of fourteen for $15,500. Photo: Wendy Goodman
Lost City Arts has some incredible wall art. This fiber panel is by Sheila Hicks ($45,000; 1970). Photo: Wendy Goodman
One of the other great things about the antiques show is getting to see the extraordinary restored rooms on the ground floor of the armory. Here is the fireplace of the Veterans Room, designed in part by Louis C. Tiffany and Stanford White in 1880”81. The massive fireplace is decorated with red bricks, red marble, and blue-glass tiles. Photo: Wendy Goodman
Another amazing piece from Robert Young Antiques: a Central European folk-art marriage cupboard, made in about 1830 ($16,000). Photo: Wendy Goodman
Cora Ginsburg is famous for her extraordinary and timeless fabrics, accessories, and period clothing. I especially love this Scottish crewel-and-silk bed hanging, made circa 1720 ($45,000). Photo: Wendy Goodman
Liz O’Brien has an inviting booth filled with pieces like this Maison Jansen scallop-backed settee from Lady Louis Mountbatten’s bedroom in Brook House in London ($48,000). The wallpaper is from Studio Printworks. Photo: Wendy Goodman
Liz is also showing a sweet little corral settee, by Syrie Maugham ($14,500). Photo: Wendy Goodman
And speaking of sweet, how about this: the “bookstand” at the Mott Haven Community Center, which (it’s worth repeating) is supported in part by proceeds from the antiques show. To directly aid the Mott Haven program, buy a ticket to tomorrow’s Young Collector’s Night, which I’ll be hosting ($175; 7”9 p.m.; click here for tickets). Not only will you get to chat up some of the hottest interior designers around; you’ll be helping the city’s most vulnerable kids as well. Photo: Wendy Goodman
