When Henry Clay Frick's palatial home opened as an art museum in 1935, Art Deco dominated the design world and café society flocked to nightclubs like El Morocco, the Cocoanut Grove, and the Stork Club. So as an homage to that era, the Frick Collection's horticulturist and special events designer, Galen Lee, his associate Bernadette Morrell, and head of special events Colleen Tierney added 1930s-style flourishes to the Upper East Side institution for the Young Fellows Ball on Thursday night.
Focusing on the rooms added by architect John Russell Pope in the 1930s, Lee, Morrell, and Tierney filled niches with tropical plants (in a nod to the striking scenery once found at El Morocco and the Cocoanut Grove), projected geometric patterns on the walls and ceiling, recalled the Stork Club with café tables and silver chairs, and employed reflective Lucite (a product that became commercially available in the '30s) in the decor for the bars and food stations. The motif even found its way onto the hors d'oeuvres trays, which held bites like lobster salad tartlets, deviled quail eggs, and sweet potato gratin on cranberry pecan toast with sage pesto, from Olivier Cheng.
To create the setting for the dance floor, the Frick's team was inspired by the fabled "Cat's Corner" of the Savoy Ballroom, another popular '30s hangout, and placed DJ Harley Viera-Newton in the Music Room alongside projected images of 1930s New York.
As the the kickoff for a yearlong series of programs and events in celebration of the Frick's 75th anniversary, the gala fund-raiser was dubbed the Diamond Deco Ball and, despite the snowy weather, was attended by more than 630 patrons, including Lauren Santo Domingo, Lydia Fenet, Georgina Schaeffer, and Gillian Miniter. Dressed in gowns and jewelry provided by sponsors Vera Wang and Tiffany & Company, the guests raised $235,000 in support of the Frick's education program.
