We spent our Saturday up near Cold Spring, about an hour and a half north of New York City, touring Manitoga, the 75-acre estate bought by Russel and Mary Wright in 1942. The house itself, named Dragon Rock, sits on the hillside of a former granite quarry, surrounded by miles of woodland trails. Wright, a former set designer, saw the forest as part of the architecture, sculpting the landscape and creating different scenes and stages from which to view the house and experience its surroundings. Inside, there’s this wonderful feeling that you’re not really in a house so much as another part of the forest.
Wright even designed a path around the quarry pond for what he called the “cocktail walk,” where he and friends who’d spent the day helping him landscape could unwind with a drink. Manitoga closes next weekend for the season, but we highly recommend putting it on your list for next year.
In Paris, Saint-François de Molitor organizes its congregation around the altar — a departure from the traditional auditorium arrangement originally proposed in a competition to replace the dilapidated chapel that preceded it.
The change came after Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger brought architect Jean-Marie Duthilleul into the project alongside original competition winner Corinne Callies, and handed him a copy of Louis Bouyer’s Architecture et liturgie, which argues for designing churches around the underlying principles of Christian worship rather than reproducing historical architectural forms.
The religious symbolism follows a similar philosophy, trading traditional stained-glass imagery for something more modern: a translucent facade evokes the cloud of God’s presence, a garden beyond the glass represents Eden, and a dimly lit entrance creates a moment of transition between the busy Parisian street and the luminous sanctuary within.
The Woodrow Wilson Estate is on the market for $14 million. Ome Dezin bought the Hollywood Hills property in 2025 for $5.25 million and spent roughly 18 months restoring its original architectural character while replacing or augmenting “99%” of the interior surfaces. Between this and CM G1 House, Ome Dezin is developing a pretty recognizable aesthetic. They call it “Baby Brutalist,” a softer interpretation of Brutalism that feels particularly apt here where the house is monumental in scale but softened by warmer, more expressive interiors.
“not a lot of sources i’d trust, but linear is one of them.” —jackie l.
In London, Red Deer and Annabel Colterjohn reinterpret the neighborhood gathering place with Kiez Kebab, somewhere between a Berlin nightclub, a late-night London kebab shop, and a New York listening bar. The space is undeniably cool, with a sculptural stainless-steel communal table by Red Deer and Colterjohn, furniture by Berlin metalworker Alan Mueller, and a custom sound system by Friendly Pressure, but as more of these hi-fi hybrids pop up, they’re starting to feel a little interchangeable. Maybe kebabs are the answer. If you find yourself in Notting Hill, swing by and let us know what you think.