The Oldest Dutch House in NYC Is Just as Enchanting as It Was 300 Years Ago

The best adventures are often born of accident. Especially in New York City, where a re-route of your typical bodega run can lead to a time warp into colonial America. Welcome to the “Vander-Ende Onderdonk house,” a place as fun to visit as it is to say, and definitely one of the more improbable sites…

Catching Up with the Louds: America’s First Reality TV Family

It was sold it as a social experiment. A fly-on-the-wall view of a family’s life under the sun in the picturesque town of Santa Barbara, California. When An American Family premiered on US television in 1973, its subject – the Loud family – sparked America’s great love affair with reality television. Yet, it was charged…

The Last Palace of the Champs Elysées: A Courtesan’s Secret Alcazar

Hiding in plain sight, you’re looking into the eye of the last remaining example of the magnificent private mansions that once lined the Champs Élysées in Paris. Hotel de la Païva was built by a famous 19th century courtesan who came from humble beginnings in the ghetto of Moscow. Esther Lachmann, aka La Païva, became…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CDLXXVIII)

1. A top secret government Missile Complex is Up For Sale at $395,000 The ex-Titan II silo hosted a missile fitted with a nine megaton thermonuclear warhead. “BOLD opportunity to own a decommissioned underground Titan II missile complex” in Catalina Arizona. Found on Popular Mechanics. 2. A copy of Alice in Wonderland sprouting mushrooms due…

The Secret Career of David Bowie’s Back-Up Singer

Nobody could do camp quite like Klaus Nomi. He left the downtown New York club scene speechless with soaring operatic vocals, dressed in his signature triangular vinyl tuxedo complete with smoke bombs, punk rock nuances and 1950s sci-fi sound effects. On any given night, you could have found a young Jean-Michel Basquiat or Keith Haring…

A Time Travelling Greenwich Village Studio Hides an Incredible Art Collection

Wait for no muse. Make a habit of working all the time. Let your wooden sculptures grow up, and your bronze sculptures grow out. Such was the world according to Chaim Gross, the patron saint of bohemian Greenwich Village. As an Arts educator, he was bar none in passion and gave playfully acerbic advice (this…

The World Wasn’t Ready for Oscar Wilde’s Fearless Illustrator

Here at MessyNessyChic, we love digging up long lost illustrations of the past to inject some creativity into our day. From the forgotten artwork found in lost Art Nouveau and Art Deco magazines to the drawing boards of the Ballets Russes; Heath Robinson’s peculiar art of over-complicating things to Errol Le Cain’s fantasy illustrations or…

Greetings, from Home Sweet Hole N’ the Rock

We interrupt your life above ground for some unsolicited subterranean splendour. It’s just a quick pit stop off the humble Highway 191 in eastern Utah. But poke your head inside, and you’ll discover a 5,000 square foot home fully equipped for life beyond the Stone Age. It goes to show that just when you think…

What’s the Paris Opera House Doing in New York City?

Paris, is that you? All signs would point to yes in this building, a bite sized double if ever there was one for the Opéra Garnier. Y’know, the one of Phantom of the Opera fame? With a dramatic double staircase made for cape swooshing, cinematic lamp posts and marble for days? Although the Beaux Arts…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CDLXXVII)

1. Juni Ludowici’s ‘Round House’ on the River Thames, 1958 ‘Cause tiny house have been around forever. In 1959, a designer named Juni Ludowici made his own Rundhaus (Round House). Found via Tumblr 2. Inside a $5.5M Floating Mansion in Miami 3. The Perfect Little Cabana in South Pasadena, California Found via Stamps and Stamps.…