When Aerin Lauder inherited her Hamptons home from her grandmother, Estee, she found a unique way to honor the woman who rose from humble beginnings in Corona, Queens and eventually founded a cosmetics empire that still bears her name.
“This house was Estee’s dream,” Lauder tells House & Garden in the magazine’s last issue. “I’ve kept my grandmother’s bedroom almost exactly as it was…It still has her vanity…and the original fabric wall coverings that she loved and that I love…I always use the room for special guests who visit.”
The home is a 1950s Greek Revival mansion with columns flanking the entrance. It’s been renovated to add a two-story addition with three bedrooms and a library decorated with black-lacquer walls. Before renovations began, Lauder made sure to take photographs of all the original furnishings so that some of them, like a collection of Chinese porcelein vases, could be returned to the spot where Estee had left them.
Lauder’s billionaire father, Ronald, is something of a Hamptons land baron, having amassed significant holdings out east. This summer he sold off three acres in Sagaponack for $3.74 million.
The final issue of House & Garden does not acknowledge the recent and abrupt decision to close the century-old magazine. But editor Dominique Browning got to say her goodbye online.