The Roof Garden of Carlos de Beistegui’s Paris Apartment (1930s)

“…the ultimate fantasy was to be found in the roof garden where a magnificent eighteenth-century portrait was casually hung on an outside wall, where entire box hedges slid apart to reveal views of Paris, and where one finally arrived at an open-air room. The floor was carpeted with a daisy-strewn lawn, there were a fireplace with a clock, candlesticks surmounted by a circular picture which was actually a view of the Arc de Triomphe, and a marble ‘commode’ supporting a birdcage with a mechanical songster.”

Published in Martin Battersby’s Book The Decorative Thirties, Revised and Edited by Philippe Garner (1988)