Antiquing off Manhattan's beaten path

1 April 1987

Interior Design

On 57th Street and up Madison Avenue this route you'll find many elegant and exclusive antique shops. This survey is designed to introduce you to some lesser known but equally exciting establishments where you can buy antique furniture and accessories at good prices for your clients. The only wholesale antiques market in New York is in the University Place area. It would require a book to chronicle all the shops in this neighborhood. And as commercial rents rise uptown, more and more dealers are relocating here. We have chosen eighteen representative stores to describe, but there are many more. If you take a stroll from Broadway to University Place, along 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th Streets, you will find a host of shops, most to the trade and all carrying a variety of antique merchandise that sells for more money uptown.

• Agostino (1) 808 Broadway (212) 533-3355 Retail On these premises, which were occupied for many years by dealer Paul Siegel, a new dealer in 18th- and 19th-century furniture and accessories has set up shop. And the stock deserves attention. As I entered the large and attractive showroom I noticed a Louis XV center table in ormolu with a malachite top. A Sheraton satinwood dressing mirror crossbanded in rosewood stood on an English serving table in crotch mahogany with ivory pulls. There is a plethora of chandeliers, lamp bases in Chinese and English porcelain, screens, paintings and mirrors. Discounts to the trade.
  
• David Allan (2) 812 Broadway (212) 598-9030 To the Trade David Allan is a fairly new but welcome addition to the downtown antiques market. A young Englishman handsome enough to be featured in his ads, Allan offers unusual furniture and objects of interest and style. Rather than compete with the dealers who import traditional English furniture, he looks for the one-of-a-kind, the uncommon piece that can often make a spectacular design. Some of the pieces I admired were a unique Anglo-Indian ebony and ivory secretary with fitted drawers, a huge American painting of a young girl in a carved gilt frame, a German Biedermeier chest in a remarkably grained dark mahogany and an English Regency buffet lacquered in the Chinese manner.
  
• Mike Bell (3A and 3B) 60 East 10th Street 67 East 11th Street (212) 598-4677 To the Trade This antique dealer from Chicago has expanded his merchandise into two shops. There are English and French armoires, country tables and chairs arranged in room vignettes. Wyn Hershey, the affable manager, assured me that any armoire could be lined and fitted for the client's purposes. I saw a handsome stripped pine gate-leg table, a set of bird's-eye maple provincial chairs and several elegant mirrors. A smattering of accessories and paintings complements the furniture.
  
• Victor Carl (4) 841 Broadway (212) 673-8740 Retail Victor Carl's forte is chandeliers and marble fireplace mantels. The hanging fixtures are mostly French and formal with crystals and gilt and the mantels range from small and Victorian to grand and baroque. But he is branching out into other 19th century furniture, paintings and small objects. Last time I browsed I spotted a heavily carved gilt console with a marble top, a Chinese lacquered screen and a pair of lovely old bergeres. Terra cotta and stone figures, perfect for a garden or a patio, are usually available. Discounts to the trade.
  
• China Importing Company, Ltd. (5) 28 East 10th Street (212) 995-0800 To the Trade This new showroom is devoted exclusively to Oriental antiques. Janice Lee, whose family has been importing antiques for many years, has collected an interesting group of porcelain vases, ginger jars, cachepots, chargers and garden seats, all from the Tung Chi period (1875-1892). I noticed some fine wig stands and a peony vase that would make a gorgeous lamp for an English drawing room.
  
• Urs Christen (6) 36 East 12th Street (212) 475-4412 Retail Mr. Christen, who has another shop in Switzerland, has been in the neighborhood for only four years, but his reputation has been firmly established. The theme is Neoclassic--Empire, Biedermeier, Directoire and Louis XVI--and the furniture is sold in mint condition. Every piece of wood is matured for a year before it is offered for sale, and then it is guaranteed. I was intrigued by a secretary made of root of maple with the most unusual markings I have ever seen. It was Viennese, dated 1820. In addition to the furniture there are Japanese screens, accessories in bronze, ivory, marble, porcelain and cloisonne, wall hangings and mirrors. A marble Directoire clock with ormolu pendulum and mounts would grace an elegant house. Discounts to the trade.
  
• Jackson Chu (7) 852 Broadway (212) 475-1141 To the Trade This is a curious shop, but worth exploring. The entrace is small and unprepossessing and nobody in the Chu family speaks much English. But as you walk through the front room, which is crammed with Oriental porcelain wood, jade, ivory and bronze, you begin to realize the vast stock available here. There are two more stores downstairs, and on the second floor room after room of Chinese furniture and accessories. Not everything is old, but I have bought antique garden seats, peony vases and ginger jars here at reasonable prices.
  
• Phillip Colleck (8) 830 Broadway (212) 505-2500 Retail After 31 years on 57th Street, Mr. Colleck has relocated downtown. He specializes in English furniture of the 18th and 19th centuries, and his shop is large, commodious and filled with elegant wood and porcelain pieces. A 12-panel Coromandel screen stands next to a Chinese Export black and gold lacquer game table. A pair of George III consoles with fretwork decoration and marble tops held a pair of fine English porcelain lamps. There are also fine chandeliers, paintings and mirrors. Discounts to the trade.
  
• Geoffrey Goodman (9) 825 Broadway (212) 674-2673 To the Trade This shop is a potpourri of antiques--upholstered furniture, wood pieces, chandeliers, large and small urns in pottery and iron, paintings and mirrors--from many countries. The selection of lamp bases (a notoriously difficult item for designers to find) is noteworthy. I noticed attractive bases in tole, gilt, bronze with crystal and English and Oriental porcelain. Other pieces of interest were an ebony and Boulle bureau plat, a set of French mahogany carved dining chairs and a beautiful wood and crystal chandelier.
  
• Gramercy Galleries (10) 52 East 13th Street (212) 477-5656 To the Trade After 45 years, the Feingolds are old settlers on University Place. Ten floors of antiques from Europe and the Orient have been carefully collected. Chandeliers, sconces, fireplace mantels, porcelains, statues in marble and bronze, paintings and furniture fill every available inch of ceiling, wall and floor. Mrs. Feingold assured me that she has some provincial furniture, but I saw only the most formal and elegant styles--inlay, Boulle, marquetry and ormolu. There are pieces of great value--signed commodes, signed bronzes, paintings and porcelains. If your taste runs to the ornate, this is the place.
  
• Hyde Park Antiques (11) 836 Broadway (212) 477-0033 Retail Bernard Karr, the genial host of this gracious two-floor establishment, deals in fine English 18th- and early 19th-century antiques. He explains that furniture from William and Mary through the Regency period is his business, but 18th-century porcelain is his passion. Also available here is quality Chinese Export porcelain, paintings, mirrors and chandeliers. I admired a George III satinwood bow front bookcase filled with exquisite pieces of Chelsea and Bow and a marvelous Whieldon agateware jug. A rosewood and Boulle side cabinet with a marble top and a set of eight red lacquer open armchairs with chinoiserie decoration were also noteworthy. Discounts to the trade.
  
• Howard Kaplan Antiques (12) 827 Broadway 831 Broadway (212) 674-1000 Retail This dealer has established a cottage industry downtown. At 827 is a vast and imposing collection of French country furniture. Armoires are the main stock in trade, and the selection is nonpareil; there is also a large choice of dining room tables and chairs, desks, commodes and upholstered pieces. Chandeliers, lamps, mirrors, paintings and porcelain are a Francophile's dream. At 831 is another dazzling display, this time of brass and steel, bentwood and marble bath, garden and kitchen antiques. Around the corner, at 35 East 10th Street, the original shop carries reproduction furniture and fabrics to the trade. There are discounts to designers on the antiques.
  
• Kentshire Galleries (13) 37 East 12th Street (212) 673-6644 Retail Kentshire has grown, reorganized and upgraded its merchandise to better serve the prominent designers and dealers who shop here. There are now six floors of antiques--paintings, country furniture, Oriental porcelains, English mahogany and lacquer. The main floor has a smattering of everything--a set of Regency chairs inlaid with brass, a Welsh cupboard in honey pine, a bamboo and chinoiserie whatnot filled with crystal and china, a carved wood and marble console next to a zebra wood desk. The latest project of the two affable and energetic principals of this establishment, Fred Imberman and Bob Israel, has been to transform the third floor into a series of smashing room vignettes for the display of jewelry and small antiques. There are discounts on antiques to the trade.
  
• Martell Antiques (14) 53 East 10th Street (212) 777-4360 To the Trade This long, narrow shop is filed with provincial furniture from France. Armoires--cherry, walnut, ash--line the walls and the styles range from simple to heavily carved. Some of them are bleached, some have bonnet tops, all are restored and handsome. The center space has tables of all kinds--dessert tables, library tables, desks and dining tables. Sometimes there is a wonderful chaise longue, an interesting trumeau or an unusual bench. The owner, Bill Rodek, also imports French woven bistro chairs that fit in handsomely with the antiques.
  
• Garvin Mecking (15) 72 East 11th Street (212) 677-4316 To the Trade Garvin Mecking is a dealer/designer of impeccable taste whose shop reflects his eclectic vision. The double store is crowded with treasures that you are not likely to find anywhere else--Jacobean tables, horn chairs, Orkney chairs, cupboards in oak and pine and mahogany, beaded and needlepoint paintings and pillows, and the best collection of fine Majolica in town. Some of the pieces I have found on recent visits are a steel and etched crystal lantern for a small entrace foyer, a Sheraton tulipwood occasional table and an 18th-century horse painting.
  
• Midtown Antiques (16) 814 Broadway (212) 529-1880 Retail This shop, which has been here for 20 years, is undergoing a complete renovation. But the manager, Mort Ellis, assured me that all would be in order by the time this survey appears in print. The merchandise is not easy to categorize because it is so varied, but I have found many treasures here at good prices. Last time I was in, I admired a country French farm table in stripped fruitwood, an Edwardian walnut console table with a basket of flowers inlaid in satinwood and with double curved legs, a pair of Chinese vases and a two-tier Dutch brass chandelier. Discounts to the trade.
  
• George Subkoff (17) 835 Broadway (212) 673-7280 To the Trade Mr. Subkoff is well established, with four floors of quality merchandise, another shop in Wilton, Connecticut, and 20 years of experience in the area. He deals in 18th- and 19th-century furniture, paintings and accessories from America, England and the Continent. A set of six rare Portuguese rosewood chairs (1760) is pulled up to a Regency English rosewood pedestal table (1820). An elegant Biedermeier buffet in satinwood with a marble top holds a pair of Chinese blue and white temple jar lamp bases. An English garden seat stands in front of a Coromandel screen.
  
• The Tudor Rose (18) 28 East 10th Street (212) 677-5239 Retail This small shop, fairly new in the neighborhood, is unique. Howard Donowitz deals exclusively in silver, but his stock is far ranging. There are candlesticks, picture frames, hollow ware and serving pieces as well as a large selection of crystal and silver perfume bottles and powder jars. I have also seen several beautiful tea and coffee sets, and some spectacular trays. Mr. Donowitz is knowledgeable and pleasant, his prices are reasonable with discounts to the trade, and he has already been discovered by the cognoscenti.

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