What makes a home memorable? For Patrick Casey and David Leighton, the answer lies in the objects, books, paintings, music, and personal histories that have gathered around them during more than four decades at the Severn.
Built in 1905 and 1906, the Severn stands within one of Manhattan’s most storied neighbourhoods. Across the street from the Ansonia, the building became home to Casey and Leighton around Thanksgiving 1980. Over the years, their apartment grew into a deeply personal collection shaped by art, theatre, opera, travel, cooking, and friendship.
In Our Home at the Severn, Casey welcomes readers into rooms inspired by English country houses, the private chambers of Versailles, the atmosphere of Sherlock Holmes, and the elegance of old New York. The entrance hall creates a sense of mystery with antique maps, portraits, books, religious carvings, and theatrical objects. Beyond it, light filled rooms offer paintings, sculpture, Wedgwood, drawings, stage designs, and carefully chosen furnishings.
Yet this is not a home arranged as a silent gallery. The library serves as a performance space, complete with a grand piano and a setting influenced by the small private theatres once found in European estates. The dining room brings friends together, while the kitchen reflects Casey’s love of food, copperware, country life, and family gatherings. Every room supports the lives of two working artists.
The collection reaches across centuries. Readers encounter Old Wedgwood, including jasperware, basalt, Queensware, medallions, and ornamental pieces. They are introduced to the Norwich School of Painters, whose landscapes preserve the feeling of the English countryside. Drawings, maps, ancient coins, Roman glass, fossils, minerals, puppets, theatre designs, and opera memorabilia reveal the wide range of the collectors’ interests.
Casey also challenges the belief that a beautiful home belongs only to the wealthy. He argues that knowledge, patience, curiosity, and a trained eye matter more than an unlimited budget. Objects gain value through their craftsmanship, provenance, associations, and place within a life.
Lavishly illustrated and filled with personal recollections, Our Home at the Severn is part memoir, part art book, and part invitation into a remarkable Manhattan home. It celebrates collecting as an act of learning and reminds us that the finest rooms do more than impress. They hold the lives of the people who created them.
