The Enchanting Interiors of Bunny Mellon: A Visual Delight for Enthusiasts

Jason Sargent Tuesday, February 17, 2026

- - The Enchanting Interiors of Bunny Mellon: A Visual Delight for Enthusiasts

Adam RatheFebruary 17, 2026 at 4:00 AM

Inside Bunny Mellon’s Legendary Homes Snowy Campbell/Getty Images

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There’s been no lack of coverage in recent years of the late Rachel Lambert Mellon. Known to those who knew her—and, now, many of the rest of us—as Bunny, Mrs. Mellon was a philanthropist, a gardener, a friend to Jackie Kennedy, and an art collector who married into one of America’s most powerful dynasties and, despite her taste for privacy, became something of an icon. What’s curious about the way she’s now celebrated for her taste, her gardens, her Balenciaga-designed gardening clothes, and even the way she served potato chips, is that she’d have hated the attention. As she famously told the New York Times in a 1969 interview: “nothing should be noticed.” But—sorry, Bunny—we just can’t help ourselves.

A new book published by Rizzoli, The Enchanting Interiors of Bunny Mellon, pays tribute to Mellon’s homes in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Upperville, Virginia and the watercolor pictures of the rooms that the homes’ chatelaine commissioned from the artist Alison “Snowy” Campbell Swain. The project, according to a preface by Sir Peter Crane, the president of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, was initially dreamed up by Mellon and Swain more than half a century ago but never came to fruition—until now.

“When I was first shown the portfolio of Snowy’s watercolors, I knew a book must be in their future,” Charlotte Moss writes in a foreword. “In our digital age, when everything from basic supplies to luxury goods can be ordered online with the tap of a button, anything rendered by human hands has become infinitely more compelling, coveted, and cherished. Just as the couturiers Balenciaga and Givenchy translated Mrs. Mellon’s active lifestyle into her wardrobe, Snowy Campbell captured the Mellon homes with meticulous simplicity and detail. From the houses and the gardens to the particular, such as dinner tables where simple, beautifully prepared food was served amidst flowers and exquisite objects, Snowy Campbell’s pictured between these covers give us a special glimpse into a life well lived, a world imbued with utmost care and beauty.”

Here, T&C shares a look at some of the book’s depictions of Mellon’s stunning homes.