House Tour | written by: PAMELA DEY VOSSLER with NATALIE LANDRY, Brand Ambassador for Design and Decor, Ring’s End | photos by: BAMBI RIEGEL | riegelpictureworks.com
Ann Lydecker and Jon DuPrau in front of the Bernar Venet-inspired sculpture at the entrance to their home
To know a home is to know its owners, and the French chateau-style residence on Mansfield Avenue overlooking the Country Club of Darien is a case in point.
Acquired by Ann Lydecker and Jon DuPrau in early 2025, everything about it tells their story …which converged in 2022 when they met “the old-fashioned way,” as they describe it, in person, while waiting in line at FedEx.
You see their story in the striking approach to their welcoming home, in the sundial design they created for their driveway, fanning out from the octagonal centerpiece featuring a Bernar Venet-inspired sculpture, in the lovely terrace across the back, and in the house itself.
Built in 2003, the house has a permanence about it born of the meticulous perfectionism of the man who commissioned it. In 18 trips to Paris, he refined his vision. During construction, he turned back truckloads of limestone and slate that did not meet his standards.
A view from the back terrace
Ann and Jon saw the quality of it the moment they laid eyes on it. “It’s all supported by steel,” explained Jon, “and then you have this extraordinary limestone,” he continued. …and the soaring entrance hall with its sweeping wrought-iron staircases (hand forged by a master Italian craftsman), and the view through to the terrace at the rear of the house. “We fell in love with every inch of it,” recalled Jon, attracted as much by the possibilities within it for gathering and connecting as they were to the beauty of the place.
These are people who love people, and art, history (the why of things), and whimsy and grace (just not at the expense of welcome – “We wanted elegance,” Jon said, “but never formality.”)
They seek design with meaning – valuable artwork and artwork valuable just to them, books that tell a story (not just in their pages) and things that speak to them. They mix old and new, traditional and contemporary with unique and unexpected design twists to create spaces that inspire, enhancing the spirit of the home not just in the furniture they own and the art, books and treasures from their travels on display throughout the house, but also in the colors they choose—the fabrics, the wallpaper, the lighting too.
The entrance hall with its hand forged iron staircases
“The spirit of this home is easy for us to identify with and when we tell our story, it enhances the spirit of the place and vice versa,” noted Jon. “I believe each house asks something entirely different of you,” Ann added.
Theirs is also a world of bringing the outside in and it shows throughout their home, in the windows and in the decorating choices they’ve made.
“What we really love is outdoor living,” said Jon who is from southern California. Ann too spent many years in California. “We both miss the sunshine and the sky. This home was designed to let in a lot of sunshine. It’s a major feature of the house.”
“In the dining room as well,” said Ann, “we bring the outside in with the beautiful chinoiserie wallpaper and ice blue ceiling inspired by Miles Redd.”
When Jon and Ann met, still in COVID masks and bundled up for the February day it was, it was an intellectual attraction of like energies that initiated their life together.
Why not an orange wall? (Benjamin Moore)
Jon, a financial industry executive, arrived in Connecticut in 2020 for a position in NYC from Southern California where he grew up surfing, riding horses and racing motorbikes, which he started before most of us even begin to think about a license (some dads bring their kids to Little League, Jon’s father, a Hollywood director, took him to Husqvarna motorcycle races in the Mojave Valley with his pal Steve McQueen). Jon also collected rare books. His first acquisition? A set of volumes by the French existentialist Guy de Montpassant, at just 14 years old. He paid for them $1 here, $5 there, whenever he earned some money to put toward their purchase, befriending the book shop owner in the process and launching what has become a lifelong love of collecting (and reading) antique books.
The Miles Redd-inspired dining room with chinoiserie wallpaper and Ice Blue ceiling (Benjamin Moore). “Ann and I had a fun time picking the scenic mural by Daisy Bennett of Wallquest at our Darien location,” said Natalie.
Ann grew up in Stamford, the oldest of five. She attended the King School, studied art history and French in college and thought nothing of a house full of artists, writers, musicians and friends gathered by her mother, an opera singer who performed widely throughout the area (doesn’t everyone do the dishes to Figaro?) and her father, an MIT fellow and real estate entrepreneur. She spent a month each summer traveling to France to visit friends her family has known for four generations. She now has her own art advisory practice serving a small handful of collectors in the U.S. and Europe. She has been an active member of the MoMA Contemporary Arts Council for many years and also serves on the board of the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County. She combines her knowledge of art as well as her network of art experts with her extensive travel experience (she’s been to more than 45 countries to date) to curate personalized trips to explore art fairs and private collections internationally.
A combination of old an new: Antiques from Ann’s family blend beautifully with the Reuben Nakian sculpture and Damien Hist painting shown here in the home’s living room
To spend time with Ann and Jon now is to be unable to imagine them apart …his telescopic, philosophic and often studious approach complimenting what Jon calls Ann’s much wider aperture (she has never met a person whose story she did not want to know); their shared love of hospitality and connection (she’s introduced 26 couples who went on to marry); and the passion they both have for collecting and travel, fed by an endless curiosity and drive to learn. (“The best discoveries are usually the ones you weren’t looking for,” observed Ann.)
The library, designed and installed by Martin Hughes for Ann and Jon, in Galapagos Turquoise by Benjamin Moore, with their “story” on full display
They love design, fine art, the opera, and a great bottle of wine, particularly if it is around a dinner table with friends or on a bike trip through the French countryside. They are explorers, philanthropic—engaged in the world and the people who shape it. (Jon serves on the board of the Institute of World Politics in Washington DC. In addition to her volunteer roles at MoMA and the Cultural Alliance, Ann’s board work includes the French American Aid for Children and the Merrit Parkway Conservancy, among others.)
They’ve learned compromise and balance in their decorating decisions. He leans traditional. She ventures further afield. They take risks. (Why not an orange wall?) They trust each other. (It helps when you’re as good as Ann is at finding emerging artists.)
They call their home a “work in progress” with all they still want to do. And that is as it should be. The story continues.
