Cornelia Guest & Peter Marino: A Perfectly Marvelous Friendship
By R. Couri Hay
Photos by Stewart Shining
One of our cover stars, Peter Marino’s oldest and closest friends is Cornelia Guest, the actress, animal rights advocate and author. The two first met in the late 1970s at Andy Warhol’s factory, which Marino, a dapper, bow-tied, young architect, had been hired to renovate. Warhol was among the glittering friends of Guest’s parents, society couple C.Z. Guest and Winston F. C. Guest, whose intimates included a Who’s Who of fashion, art and royalty like Carolina Herrera, Halston, Diana Vreeland, Truman Capote and Cornelia’s godparents, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
Guest was a precocious, horse-obsessed teenager at the time, and the two hit it off. About two decades later they met by chance at La Grenouille and have been inseparable ever since. “Charles Masson had an anniversary party, and I was upstairs, and Peter walked in, and we just reconnected, and it was so great to see him,” Guest said. By that time, Marino had adopted his trademark leather-daddy uniform.
They had lunch and became pals. “Over the years we’ve gotten closer and closer, and he really is one of my favorite people in the world. He’s one of my besties and I just adore him, he is the kindest,” she said, adding that with his breadth of knowledge, Marino is like an encyclopedia. “There’s never been anything that I’ve ever asked Peter that he has not given me an amazing answer for.”
She acknowledged their shared love of animals and noted they both adored her Harlequin Great Dane, Pearl. At Marino’s Southampton home, the pooch endears herself to the gardeners by catching moles. “She’s not supposed to, but Pearl, bless her little heart, has gotten numerous moles for him. And the guys that work for him are so happy because nobody likes moles except for me.”
Pearl goes everywhere with Guest, and the dog is welcomed by Marino and his wife, Jane Trapnell, at all their exquisitely decorated homes. Pearl gets along splendidly with the Marinos’ cats, Wendy and Peter.
Pearl, The Dog, Won Jane’s heart
Peter and Cornelia spend so much time together that the Marinos refer to her as the “substitute wife.” And Jane, who mostly eschews the society whirl, is on board with this arrangement. “I think that Pearl won Jane over,” said Guest. “Anytime I go to the Marinos’, if I don’t have Pearl, Jane’s like, ugh.” Pearl has the run of the house; during a recent dinner party, the dog came into the dining room and Jane told her to go lie on the couch. “It was very funny because most people don’t let dogs on their furniture, and Jane and I certainly do. And the others were like, ‘oh here’s this mini pony.’”
She describes Jane as super smart with a wicked sense of humor. “We laugh at all the same things, and I just love her.”
A True Friendship
“Peter and I always laugh, and we always have fun together,” said Guest. “We talk about everything.” She admires Marino’s love of beauty in his work and in his collections. “He’s so creative and so smart and loves to laugh and is so down to earth. We’ll sit and watch Game of Thrones and have a little dinner, and the cats are there, my dog is there, and we’ll just giggle and have a good time. So, it’s a true, wonderful friendship.”
Each year for her birthday Marino gifts her a miniature version of one of his bronze boxes that are sold by art dealer Larry Gagosian. Handmade in France, each box is numbered and engraved. In them, she keeps jewelry and other trinkets. One at her bedside has dog treats inside, handy for Pearl’s midnight snacks.
Author Kevin Kwan at the Marino Art Foundation
It was at Cornelia’s insistence that the Peter Marino Art Foundation hosted its only non-artist book talk, with Crazy Rich Asians author Kevin Kwan. Guest was a character in Kwan’s novel Sex and Vanity, and she and the author have become good friends. The event was wildly popular and attracted many people who aren’t necessarily art aficionados said Isabelle Trapnell Marino, the foundation’s co-director. “That was fun to get people who weren’t there for the art to come and see it. And actually, a lot of them have written us and said that they’ve come back.”
In Kwan’s next book, Lies and Weddings, there’s a character called Peter Submarino.
Animal Sanctuary
An award-winning equestrian, Guest is an actor whose roles include a recurring part in the Twin Peaks rebootTwin Peaks: The Return. In her most recent film, 2024’s Oh, Canada, with Richard Gere and Uma Thurman, she plays heartthrob Jacob Elordi’s mother.
She’s a longtime board member of the Humane Society of New York, an ambassador for American Wild Horse Conservation, and a vegan. Several years ago, the native New Yorker moved to Texas and also relocated her nonprofit animal sanctuary there.
Today, the sanctuary no longer rehomes animals but serves is a refuge for animals in need. “Now, I just rescue ones that really need homes that really are in dire shape, and we try to bring them back.,” Guest said. “We give them the best landing possible, and we give them the best life possible.”
All her animals are very happy. Recently, a female turkey, Elizabeth, was sitting on a bunch of eggs, and when she got up for a moment, Guest realized they were all chicken eggs. “She was sitting on about a dozen chicken eggs, so we moved her into this little nursery area, and Elizabeth’s husband, Philip, every morning would come over and just stare at her. And one morning we woke up and she had hatched 13 little chickens.”
The explanation for this: Elizabeth was born at the sanctuary two years ago and hatched in an incubator alongside two Guinea hens and the three bonded. So, Elizabeth has always had her two Guinea hen pals with her. “They were like her little ladies in waiting, and Philip was always guarding them,” Guest said. “So now every morning Philip and the two Guinea hens go over to Elizabeth’s area because the chicks are just getting their feathers now, they’re not big enough to go outside. And he sits and just looks at her all day and puffs his feathers up. And she’s the best mother and all the chicks jump up and sit on her back.”
Peacocks – Peter, Curtis & Juan Carlos
Other creatures at the sanctuary include ten mini horses and donkeys, two pigs, Penelope and Mabel, and three goats, Hansel, Gretel and Matilda. Then there are three peacocks, one named Peter, after her bestie, and the other two are named Curtis and Juan Carlos, after Marino’s closest associates at his design firm.
Independent & Fearless
Guest likely gets her independent, rebellious streak from her mother, the formidable society leader C.Z. Guest, a Boston Brahmin, legendary gardener, Best Dressed List Hall of Fame fixture and one of Truman Capote’s famous swans.
When Cornelia, who was dubbed Debutante of the Decade in the 1980s, posed topless for Andy Warhol as a teenager, her mother never batted an eye. “My mother was so smart; she knew exactly how to handle me. She never flinched,” Guest explained. However, her mother may have understood her motives completely: she herself had posed in the nude for painter Diego Rivera while in Mexico in her younger years and had had a short stint performing with the Ziegfeld Follies.
Her mom, who passed away in 2003, never got to know Peter Marino, but Guest is certain she’d love him. “She’d try to steal him from me. That wouldn’t work,” she said, laughing.
Peter Marino: An Extraordinary Life
By R. Couri Hay
Star-chitect
Peter Marino, the famed architect with an astounding number of high-profile clients, seems something of an enigma. Tattooed and always clad head-to-toe in biker leather, even when mingling with high society at the chicest formal soirees, he presents an imposing figure to those who don’t know him. His projects include luxe residences, art galleries, hotels, retail and offices, and he is hands down the fashion world’s most in-demand architect, having designed space for the likes of Tiffany’s, Dior, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton, Armani and Chanel, which tapped him for boutiques in Paris, Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Seoul, Singapore and more. In fact, Marino has designed so many Chanel projects that his 25-year collaboration with the couture house was celebrated in a 2021 book, “Peter Marino: The Architecture of Chanel.”
He started out working at illustrious firms SOM, George Nelson and I.M. Pei before launching his eponymous practice, Peter Marino Architect PLLC, in 1978. His firm is renowned for innovative use of light and space, and for integrating contemporary artworks into projects. Marino is credited with redefining the standard for prestige retail design.
For furthering arts and culture, the French Ministry of Culture named Marino a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2012, and an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2017.
In addition to design, Marino has many varied interests. Yes, he is a motorcycle enthusiast – the leather is not simply a costume. He is an avid gardener; his garden at his Hamptons home is a stunner, the site of many storied parties, and in 2023 he won the top prize at the Southampton Rose Society’s annual show.
Passion for art
Perhaps his greatest passion is art. A 2017 60 Minutes profile declared that art is at the center of Marino’s universe, and that his knowledge of it is encyclopedic. He curates it and commissions it for his projects, and he is a prolific collector as well. His vast collection includes contemporary art and furniture, Old Master paintings, Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities, Renaissance and Baroque bronzes, 20th century photography, French ceramics, rare books and Old Master drawings.
He aquired the former Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton to house his collection, and after extensive renovations, the Peter Marino Art Foundation opened its doors in 2021.
“He started collecting art the second he had any kind of disposable income whatsoever,” his daugher, Isabelle Trapnell Marino, the Foundation’s co-director, told us. “And he collected in a way that I think a lot of people turn their nose up at, because it has nothing to do with how the market works,” she added. “He’s not buying it as an investment. If he loves it, he wants it. And sometimes those aren’t the winners, so to speak, but he wants to live with it. But he has an incredible eye and really collects across all disciplines, bronze, porcelain, ceramic, painting, sculptures, you name it.” Marino’s collection, she explained, ranges from Egyptian jars circa 5,000 B.C. to things that were produced last year.
Peter Marino impersonator in Greece
Speaking with Peter Marino for this article, the iconic, AD100-listed architect was warm, funny and witty. He had just returned from Greece, where he attended singer Anna Vissi’s nightclub act – in which she impersonated him.
“I had dinner with her in Paris about ten days ago, and she took a lot of pictures of me and said, ‘You have to come to my show Saturday night in Athens,’ Marino said. “She did a Peter Marino outfit, with my leather hat, my belts, my boots. She looked great. It was hilarious.” Marino joined her onstage and she danced around him.
The crowd loved it. “For the first time in my life, I was really glad I had two bodyguards because a thousand people sticking telephones in your face and trying to get near you is scary,” he said. “I didn’t want to get trampled, and I kept saying ‘Where’s the fire exit?’ And the bodyguards were like, ‘What, are you leaving?’ I said, ‘No, I’m an architect; I want to know where’s the fire exit.’”
Marino continued to regale us with wondrous tales about his life, legendary career and his work with worthy causes. Read on as we demystify this master.
Trademark leather look was his wife’s idea
Marino’s wife, Jane Trapnell, is a costume designer whose work has appeared in major TV shows like Beverly Hills 90210, Kate & Allie and As the World Turns. Once when Marino rode his motorcycle from the Hamptons to Manhattan, he had no time to change out of his biker gear before an interview at his office. And Jane told him to just go with it and make it his signature style. “She put it something like this: You can look like every other bloody architect in the world with your navy blazer and khaki trousers for the rest of your life, and no one will ever know who you are or recognize you, or you can go with your little motorcycle look, buddy.” Marino also notes that as he works with so many fashion houses, wearing a self-styled uniform avoids offending clients.
Tightwad Andy Warhol kick-started Marino’s career
Marino’s first commission under his own name was from Andy Warhol, to design the artist’s house on East 66thStreet. “He bought a beautiful, very elegant townhouse because his mom had died in the big house on Lexington Avenue, and it was creeping him out,” Marino said. “So at that point, in the 1970s, he had enough money to buy a terribly beautiful townhouse, and he needed a really cheap architect that he could take advantage of. [Pause] I mean, he needed a really talented young person to fix up the kitchen, bathrooms, etc. So yeah, he gave me the money to open my own studio and do the architecture for the townhouse.”
The writer Bob Colacello, who has known Marino since 1974 when he was working at Interview Magazine, corroborated. “Andy loved hiring young people,” Colacello told us. “I was 22, his manager, Fred Hughes, was 28, and Paul Morrissey, who directed the films, was probably the oldest at about 30. So Andy loved the idea of hiring very young people, one because he thought they had new ideas, but also because young people starting out were willing to work cheaply.”
Warhol balked at paying some of the bills from the contractor, who had been recommended by Philip Johnson, Marino recalled. “So Johnson, embarrassed, said, ‘Look Andy, I’ll buy some of your portraits of your mother, but the money’s not going to you, it’s going to the contractor.’ So that’s how it all ended well. Andy minded his dollars and cents very carefully.”
Karl Lagerfeld: “the machine gun”
Marino and the late designer Karl Lagerfeld bonded over their mutual longtime association with Chanel. Once, while having dinner, Lagerfeld told Marino that they were the only two people in the world who could work for both the Wertheimer family, which owns Chanel, and the Arnaults, who own Fendi, Vuitton and Dior. “Karl chuckled and said, ‘Let’s just keep it that way, we’re the only two.’” Marino was moved by that statement.
A nickname for Lagerfeld, Marino revealed, was “the mitraillette,” or submachine gun, because he spoke so quickly it was like standing in front a machine gun. “He spoke at double the speed at which a normal person speaks, and so you had to pay attention or you’d miss half of what he said. So I always felt rather stupid.” Lagerfeld was quite a personality, Marino added. ”He knew everything. He was so well-read and so knowledgeable. A favorite conversation was about Swedish architecture in the 1920s.”
Marino makes paintings as gifts
As a adolescent, Marino had wanted to be an artist. He tried painting and scultpure. “I made an enormous elephant, which had the head of Barbara Streisand. It was hilarious. All out of white plaster,” he said, laughing. His career took him in a different path, and despite his massive art collection, he still paints sometimes.
There is a treasure-trove of fine artwork installed in the Marino-renovated Tiffany’s in Manhattan, 58 pieces by the likes of Anish Kapoor, Julian Schnabel, Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer, Richard Prince and Basquiat – the New York Times suggested saving the $30 entry fee at MoMA and visiting Tiffany’s instead – and some portraits of Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany’s on which Marino hand-painted squiggles. “I paint as fun but also as gifts for people. And that was my gift to Tiffany’s,” which is owned by the Arnaults, of LVMH.
He pointed out that it is difficult to give something to Mr. Arnault, who is the wealthiest man in Europe. “What are you going to give him, a gift from Tiffany’s? He owns it. A suit from Dior? He owns it. What can you give him? He’s got the LV foundation, every piece of art in the world. So I make paintings for him.”
Hirshhorn Museum honor
In November 2024 the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden recognized Marino’s impact on the art world with it’s first-ever “Leadership in the Arts” award at its 50th anniversary gala. “For 50 years of them being open they assembled 50 of today’s leading artists who all came to kind of honor me,” Marino said. “And I was in tears, to tell you the truth. Every artist clapping you on the back was like getting an Academy award, and I was just breaking down.”
Dog person now a cat person
Marino had always been a dog person but now has two beloved cats instead. Why the switch? The reason, he explained, is very simple. “I’ve had dogs my whole life and they all die when they’re 10 or 12 years old, and I can’t take another dog death. I really can’t; I’m too much of a wuss.” He added that he hasn’t recovered from any of his dogs’ deaths, and all his cats live to 22 to 24, so he’s now a cat person. Now aged 75, Marino figures the cats will last as long as he will.
One is named Peter – “It’s not original, but that’s really easy to remember” – and the other is Wendy, like in Peter Pan.”You remember the Peter Pan song ‘I Won’t Grow Up?’ That’s kind of been my life motto. I mean look, I’m completely childish and ridiculous.”
Friendship with Cornelia Guest
Among Marino’s global coterie of pals, his close friendship with actress/philanthropist Cornelia Guest is one of the most enduring. “Probably of all of her acquaintances I’ve known her longer than anybody except someone who’s related to her,” he said of meeting her at Warhol’s factory when Guest was in her teens. “It was like 1923, and she was a zany, madcap teenager and I was a very earnest, buttoned-down architect,” he quipped. (It was actually the 1970s.)
He recalled Cornelia being lots of fun, and open to everything. “But Cornelia, at the time, was serious. She was a serious equestrian. And, well, at that time we started with nightclubs, so let’s just go with serious clubber.”
Recently, Marino and his wife were giving a chic, formal dinner party for Laurent Bili, the French ambassador to the U.S., with a guest list that included the heads of Versailles, the Louvre and the Petit Palais. “I was having one of my cultural moments,” Marino said. He invited Cornelia, and she agreed to attend. “She came, but unannounced to anyone, she brought Pearl,” he said, explaining that Pearl is a five foot long dog who promptly went on the 18th century dark green velvet sofa and fell asleep. “My wife entered the salon and said, ‘What is that?’”, he laughed.
“Everybody’s mouth dropped like, okay, we knew the Marinos were a little bit out of the ordinary, but they don’t usually have a five foot dog attending the dinner for the French ambassador. And Pearl just sat there between Cornelia and me and was perfectly happy to join the party.”
Why do these two get along so well? Two of the things Marino values most in a friend are loyalty and a sense of humor. “And shared interests such as eating caviar or dressing up.”
Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte; Venetian Heritage chairman
With friends around the world and his wide array of interests, Marino puts his energy into various causes near and far. In October, he hosted the annual fundraising gala for the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, the castle outside Paris whose beauty inspired the design of Versailles. Marino helped to draw a powerful crowd, which included the Arnaults, designer Haider Ackerman, Christian Louboutin, Marisa Berenson and Paloma Picasso.
He leapt at the chance, in part because the Countess Cristina de Vogüé, whose family has owned the property for generations, is a longtime friend. They met more than 40 years ago in Salzburg, where he and his wife Jane went every summer until their daughter was born. Someone introduced them, and Marino found her intimidating.
“She was very, very grand, the highest level of French aristocracy, with these crazy emerald earrings,” he said. It turned out that the Countess is Italian, and from the same region in Italy that Marino’s family comes from. “When you speak Italian, you can tell,” he explained. “She said something in Italian and I answered her in Italian and she sort of giggled and waved her finger, said come sit next to me. We’ve been friends ever since.”
One of the things Marino is most proud of is his chairmanship of Venetian Heritage. “I’ve worked for for 25 years restoring some of the buildings and paintings and sculpture in what I think has got to be one of the top cities ever created by mankind,” he told us. The Italian government does not fund them, and that, he says, is why there are so many organizations trying to save Venice. “It is the history of western Europe from 800 until 1797 when Napoleon stole the Wedding Feast at Cana from the wonderful church and took it to the Louvre.” Until that point, Venice was one of the leading cities in the world, he added, the crosswoads of trade, and where things like diplomacy and the concept of passports were born. “I’m such a fan of Venice. I’ve spent 25 years there, I still haven’t seen three quarters of the buildings or churches or paintings. It has so much. I just would like the whole world to sort of help me.”
In recognition for his years of work restoring Venetian art and architecture Marino received last year the prestigious Hadrian Award from the World Monuments Fund. Other recipients include Queen Sofia of Spain, King Charles of England and the Aga Khan.
Staying humble
Success has never gone to Marino’s head. “I’m insanely happy and I pinch myself every day and go, is it real? Did I just have dinner with the president of France? Did I just give a party for the Countess de Vogüé?.”
He grew up in Queens in a middle class family. “The one client that really impressed my mother was Chanel; she said, ‘Chanel, ooh, la la.’ The only Chanel she ever had was some face powder that I would buy her on Mother’s Day.”
Bob Colacello, co-director of Marino’s art foundation, recalled a visit to the site while it was under contruction. “There were 10 or 12 construction workers in hard hats, local guys, and Peter says, ‘This is my friend Bob. He’s from Brooklyn, I’m from Queens, and we both did really well in life.’” That, he says, is typical Marino. The construction workers love him, the gardeners love him. “He’s very down to earth. And what I like about Peter is that his enormous success has not jaded him. He’s still impressed when he’s invited to a dinner at the Elysee by President Macron.”
Peter Marino’s Art Foundation: Isabelle Trapnell Marino & Bob Colacello
By Bennett Marcus
Outraged that Southampton’s historic Rogers Memorial Library had been turned into a Bed Bath & Beyond with linoleum floors, dropped ceilings and a sign with a giant towel “on sale now” hanging out front, Peter Marino was determined to save the beautiful 1895 Queen Anne Revival building.
His daughter, Isabelle Trapnell Marino, recalled visiting the depressing space one day in 2018, and her father declared that he would try to get one of his billionaire clients to buy and restore it. Marino’s wife, Jane, said, “Why not you?” So the world renowned architect decided to buy the building to house his vast, and growing, art collection.
“Jane and Isabelle pointed out that I have three warehouses full of paintings,” Peter said, adding that the walls in both his office and homes are already chock full of art, so this way he could display more of his collection.
“He always wanted to have a foundation, but there was never a direct plan for it, and her suggesting that to him just kind of lit a fire,” said Isabelle, who is now co-director of the Peter Marino Art Foundation, which opened in 2021 after an extensive renovation.
Bob Colacello enlisted as co-director
Peter outmaneuvered a competing institution to snag his longtime friend Bob Colacello to co-direct the foundation. The Southampton Arts Center had wanted to hire Colacello, the famed Interview and Vanity Fairwriter, as a consultant and had asked Marino for an introduction. Over lunch, Bob recalled, Peter noted they’d known each other “forever,” and had many of the same friends and similar backgrounds. “And so he said, ‘I think you should be associate director along with Isabel.’ And that was that.”
Brunch with Bob
As co-directors the most public-facing role for Isabelle and Bob are a series of Saturday morning talks with artists whose work is on display dubbed “Brunch with Bob.” Peter, Isabelle and Bob have a kind of fireside chat with the artist, with 100 to 150 guests in attendance. The chats are a revival of a similar series that Bob had established a decade ago at the New York City artist’s collective Bruce High Quality Foundation. After the talk guests take in the exhibitions and nosh on finger sandwiches in the garden.
Important artists
Since opening, the foundation has hosted talks with Francesco Clemente, Tom Sachs and Rashid Johnson. Vik Muniz flew up from Brazil, not only because Peter is a big collector, but because he wanted to meet Bob Colacello, whose Interview magazine party column he’d read while a student at the Art Institute of Chicago, back in 1980. Muniz said, “Someday, I’m going to have a social life like Bob Colacello. I’m going to go to four parties a night. And now here I am being interviewed by Bob Colacello.”
This summer’s slate includes visual artist Sarah Sze and photographer Wolfgang Tillmans. Tillmans’ talk will take place pre-season, on May 3, even though his show opens on May 23, because by then he’ll be in Paris setting up his retrospective at the Pompidou. “So we’re having kind of a one night only engagement with him,” said Isabelle. “He’s a big enough draw that it’s going to be a full house, even though it’s really not the season out there yet.” In August, there will be an additional panel about the Tillmans exhibit with painter Peter Halley and curator Christian Madsen, both experts on his work.
Peter is thrilled that Tillmans chose the Marino Foundation as the only other museum in America after MoMA to stage a show.”It’s a really big deal for me because then he goes on and has his life retrospective at Pompidou in Paris. So this has evolved as a place where major artists want to be shown,” he said. “And of course it helps that I own 132 of his photos.”
Peter Marino Book Club
Another popular series is the Peter Marino Book Club, where artists who have released books of their work come to the Foundation for a short talk and book signing. This year’s crop will include Bruce Weber, Jonathan Becker and Sarah Sze.
Labor of love for Peter Marino
Isabelle says that establishing the art foundation has been a labor of love for her father. One of the things that he collects are renaissance bronzes, and part of his collection is the labors of Hercules. “He always jokes that the foundation was the last labor of Hercules because he really puts his whole being into every project he does, but watching him do this and have it be something that he has really wanted to do his whole life has been one of the most special things I’ve ever seen,” she said. “I joke with him that the foundation is his favorite child. I’m an only child, but the foundation is his favorite child because it doesn’t talk back.”
