Our Story

Ensconced in a landmarked townhouse just off Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village, Eerdmans is devoted to the serious business of living beautifully. Its founder Emily Evans Eerdmans is a noted authority on fine and decorative arts and, with an eye sharpened by study and softened by humor, she creates collections and interiors that are as intellectually convincing as they are irresistibly livable. Our approach to interior design favors rooms that appear to have evolved over time—layered with history, comfort, and the confidence of good taste. 

Our gallery is both a showcase and a declaration. Its rotating exhibitions reflect our belief that the past is far too interesting to be treated reverently. Here, historical works are presented with freshness, nostalgia is handled with wit, and beauty is spared the burden of solemnity. The gallery serves as a continual source of inspiration for our design and advisory work, offering clients a living example of our philosophy in practice.

Our services include guidance on all aspects of a collection, from acquisition to selling wisely and strategically. Emily is perhaps best known for orchestrating the now-legendary three-day, estimate-defying Sotheby’s sale of the collection of her friend and mentor Mario Buatta—a farewell executed with insight and affection. Over the last two decades, she has collaborated with collectors, designers, institutions, and auction houses, earning admiration for her discretion, transparency, and an unerring sense of when to be bold and when to be wise.

An accomplished author and scholar, Emily has written numerous books on the history of interior design and decorative arts. She holds a master’s degree in fine and decorative arts from Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London, trained with some of the world’s foremost antiques dealers, attended the Attingham Summer School, and taught connoisseurship and design history at the New York School of Interior Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology. She currently serves as Vice President of the Decorators Club.

Her professional hallmarks are expertise, discretion, and good humor—the very qualities that bound her so closely to Mario Buatta—and her guiding belief remains that art and antiques are not luxuries to be admired from afar, but companions meant to enrich daily life.