A Mansion of Her Own: The Mysterious Life of Heiress Alice DeLamar

Talk Highlights:

• Uncover the mysterious life story of Alice Delamar, an exorbitantly wealthy heiress of the early 20th century who evaded the public eye
• Learn about the opulent properties Alice inherited from her mining magnate father, Captain Joseph Raphael Delamar, including a Manhattan mansion at 233 Madison Ave and the sprawling Pembroke Estate on Long Island
• Discover what went on behind the close gates with some of Alice's famous friends, including Vladimir Nabokov, Salvador Dali, Ludwig Bemelmans, George Balanchine, and Eva Le Gallienne
• Hear how the author unearthed Alice's story over a decade of research and travel

This post contains affiliate links, which means Untapped New York earns a commission. There is no extra cost to you and the commissions earned help support our mission of independent journalism!

About A Mansion of Her Own:

In 1918, at twenty-three, Alice Delamar inherited the vast fortune of her mining magnate father, reportedly becoming the richest maiden of her time. She was swiftly hounded by the press, who wanted to know: Would she assume her father’s famed Pembroke Estate? What would she do with all that money? And most importantly, whom would she marry? 

Determined to evade the public eye, Alice built sprawling, tree-covered estates, where she mixed with acclaimed figures like Vladimir Nabokov, Salvador Dali, Ludwig Bemelmans, George Balanchine, and Eva Le Gallienne. Behind a wall of her own making, she lived a life that hardly would have suited high society, also keeping the confidences of the cascade of characters who came to populate her compounds—in some cases, before being dramatically cast out of paradise. 

After learning of Alice in a biography of La Gallienne, Nona Footz was spellbound. Who was this woman, and what was she hiding? She spent the next decade rummaging through musty attics and traveling to far-flung cities in search of a manuscript that Alice was rumored to have left behind. What she found, especially among Alice’s surviving posse, took her breath away. 

A Mansion of Her Own is an illuminating portrait of the mysterious millionairess, as well as an exploration of the ways that the dead push and pull the living. Tender and probing, it’s an unforgettable story about what we hide and what we seek—both from others and ourselves. 

About Nona Footz:

Nona Footz is currently an executive and board recruiter and has been a freelance writer for the magazines VENU and for Art New England. A native of Canada, Footz is an adjunct faculty member at New York University. A Mansion of Her Own is her first book.