An gina shi a shekara ta 1866, Lamba 238 ya tashi hawa biyar a saman ginshiki. Yana da kusan murabba’in ƙafa 4,600 a kan fili mai faɗin ƙafa 19 da tsawon ƙafa 100, yana da sabon fasalin waje mai launin dutsen farar ƙasa da aka gyara, da lif mai bangarori wanda ke kaiwa kowane bene. Wanda ya zauna a cikinsa a shekarun 1960, Pierre Scapula, mai zanen Paris ne ya tsara cikin gidan; cikin ayyukan da ya yi akwai zanen cikin jiragen ruwa na Stavros Niarchos da kuma gidajen Gimbiya Lee Radziwill da ke New York da Paris. Scapula ne ya samar da yanayin Faransa da muke gani a gidan a yau. Daga baya, gidan ya zama mazaunin wakilin Tarayyar Turai na farko a Majalisar Ɗinkin Duniya. A yanzu an gyara shi zuwa mizanin ingancin gidan kayan tarihi, bisa ruhin ƙarni na goma sha takwas.

Da zarar ka shiga, jerin ɗakunan da ake buƙata a gine-ginen gidajen gari na gargajiya za su tarbe ka: ɗakin shiga, Babban Falo da ɗakin liyafa.

Da farko, za ka isa Falo mai girman ɗaki, wanda ke ba da damar zuwa dukkan gidan ta lif, tare da tabbatar da sirrin sauran benaye. A nan, bangarorin katangar suna da sauƙin zane, an kwaikwayi su ne daga zauren gadi da ke wajen ɗakin sirri na Louis XV a Versailles; tsarin shimfiɗar marmara, akwatin adon bombé, madubai da fitilun bango duk sun dace da wannan zamani. Ɗakin ajiye kayan baƙi da Ɗakin Wanka na Zinariya da Onyx, wanda aka yi shi cikin salo mai ƙyalli na Rococo, suna buɗewa daga nan.

Daga nan sai ka hau babban matakalar bene, wadda ba a rufe ta gaba ɗaya da bango ba, don haka tana ba da damar ganin daga sararin da ke ƙasa zuwa madubai da ƙaton fitilar lu’ulu’u ta Babban Falo. A nan akwai rufin ɗaki mai tsayin ƙafa goma sha biyu, da bangarorin katanga da murhu na salon Île-de-France masu shekaru ɗari uku, waɗanda Scapula ya kawo daga Faransa. Murhun da ake kunna da itace yana aiki. Babban madubin trumeau yana ɗauke da zanen Nicolas Lancret (1690–1742), yayin da tsohuwar fitilar lu’ulu’un da aka haɗa da wutar lantarki ta fito daga gidan Baroness Albuquerque da ke Dakota. Ƙofofin Faransa guda biyu suna buɗewa zuwa baranda da ke kallon nutsuwar lambun. Shimfiɗar Parquet de Versailles, kayan daki na tarihi da tsarin sauti da aka haɗa a cikin ginin sun kammala wannan ɗaki na musamman.

A haɗe da shi akwai ɗakin liyafa, wanda Scapula ya tsara a matsayin Salle de Glace, wato ɗakin madubai, inda ya sake ƙirƙirar wani salo da aka fi so a ƙarni na goma sha takwas, ta amfani da bangarori masu ma’auni na gaskiya da kayan ƙawatawa na ganyen zinariya. Akwatunan littattafai da aka gina cikin bango, kayan hasken tagulla masu rufi da zinariya, da babban teburi suna ba da damar amfani da sararin a matsayin ofis, ɗakin karatu ko ƙarin wurin karɓar baƙi.

A bene ɗaya sama akwai Babban Ɗakin Kwanciya, wanda aka yi masa bangarorin itacen oak na Faransa masu ƙarewar au cappuccine. A saman murhun Faransa da aka shigo da shi akwai wani zanen bango a kan zane mai shekaru fiye da ɗari, mai suna “Ginin Dandalin Romawa,” wanda mai gidan farko na Lamba 238 ya dawo da shi New York daga hutun amarci. Akwai ɗakunan tufafi guda biyu da wuraren ajiya da aka gina cikin bango; kusa da su kuma akwai banɗakin marmarar Carrara fari, mai bahon jiƙa mai tsawon ƙafa shida da kwanon wanka guda biyu.

A wannan bene ɗaya, a gaban ginin, akwai Ɗakin Baƙi, wanda aka tsara da salon ƙaramin Chambre de Parade, kuma ya shahara da labulen gadonsa da bangarorin katangarsa. An rufe bangunan da silkin Scalamandré, kuma an tanadi ɗakin da kayan daki na salon Louis XV. Banɗakin da ke haɗe da ɗakin, wanda ke da taga, an yi shi da marmara kore tare da babban, kuma mai wuyar samu, kwanon wanka na marmara mai ruwan shunayya; banɗakin gyaran jiki kuma yana ɗauke da ɗakunan tufafi da wuraren ajiya da aka gina cikin bango.

A bene na sama akwai ɗakin kwanciya da aka kawata da salon Venetian, wanda ke kallon lambun. Yana da murhu, tagogi uku masu karkatarwa da juyawa, ɗakin gyaran jiki mai farin kwanon wanka da kayan haɗi da ƙafafu masu launin zinariya, ɗakin tufafi na shiga, da banɗaki da aka yi amfani da nau’ikan marmara guda biyar wajen ƙawata shi. A gaba kuma akwai ɗakin ma’aikata mai ɗakuna biyu da banɗaki, wanda za a iya rufe shi daga sauran gidan kuma a isa gare shi ta lif. Ko a nan ma akwai abubuwan ban mamaki: allon bayan gado wani ƙwararren zubin tagulla ne, wanda yanzu yake kama da ya fito daga wani bangare na ƙofar sama na fasadin arewa na Grand Central Terminal da aka daɗe da rusa shi.

A ƙarshe, bene na biyar mai ɗaki irin na penthouse, wanda aka tsara shi cikin salon zamani na tsakiyar ƙarni, ya bambanta gaba ɗaya da sauran 恒一

Built in 1866, Number 238 rises five stories over a cellar. It has approximately 4,600 square feet on a 19 by 100-foot lot, a newly restored limestone-toned facade, and a paneled elevator serving every level. Its interiors were shaped by its 1960s occupant, Pierre Scapula, the Parisian designer whose commissions included yacht interiors for Stavros Niarchos and the New York and Paris homes of Princess Lee Radziwill. Scapula is responsible for the French ambiance we see in the house today. Later, the house became the New York residence of the first European Union Representative to the United Nations. At present it is restored to museum quality standard in the spirit of the eighteenth century.

Upon entering you are greeted by the sequence of rooms mandatory to classic townhouse architecture: Anteroom, Grand Salon and Drawing Room.

First, you arrive at the room-size Foyer, which provides access to the whole house by elevator while assuring privacy to the other floors. Here the paneling is simple, patterned after the Guard Hall outside the Louis XV private suite at Versailles, and the marble flooring pattern, the bombé chest, the mirrors and the sconces are all appropriate to the period. A guest closet and the Gold and Onyx Powder Room, in the flamboyant Rococo style, open off it.

Next, you ascend the wide stairway, which is not fully enclosed by walls and allows a visual connection from the space below to the mirrors and crystal chandelier of the Grand Salon. Here are twelve-foot ceilings and three-hundred-year-old Île-de-France style paneling and a fireplace, both brought from France by Scapula. The woodburning fireplace works. The large mirror trumeau contains a painting by Nicolas Lancret (1690-1742), and the electrified antique crystal chandelier came from the residence of the Baroness Albuquerque in the Dakota. Twin French doors open to a balcony overlooking the tranquility of the garden. Parquet de Versailles flooring, antique furnishing and an integrated sound system complete this exceptional room.

Adjoining is the Drawing Room, styled by Scapula as a Salle de Glace, or mirror room, in which he replicated an eighteenth-century favorite with authentically proportioned panels and gold leaf moldings. Enclosed bookcases, doré bronze lighting fixtures and a large desk allow the space to be used as an office, a library or additional entertaining space.

One floor above is the Primary Suite, paneled in French oak in an au cappuccine finish. The imported French fireplace is topped by a canvas mural more than a hundred years old, "The Construction of the Roman Forum," brought back to New York from his honeymoon by the first owner of 238. There are two walk-in closets and built-in storage, and adjoining is the white Carrara marble bath with a six-foot soaking tub and double sinks.

On the same floor, at the front of the building, is the Guest Room, styled in the manner of a small Chambre de Parade and notable for its bed hangings and paneling. The walls are covered in Scalamandré silk, and the room is furnished in the Louis XV style. The ensuite windowed bath is finished in green marble with a large, rare purple marble vanity sink, and the dressing bath contains closets and built-in storage.

On the floor above is a Venetian decorated bedroom overlooking the garden, with a fireplace, three tilt-and-turn windows, a dressing room with a white vanity sink and gold fixtures and legs, a walk-in closet, and a bathroom finished in five kinds of marble. At the front there is a two-room-and-bath staff suite which can be shut off from the rest of the house and reached by elevator. Even here wonders abound: the headboard is a high-quality bronze casting that now appears to have come from an overdoor panel of the long-demolished north facade of Grand Central Terminal.

At last , the fifth-floor penthouse, done in a mid-century modern style, entirely different from the rest of th