Adolfo Sardiña & Edward C. Perry Residence

History

Born in Cárdenas, Cuba, Adolfo Faustino Sardiña (1923-2021), professionally known as Adolfo, was a prominent fashion designer from the 1960s to the 1990s. After his parents died, his wealthy Cuban aunt, who had a penchant for Parisian couture, raised him and paid for his education in Havana. Adolfo later moved to Paris, where he swept floors at the couture house of Balenciaga and worked as a milliner at a smaller studio in that city.

By 1950, Adolfo was living in New York City as a lodger in an Upper East Side apartment at 44 East 63rd Street. First employed as a milliner for Bragaard and Bergdorf Goodman, Adolfo later worked for Emme, where he was credited as “Adolfo of Emme.” He received the Coty Award in 1955 for his millinery designs; however, he later admitted, hats were not his preference:

In 1962, with financial backing from fashion designer Bill Blass and other friends and clients, Adolfo opened his own millinery business. Located at 22 East 56th Street (demolished), he successfully repaid the seed money within a year. In that period, Adolfo studied dressmaking four nights a week with Cuban designer Ana María Borrero with the goal of expanding his services. Soon, his clientele included high-profile women such as former First Lady Jackie Kennedy; Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor; journalist Barbara Walters; actress Marlo Thomas; Sears heiress Harriet Deutsch; and socialites Gloria Vanderbilt, Betsy Bloomingdale, Babe Paley, and C.Z. Guest.

In the early 1980s, Adolfo and his partner, financial adviser Edward C. Perry (1909-1993), moved into an Upper East Side duplex maisonette at the newly renovated 828 Fifth Avenue, on the corner of East 64th Street. The mansion, commissioned by coal and steel baron Edward J. Berwind in 1893, housed offices from 1945 to 1978, when the building was converted into apartments. According to fashion journalists Rosemary Feitelberg and Lorna Koski, Adolfo decorated his apartment “with English paintings of dogs, an 18th-century portrait, neoclassical busts, Empire-style furniture and Aubusson pillows.” By this point, Adolfo had established himself as an award-winning designer of ready-to-wear fashion, with the cardigan suit being his specialty. His friendship and working relationship with Nancy Reagan, who he first met in the mid-1960s, led to him dressing the First Lady for both of Ronald Reagan’s presidential inaugurations and other formal events.

Known for designing with knits, Adolfo’s creations emphasized adaptability and lightness, inspired by the clothing of Chanel. While various contemporaries typically pointed at Adolfo as copying Chanel, the designer disagreed:

In May 1993, Adolfo closed his salon at 36 East 57th Street (building demolished) to concentrate on his licensing businesses and to help care for Perry, who was terminally ill. Perry died a year later. While retired, Adolfo maintained interest in his licensed businesses and moved out of his Fifth Avenue duplex in 2014. According to fashion historian Laird Borrelli-Persson, even after his death in November 2021, Adolfo was still recognized as an exceptional designer who “prioritized the needs of his clients, presenting them with uncomplicated and conservative looks that were comfortable and always chic.”

Entry by Andrés Santana-Miranda, project consultant (December 2025).

NOTE: Names above in bold indicate LGBT people.