Bringing Down the House & Garden

(NEW YORK) Another one bites the dust. Condé Nast announced Monday morning that House & Garden magazine will cease publication with its December 2007 issue. Charles H. Townsend, president and CEO of Condé Nast Publications, said the Web site, houseandgarden.com, will be shut down as well.

The closure came as a shock to many but others say it was inevitable. "With the unexpected departure of the publisher of the magazine, we decided to take a serious look and re-evaluate the title," Mr. Townsend said. "Our investment in House & Garden throughout the years has been substantial and we no longer believe it is a viable business investment for the company."

The corporation continues to maintain a viable share of shelter and lifestyle magazines with Architectural Digest, Domino, and Vogue Living.  But it seems Condé Nast is concentrating on the Vogue brand as Vogue Living will increase its frequency in 2008--it sounds similar to what happened in the fall of 2004, when, immediately after purchasing YM from Gruner + Jahr, the magazine giant promptly announced that it was killing YM with the December/January issue and converting its subscribers to Teen Vogue readers. Are we about to see a huge jump in the Vogue Living subscription base?

A spokesman remarked, "We have confirmed that we will produce two new issues of Vogue Living in 2008 and at this time we have not finalized our plans regarding the circulation for House & Garden being distributed with other titles at CNP."