Fantasy in Decoration VII

Tony Duquette

RR Corniche 

Billy Baldwin AD

Mary Wells Lawrence, Great Book!

Mary Wells Lawrence

La Villa Fiorentina when the Lawrences owned it

Mr. Baldwin's role in Mrs. Lawrence's domestic education was inestimable. ''Billy was very naughty, but so amusing,'' she said. ''He'd say things like: 'You don't know anything about this -- I'm going to tell you how to do it. This is how you sit in this chair. This is how you eat at this table.' He'd tell us how to live in a certain room. He thought dining rooms were boring, and you should eat everywhere.''

Blonde beach boy

Nantucket

Mr. Baldwin had already left for Nantucket, the secretary said, when my chaperone for my grand tour, Robert Morring, an antiques dealer from Atlanta, phoned his office.  So, we left our hotel and went to a very smart party at the Sutton Place apartment of Joseph Braswell~ this was back in 1977 or so...three years later I was back from Europe, and living in Manhattan, studying interior design with the old Parsons faculty !  My life was terribly exciting, dangerous even~

Billy Baldwin

New painted brick masonry, made to look old

I adore the fantasy look of this house~ A lot of the older homes in Winston-Salem, where I grew up, look like this one- only with more vines attached.  
When Mary Berg, later to become famous as Mary Wells Lawrence, was growing up in the small town of Poland, Ohio (near Youngstown) she had a recurring dream about a white house perched on a cliff above an ocean~ thirty-five years later she purchased La Villa Fiorentina, on the French Riviera and spent the next thirty years entertaining there.  
But it was ten years of work before she got to spend even a two week holiday in the house, since she had become the top advertising executive in the United States, as head of Wells, Rich, Greene. (NYSE)  I've always been intrigued by her Pygmalion-like success story.  Inspiring!  Cheers!  DF *****

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Designer Scrapbook, March 2014

My original Albert Hadley sketch (a gift)

I once was spending some time with my friend, the late, iconic, designer, Albert Hadley, and had the utter audacity to bring along a box of samples and things that I had been collecting for some future personal residence (of mine)...I even brought a floor plan of a place I had been thinking of moving in to !

Albert (shown above) was kind enough to look at what I brought- and liked most of it- although he did say that he felt there were better models of the faux french chair I had selected.  He was so wonderful to make this quick sketch for me- which I've kept all these years.  I adore this Wilbur Pippin photograph of AH.  

The iconic, society decorator, Billy Baldwin, above, was a friend of Albert's- and helped him along in his career as well.  I almost got to meet Mr. Baldwin, when I was on my way to London for my grand tour- however he had already left Manhattan for his beloved Nantucket.  Instead, I was whisked away to a very chic party in the Sutton Place apartment of the designer Joseph Braswell. 

Here's the famous former Rory Cameron La Fiorentina drawing room, after Billy Baldwin and Charles Sevigny re-decorated it for the advertising guru, Mary Wells Lawrence.  It's one of my all time favorites, although I've never seen it in person, and it's been dismantled.  Read The Devoted Classicist, by John Tackett, for more on this.  I DID once see Ms. Lawrence when I was walking towards Fifth Avenue, in New York.  A classic Mercedes was pulling out of the garage and she was driving it!  Her blond hair was in a meticulous coif, and she was wearing a cashmere twin set with pearl necklace, and diamond earrings.  She was absolutely stunning.

Carolina Irving, who was a friend of my Parish-Hadley mentor (Tice Alexander) has a line of fabrics, and I really like this one- Andaluz Viola - a linen hand print.  Reminds me of Fortuny and Groves Brothers...She and I got to know each other through Tice, and I've always admired her chic and style.  Carolina just signed on to be the creative director for Oscar de la Renta Home.  Check out her site here

  

Sister Parish was Albert's business partner and muse.  I always think of her as sitting on a white damask sofa- sipping a stiff cocktail.  They say she was wicked, and loved to have a good time.  I was shown two of her offices, and still haven't gotten over them.  They were very pretty, immaculate, very organized, and very smart.  You know you're not in Kansas anymore when the only thing they have by their desk (writing table) is a multi line phone and the latest copy of the New York Social Register.  (aka the blue book) -on a small "telephone table"- It was her phone book, you see.  Pink was her color.  The same shade as the old fashioned roses she must have had in Maine.  I'm sure that is correct.  Yes, Mrs. Parish.

     

Oh, and while we're on the subject of pink, and Sister, here's a collage I made of my own "dear Billy" in his madras shirt.  I recall I took this picture on the day he agreed to work with me - and it was a very happy day indeed.  I pay him with jelly beans.  He only works if and when he feels like it.  I'm so fortunate to have him in my life.  Thanks William!  Cheers!  Enjoy!  DF *****

Maquette for My New Living Room

Maquette for Dean

Here, you can see the maquette, or model, also known in Italian as a "macchietta"- which is the elevations taken from the sketched furniture plan, shown in yesterday's post.  Parsons School of Design students (interior design) were taught how to make these for many years- and luckily for me, I inherited the old PSOD faculty when I attended the Fashion Institute, in New York.  We had originally planned to have lacquered aubergine walls, but have opted to go with a satin finish in a mushroom colour called "Victorian Garden" by Benjamin Moore.  

My former "Living Room"

Above, you can see the new sofa, which I plan to use (see south elevation) but am deciding whether to use the same art with pair porcelains on brackets above it, or switch back to the "Versailles" gold sunburst mirror...what do you think?  (I have it sketched in above, in maquette)

 Above, the sunburst above my old settee- which now is planned to go on the east elevation (see maquette) -flanked with the granny smith apple green velvet painted oval back armchairs...

Spanish Louis XV style from Albert

This rug is still being considered

One can never have enough "Louis" !

And I think I will use the new painted jute rug- from Poetic Wanderlust, by Tracy Porter (see my earlier post on Tracy). See the furniture plan sketch in yesterday's post.  The teal and gilt painted armchair from Albert will look stunning with the casual Elizabeth Eakins meets Alan Campbell jute rug- !

Notice the Louis XV mantel, above, from famous Villa La Fiorentina- this was probably our inspiration (how iconic!) for the north elevation- and while I don't have such a grand ceiling height to work with (quel horreur!) I think it will add a wonderful bit of "architecture" to the room- and I feel that if Mrs. Parish had a "faux" fireplace in her Manhattan office, then so can I !  I LOVE the blue and white porcelain garniture on this mantel, and John Tackett, from the Devoted Classicist, posted the set when it sold- it went for a song- I still don't have a picture yet of our new mantel- but it's a Florentine piece, in a rich walnut finish with some gilding on the carvings- if we don't like the finish we can always paint it out- like AH did to the marble one in his cottage here- but I think the somewhat gaudy look will work with our pair of olive suede Louis XV style armchairs...stay tuned for more updates to come!  Cheers!  DF *****