Architectural Digest 07 2008

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THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE OF DESIGN juNE 2008

American CountryHouses

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American Country Houses 118 Ted Turner

On His Armendaris Ranch Wild Animal Preserve, the Media Magnate Builds a Lodge in Tune with the Land Architecture by Chris Carson, faia Interior Design by Laura Hunt Text by Gerald Clarke Photography by Robert Reck

131 InvokIng an Ideal Romanticized Forms Pay Homage to Southern Architectural Traditions in a Historic Landscape Architecture by Ike Kligerman Barkley Interior Design by Rene OLeary Text by Joseph Giovannini Photography by Durston Saylor

140 deer CabIn reverIe On the Wooded Shore of Flathead Lake, a One-Room Hideaway Celebrates Authentic Camp Living Interior Design by Mimi London Text by Peter Haldeman Photography by David O. Marlow

150 SeaSIde SanCTuary A Cluster of Cottages on Marthas Vineyard Defines Simplicity and Charm Renovation Architecture by Joseph W. Dick, aia Text by Jean Strouse Photography by Richard Mandelkorn

158 Inner dIreCTed Modern Pieces Bring a Former Barn into the 21st Century Interior Design by S. Russell Groves Text by Michael Frank Photography by Scott Frances

Cover: A shingled cot-tage on Marthas Vine-yard. Photography by Richard Mandelkorn. See page 150. above rIghT: The portale of the lodge on Ted Tur-ners Armendaris Ranch in New Mexico. Archi-tect Chris Carson de-signed the buildings, and Laura Hunt did the interiors. See page 118.

June 2008

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American folk art is displayed in the great room of a New Jersey house. See page 170.

170 CapTurIng TradITIonS Georgian Details and a Collection of Americana Lend a Period Feel to a New Residence Architecture by Patrick J. Burke Interior Design by David Guilmet of Bell-Guilmet Associates Text by Penelope Rowlands Photography by Durston Saylor

180 one FooT In The preSenT Reshaping the Ranch Aesthetic at the Base of the Grand Teton Architecture by Celeste Robbins, aia Interior Design by Berta Shapiro Text by Jeff Turrentine Photography by Steve Hall/Hedrich Blessing

190 proud herITage A 200-Year-Old Barn Is Born Again as a Designers Own Coastal Retreat Architectural and Interior Design by Ellen Denisevich-Grickis Text by Steven M. L. Aronson Photography by Richard Mandelkorn

198 FarmhouSe abSTraCTIon A Recreational Outbuilding Mirrors Its Bucolic Setting Architecture by Paul F. Shurtleff, aia Interior Design by Thad Hayes Landscape Architecture by Reed Hilderbrand Text by Joseph Giovannini Photography by Scott Frances

In rural Connecticut, a rebuilt barn has been transformed into a comfortable family re-treat. See page 158.


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26 leTTerS

34 ConTrIbuTorS

42 deSIgn noTebook: an anThology oF Folk In Upstate New York, a Collection Finds a Home in a Reinvented 18th-Century Barn Architecture by Robertson & Landers Text by John Loring Photography by Peter Aaron/Esto

58 arT noTebook: naTIve beauTIeS Eugene V. Thaw on His Extraordinary Compilation of North American Indian Works By Steven M. L. Aronson

70 hoTelS: San ySIdro ranCh Charting the Remarkable Renovation of a Storied Southern California Landmark Restoration Architecture by Appleton & Associates Text by Peter Haldeman Photography by Mary E. Nichols

82 dISCoverIeS by deSIgnerS Architectural Digests Editors Present Designers Sources

90 deSIgn noTebook: a WInnIng deSIgn For oSCar Architectural Digests Green Room at the Academy Awards Interior Design by Carleton Varney of Dorothy Draper & Company Text by Kelly Vencill Sanchez Photography by Mary E. Nichols

Finds for collectors: an 1880s game board (page 149) and a life-size wood goat of the same vintage (page 188).

96 deSIgn noTebook: SpreadIng ouT In SanTa Fe The Sprawling Rancho Alegre Rekindles the Spirit of the American West in New Mexico Architecture by Bill Tull Text by Peter Haldeman Photography by Robert Reck

106 eSTaTeS For Sale: edITorS SeleCT properTIeS around The World California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Florida

208 ad dIreCTory A Listing of the Architects, Designers and Hotels Featured in This Issue

JuNE 2008Volume 65, Number 6

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THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE OF DESIGN

VOLUME 65/NUMBER 6



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Special kudos to Robert

A. M. Stern for his proj-

ect in Seaside, Florida

(Making a Splash in

Seaside, April 2008).

I have always admired

the Greek Revival style for its clarity, economy and

elegance. Mr. Stern proves that the classical vocab-

ulary continues to be fresh, clever and pertinent to

contemporary life. To see such quality of design ex-

ecuted on a smaller scale was most encouraging.

Charles G. Dobbs Hackettstown, New Jersey

coastal retreatI always enjoy my monthly copy of Archi-tectural Digest, but the April issue may be my favorite yet. In particular, I admired Robert A. M. Sterns take on a Florida beach cottage. He brought an interest-ing and unique architectural perspective to what is a pretty standard exterior and floor plan on the southeastern coast. (The single column supporting the porch roof really catches the eye.) The detail of the wood on the walls, ceilings and floors makes this house exceptionally warm, in-viting and period in feeling, which can be difficult to instill in a brand-new house.Mark riffle ColuMbus, ohio

refuge from rockMeat Loafs house was just enchanting (At Home with Meat Loaf, April). Sim-plicity and comfort are reflected in every picture. How refreshing to hear that he leaves rock and roll on the road.Jean livingston little roCk, arkansas

once upon a timeThe Washington, D.C., home by Jos Sols Betancourt (A Capital Respect for the Past, April) was like something out of a fairy tale. The vines covering the brick exterior, the rich wood-paneled library with a roaring firethe memento mori painting above the fire was a perfect fit.viCtoria brown saCraMento, California

a second chanceYears ago I visited friends living in Co-penhagen, and I avoided going to Tivoli Gardens, thinking it was a tourist trap. Of course, these days Im kicking myself for the foolish mistake. After seeing Harry Bensons Tivoli Gardens in the Books column (April), I ordered a copy online right away. I know youre not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but if the im-age on the front is any indication of the contents, this book should hold me until I make it back to Denmark.MarCus sMith atlanta, georgia

sea BreezesThe La Jolla, California, residence by Wallace Cunningham was visually stun-ning (Attuned to the View, April). My favorite part of the house was the master suites lounge, which looks straight out to the ocean. And those windowsI know I would have them open all day long.nathan Moore seattle, washington

spring flingThe March 2008 issue is a great testa-ment to ADs range. What other maga-zine could have the traditional White House as its cover and then include such an antithetical design as that of Grey-stoke Mahalethe beach resort in Tan-zaniaor the progressive, clean look of the Foster + Partners house on the coast of Japan (A Japanese Modernism)? AD truly sticks to what it has always known: great design of all shapes and sizes.tiM hartwell houston, texas

touching on traditionIan Lambots photographs really cap-ture the essence of the Sagami Bay house (A Japanese Modernism). The bright rooms bathed in sunlight as well as the Japanese references, like Norman Fosters interpretation of shoji screens, succeed in mating the classic with the modern. The colors are also minimalist but effec-tive, again staying true to an authentic Japanese style. It is an intriguing bayside home, indeed.DaviD korgan Charlotte, north Carolina

mellow yellowThe idyllic Tortuga Bay (Hotels, March) would be a relaxing vacation spot for any-one. Every window at the resort seems to have an ocean view, and the canary yel-low on the walls must serve as a constant reminder that youre on vacation. I also liked reading that the designers used ma-terials from the area. It supports local ar-tisans while at the same time giving each of the villas a sense of belonging.JaniCe garza Carson City, nevaDa


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The editors invite your comments, suggestions and criticisms. Letters to the editor should include the writers name, address and daytime phone number and be sent by e-mail to

[email protected] or by mail to Letters, Architectural Digest, 6300 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90048. Letters may be edited for length and clarity and may be published or otherwise reused in any medium.

All submissions become the property of the publication and will not be returned.

in-flight entertainmentThe 727 with the interiors by Craig Wright (Engines Away! February 2008) reflects the good old days of flying, when taking a flight meant dressed-up passengers and luxury. The flowers and the ice sculpture are nice touches. Im sure there arent any baggage restrictions for flights on this plane.Jennifer Cooper albuquerque, new MexiCo

french connectionThe Toronto home in your January 2008 issue (All in the Details) was simple and graceful. Designers David Powell and Fenwick Bonnell created a house that looked as if it had been transported from Paris. The room that stood out the most for me was the dining room. What a beautiful picture of the doors opening up onto the elegant and airy room. I can imagine that a meal in there includes great conversation and, of course, a good glass of wine.Daphne peterson palM beaCh, floriDa

international delightWhile perusing the January issue, I came across the Kenyan retreat of Elizabeth Warner (Making a Home in Africa). Although the entire residence appealed to me, I was especially taken with the great room. The French doors let in an abundance of light that shows off even the smallest of details, like the geometric pattern on the area rug. Everything from the brightly colored sofa throws to the in-tricate trunk and wood table reflects Ms. Warners fine taste as well as her interna-tional upbringing.gail beCk baltiMore, MarylanD

all-time favoriteThe January issue has to be my choice for best cover photo ever. Dramatic and ex-otic all at once, it is simply perfect.Joel Davis st. louis, Missouri

a head startIm 16 years old and have aspired to be an architect from a very early age. Last year my mother bought me a subscrip-tion to Architectural Digest as a Christmas gift. Since then I have found so much inspiration for my own amateur designs in your magazine. I found the Designers Tell All interviews in the January edition to be exceptionally beneficial to me and my aspirations. During the few months I have been receiving the magazine, I have visited many breathtaking places in the world through the pages of Architectural Digest. The articles help define my tastes, preferences and dislikes. Your magazine will help me prepare to be a great archi-tect before I even finish college. I plan on having a vast library of Architectural Digests in the future.niCholas ratCliff bristol, virginia

helping a first-timerThank you so much for your Design-ers Tell All section in the January issue. I recently bought my first home and have been completely overwhelmed with dec-orating tasks. The color and home office features were particularly useful. Who better to help me through this process than a panel of AD 100 designers?lynn stoCkton portlanD, oregon

prints of the pastRecently, after I purchased a Japanese print, I was reading past issues of AD when I came across the article Art: Japa-nese Woodblock Prints. This April 1979 story helped me to identify both the art-ist and date of my print. Thank you for a magazine that is timeless.riCharD balDwin albany, new york

A Toronto dining room designed by Powell & Bonnell (All in the Details, January 2008).

Letters

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Our June issue has long been one of our favorites. Poring over photographs of country houses prompts us to yearn for at least one of them. A shingled cottage overlooking the sea on Marthas Vine-yard. A contemporary lodge nestled in Wyomings Grand Teton valley. A former barn in Connecticut with modern interiors. A rus-tic cabin on a lake in Montana. A 1,000-acre Virginia horse farm. A

Territorial-style ranch house in New Mexico (owned by media mogul Ted Turner). Whether its used on the weekends or as a full-time residence, whether its whimsical, classic or awe-inspiring, each offers its own perspective on the American country house ideal. Weve been publishing this issue each June for years now, and each year we are surprised and delighted by the multifaceted creations brought to us by architects, designers and homeowners.

In this issue youll also find Ty Warners architectural restoration of the legendary San Ysidro Ranch hotel in Santa Barbara, California; a chat with Eugene Thaw about his ex-traordinary collection of Native American artworks; and an exclusive look at the Architectural Digest Green Room that Carleton Varney created for the 80th Academy Awards in the unfor-gettable style of the late, great Dorothy Draper.

To look at some of the country houses weve published in the past, go to our Web site, www.ArchitecturalDigest.com. You can search for residences in particular locations and view slide shows. While youre there, be sure to check out the latest designs chosen by our senior staff at our most recent Open Auditions. And dont forget Design for Sale, where you can find out about items available from our AD 100 designers signature linesand objects from their personal collections. Well see you soon on our Web site.

Paige Rense, Editor-in-Chief

robert reck (Ted Tur-ner, page 118; Design Note-book: Spreading Out in Santa Fe, page 96). Albuquerque, New Mexicobased Robert Recks as-signments for this months issue kept him in his home stateand in the shadows of media tycoons. Besides shooting Rancho Alegre,

the late R. Michael Kammerer, Jr.s Santa Fe compound, contributing photographer Reck ventured to Ted Turners Armendaris Ranch, which looks out to the Fra Cristobal Mountains. There he caught up with Turner, whom he had never met (although he had shot his Vermejo Park Ranch [see Architectural Digest, June 2005], also in New Mexico, a few years before), and took his portrait. Turner, he says, was very gra-cious. Passionate about environmental issues, he is deeply concerned with energy consumption and conservation. His house is wonderful and totally appropriate for the site. Also there was designer Laura Hunt, who took him on a tour around the ranch. We came upon a herd of antelope, and, as a result of her skillful driving, I was able to get a great shot of them running through the desert, he remembers.

jean strouse (Seaside Sanctu-ary, page 150). Contributing writer Jean Strouse has been traveling to Marthas Vineyard since her col-lege days (I love it in all seasons, she confides), and she found it a particu-lar pleasure to interview Roseline and Bill Glazer, who bought and renovated a ramshackle cottage on the island. From an early descrip-tion of the Glazers views, I could tell exactly where the house would be, she says. The location is truly

spectacular. And she adds: Talking with Roseline Glazer was a de- light. She cares about every inchevery floorboard, every plant, every cedar shingleof her property, and she loves telling stories about the entire long-term project. Asked if she would ever tackle a similar renovation, Strouse admits, The idea of finding property in a perfect spot, with structures that need rescue and reimagining, has always greatly appealed to me. I havent acted on the idea, though at least not yet.


Contributors


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steven M. L. aronson (Proud Heri-tage, page 190; Art Notebook: Native Beau-ties, page 58). When I drove up to see the Thaw collection of North American Indian art in Cooperstown, New York, says contrib-uting writer Steven M. L. Aronson, I made it a point to take along my American water spaniel. His previous owner hadwith great expectationsnamed him Hawkeye after the tracker in James Fenimore Coopers Last

of the Mohicans (only to give the dog the boot when he stubbornly refused to hunt), and the Thaw collection happens to be housed in a museum on the site of Coopers original homestead. The director there graciously had my own Hawkeye photographed for me on the very grounds where Coopers Hawkeye was conceived. The Thaw collection turned out to be a revelationwhat those Native Americans managed to do with a little clay, some birch bark or a bunch of porcupine quills was nothing short of a wonder to behold.

david o. MarLow (Deer Cabin Reverie, page 140). Its very Montana and real. You just want to stoke the fire, grab a book and lie down on the couch, contributing photographer David O. Marlow says of the cabin that Mimi Lon-don, with whom he has frequently worked, designed for Connie and Martin Stone. She fixed it up but retained its character and didnt make it fancy. Mimi is so versatile that she can pull off anything. She just hit a home run. Marlow was especially delighted by a few London touches: a powder room that con-sists of a mirror tied to a tree, and feed sacks and hay bales that serve as outdoor seating. He also had a great time getting to know Connie Stone, a fellow golf enthusiast. At the moment, Marlow is in the midst of book projects for David Easton and Craig Wright.

john Loring (Design Notebook: An Anthology of Folk, page 42). When period structures are renovated, re-stored or repurposed, often the experience of the building is lost. You dont have the spirit of what it was before, laments contrib-uting writerand Tiffanys de-sign directorJohn Loring. So it was gratifying for Loring to see the care actor Jim Dale and his wife, gallery owner Julie

Dale, and architect Malcolm Robertson took in turning an 18th-centu-ry barn into a country house in upstate New York. Their work doesnt deny the past of the building, says Loring. His next book, Tiffany Style, is due out in November from publisher Harry N. Abrams.

steve haLL (One Foot in the Present, page 180). I never felt like I could touch a view quite the way I could there, photographer Steve Hall says of the vistas from the windows in a Wyoming ranch house by Celeste Robbins. Hall, who has shot projects by the archi-tect for 12 years, points out that his fellow Chicagoan was able to fluidly integrate her brand of clean, timeless modernism, which

runs through her other work into the residence. She kept it simple and beautiful, he says. Halls photographs appear in the monograph Ross Barney Architects: Process + Projects, from Images Publishing.

peneLope rowLands (Capturing Traditions, page 170). Contributing writer Penelope Rowlands sees an inherent paradox in a New Jersey house by architect Patrick J. Burke and designer David Guilmet for a couple with a lifelong interest in antiques. At first glance, its a Georgian-inspired coun-try house, within which is a museum-worthy collection of antiques and thoughtful details, including wings off the main structure built to appear as if they were later additions and a Palladian window on the second floor copied from an 18th-century example. On closer inspection, however, the resi-dence is modernits very open and light, notes Rowlands. Things flow perfectly.

richard MandeLkorn (Seaside Sanctuary, page 150; Proud Heritage, page 190). Shooting a restored barn in Rhode Is-land was a uniquely poignant experience for Richard Mandelkorn. I grew up in a barn in the hills of western Connecticut, in Litch-field County, says the photographer, whose bedroom, from ages 10 to 18, was in what had been the hayloft. Mandelkorn has fond memories of the place, located on the high

side of a valley at the end of a dirt road. Snow would rip down the val-ley. When the wind blew, the timbers would rattle, he recalls. Three-quarters of it was living space and open to the roof, with a fireplace at one end. Though the geography was different, Mandelkorn saw plenty of similarities between his childhood house and the restored barn El-len Denisevich-Grickis and her husband, Bill Grickis, use as a summer residence. It had the same sort of feelopen up to the ceiling, with rough-hewn beams. Its built by hand, and you can see the cut of the ax. It takes me home.

Contributors


Whether creating a handsome and generously pro-portioned country retreat out of a mid-18th-century barn skeleton of massive 40-foot hand-hewn beams or collect-ing works of folk art made from bottle caps, Popsicle sticks, pottery shards or sim-ply twigs, Julie and Jim Dalerespectively the owner of Julie Artisans Gallery in Manhattan

An Anthology of FolkIn Upstate New York, a Collection Finds a Home in a Reinvented 18th-Century BarnArchitecture by Robertson & Landers/Text by John Loring/Photography by Peter Aaron/Esto

Rather than build an entirely new house, actor Jim Dale and his wife, Julie, a gallery owner, opted to re-assemble the skeleton of a mid-18th-century barn on their upstate New York property. They worked with Malcolm Robertson, of Robertson and Landers Architects, to make it into a peaceful retreat.

and the popular British actor and comedian known for his roles in the Carry On films and as the voice of the Harry Potter audiobooksare fine-tuned to the alluring charms of craft. They are keenly aware of art, objects, furnishings and, of course, architecture that transform the most humble materials into works of great personality and beauty.

Their odyssey in upstate

New York began in 1989 with the purchase of an 89-acre tract of woodlands with a 30- acre lake. A hilltop overlooking the lake was selected as the site to relocate the re-mains of a 250-year-old barn. After a fire destroyed the barn before it could be moved, they were fortunate enough to find another, from the same period and with the same footprint, continued on page 44

Design Notebook


that would become the core of a rural haven.

A 40-by-40-foot barn can-not, of course, accommodate a family, but the Dales wanted to keep the barns integrity. To preserve the way a barn should be, Jim Dale explains, you build rooms on the outside, not on the inside. Conversions quite often divide a barn into various rooms and end up with a house rather than a barn. So an architect was hired to make the barn into living spaces and to design a two-story wing on either side.

The chosen architect, Mal-

colm Robertson, of Robert-son & Landers Architects, is, like Jim Dale, from the north of England and possesses, as does Dale, a very British love of country life coupled with an innate feel for the seamless in-tegration of structure and set-ting. His youth in the unspoiled land around Newcastle upon Tyne bred an instinctive aes-thetic sense. My architecture initiates from intuitions that I then pursue, he explains.

That such a famous film and musical comedy star as Jim Dale and his architect saw eye to eye on the barn con-

Craft and folk art fill the residence. Above: Brightly hued ki-lims and a wearable art piece by Jean Williams Cacicedo, hang-ing above the fireplace, provide color and delineate spaces in the soaring great room. Of the layout, Julie Dale explains, We wanted to keep it true to its original function. Right: A striped rug by Leza McVey is on the floor of the west balcony.

continued from page 42


Design Notebook


get some light, as you do in a cathedrallight penetrating to flood into the volumeso there are a number of small windows, which, unless youre 20 feet tall, youre not going to be able to look out from.

The building completed, the Dales turned their attention to the interiors. In furnishing the barn proper, our first challenge was to adjust our ideas about scale, recalls Julie Dale. For the great room, we needed to think big. We started with large kilims to define areas of use and to hang on the gable ends to add color and softness to the masculine structure. Then rus- continued on page 48

We had spent many years antiquing in England and elsewhere and shifted gears to focus on the American folk markets.

continued from page 44version had much to do with their shared sympathy for the authentic. Were born with it in our DNA, Jim Dale states.

Actor and architect agreed that using the old barn as the heart of the house would be the guide for the project. We maintained the 18th-century flair in terms of massing and in an aesthetic that was relatively subdued, Robertson observes. The barn, rather than archi-tectural details, was always to be the dominant force. The windows are small, which is in line with the 18th century. However, in the central 40- foot-high space, we needed to

Above: Tucked under the roof, the mezzanine serves as a seat-ing area. Mixed with the set of rattan furniture are wood wheel models and a clowns head garbage lid, possibly from Luna Park on Coney Island. Left: An antique penny rug is between windows in the master bedroom. The bolster is by Mario Rivoli, an artist Julie Dale represents at her gallery.

Design Notebook


tic furniture created for old Adirondack camps set the tone. We had spent many years an-tiquing in England and else-where and now shifted gears to focus on the American folk markets. As the interior per-sonality of the barn unfolded, we found that the wings took on a more playful folk attitude, while the barn proper became more camplike.

Of the trove of objects that now fills the house, Jim Dale notes, Weve collected many things made by country people who used their hands to create something wonderful out of even the cheapest things. Dur-ing the 1930s, when people had no money, they took a cap off a bottle and realized they at least had a bottle cap to work with, and they could use the cork from the inside of the cap to create something else. Those country people were real art-ists. We began with one or two bottle-cap figures or cork boxes, and before we knew it, there was a collection.

Reflecting on the project, Jim Dale muses: It is our hope that the barn will be around for a long time to come, to show future generations what an original settlers barn looked

like before conversion to a three-bedroom house. It sits surrounded by flower beds overlooking the lake, no satel-lite dish to spoil the picture, all telephone and electrical cables buried underground, its now-faded red stain giving one the impression the barn has been there forever. We hope it will be. l

Above: Planters, vases and tables decorated with pot-tery shards enliven the screen porch. The wicker and metal pieces of furniture are vintage finds. Lin-ing a wall are English Art Nouveau tiles.

beLow: The south faade. Robertson added a wing on either side of the barn but maintained, says Jim Dale, as much as possible of the barns spirit. be-Low Left: Julie and Jim Dale on the propertys 30- acre lake. Great pains have been taken to keep the lake edge natural and undisturbed, notes Julie Dale.

Design Notebook



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Native BeautiesEugene V. Thaw on His Extraordinary Compilation of North American Indian WorksBy Steven M. L. Aronson

there should be buses leaving ev-ery 15 minutes from every terminal and beating a path to the door of the fenimore art museum in up-state new yorkthat collection you gave them is something that no one who loves art can afford to miss. i was fascinated to see that a lot of the 800 arrestingly beautiful objects on hand are util-itarian, relating to warfare and hunting and harvesting and feast-ing. and a fair number of them, i learned, are incontestably the best of their kindmilestones of american indian inventiveness. ev-ery region and category of north american indian material culture is represented, from prehistory to present day. how long did it take you to put all this together? This was what I call my whirlwind collec-tionits been estimated that I bought one piece every four days for 10 years.

when exactly did you promise it to the museum?In the early 90s, and on the strength of that promise they went ahead and built an 18,000-square-foot wing to accommodate it all, whichI have to hand it to themgoes very nicely with the neo-Georgian architecture of their circa 1930 main build-ing. Its right on the site of James Fenimore Coopers original farmhouse, on the shores of the lake that he gave the name Glim-merglass in a couple of his frontier novels. The real name of the lake is Otsego, which in Iroquoisand the entire Cooperstown area was once Iroquois countrymeans roughly a place to come together by the water. When the wing opened in 1995,


A Nez Perce horse mask, circa 18751900, features horsehair, feathers, glass beads and brass buttons.

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the Tadodaho himselfthe speaker of the chiefs of the whole six-tribe Iroquois Confederacygave the thanksgiving ad-dress. Then another one of the chiefs did the Tree of Peace planting, speaking and singing something in Mohawk and then translating it at length into English. In the heat of a brutal summer day there in up-state New York, people began to collapse and faint, but when the chief saw all the swooning, he pointed out, You know, this is just the short versionthe regular way takes four days.

how did you get into indiani mean, you of all people, whose thing has always famously been old-master paintings and drawings? Well, I retired from the business of art way back in 1986. I had simply lost the joy of itart had turned from connoisseurship into monetary value, or future monetary value, and become terribly cheapened in the process. And since then, of course, the dynamism of that aspect of the art world has increased exponentially, which is even more dispiriting. I had just enough money to retire gracefully and do what I wantedand the market was strong, so I also made a little money. And I had my charitable foundation in New Mexico to keep me busy, which Id created from the sale of a single painting I owned that had been on loan to the Frick for several yearsVan Goghs upright Flowering Garden. Theres a horizontal Flowering Garden, too. Thats in the museum in The Hague.

how did you ever end up in new mexico?I was asked to appraise the art in the Geor-gia OKeeffe estatethey wanted some-one who was not in the OKeeffe market yet knowledgeable enough to do the job. So I went down there in April of 86, the month after she died, and my wife, Clare, and I soon decided to buy a house in Santa Fe. I wanted to be too far away from New York to be able to commute there easily, and this was ideally that far. And ideal in other ways, toothe mountain vistas were supernally beautiful. And then, because Im someone who needs to have something to collect, I began to look for a project where I could continue to exercise my eyego on using it to distinguish better from worse and then the definitively best from the better. I was seeking an outlet for my collecting energies, you could say.

had you ever bought an american indian object before?No, although I remember being bowled over by Ren dHarnoncourts Indian Art of the United States exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art when I was a teenager1941, I think that was.

at least you picked a place to settle in that didnt suffer from a lack of galleries.But the art they were selling in Santa Fe was terrible! Tourist art, for the most part. There were a few dealers in traditional Native American around, but you really had to know what you were doing, and to that end I quickly sought out my old acquaintance Ralph Coe, who had relo-cated to Santa Fe. He was someone I had done business with when he was the direc-tor of the great Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas CityId sold him that famous Monet that was in the first Im-pressionist exhibition of 1874, Boulevard des Capucines. Anyway, Ted knew his way around American Indian art as both collector and scholarhe had, after all, organized the Sacred Circles bicenten-nial exhibition that covered 2,000 years of the stuff.

hes recounted how he advised you that there were great things to be had in this field that were the products of cultures as complete and rounded, and as challenging



above: The Tsimshian used carved and painted maple and abalone shell for a circa 184070 frontlet. right: An Ojibwa bandolier bag, circa 1870, is made of cot-ton, wool yarn, velvet and glass beads.

above: A circa 14501500 poly-chrome vessel was discovered at the Sikyatki pueblo in north-eastern Arizona in the 1960s.

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to a connoisseur, as any you might have dealt with. and around the same time, you told me, some other great authority called your at-tention to a diary entry made by drer in 1520 expressing his amaze-ment at the aztec featherwork that corts had sent back to charles v. did you get all fired up by any of this?I realized that I was going to have to see for myself. And, as always with me, aes-thetic quality would be the deciding fac-tor. I was determined to look at American Indian material as art, not ethnographyethnography would be the last consider-ation, in fact. You have to look at the ob-ject itself, separately and apart, and have it be the chief guide to its own being, as it were. Whatever status it might enjoy as an example of Native American lifeways, you have to evaluate it clearly and coldly as art and forget all about context, put ar-chaeology and anthropology totally aside. Which is why this collection reflects my aesthetic sensibility as surely as any of my others. Because what I ultimately discov-ered was that American Indian could hold its own with any art anywhereit could stand alongside Asian, African, Egyptian, European and Maori masterpieces.

youre saying that a great ameri-can indian object can be the equal of an old-master or impres-sionist painting or an object from antiquity?Oh, absolutely. And by the way, theyre priced like thatpretty much sonow. The market has changed a lotits less lively, there are fewer players, but the prices have gotten way out of line. The good things have really taken off. A mask that, when I began collecting, cost me $100,000a similar one went just now for $1.8 million. And in Paris, at the auction house Drouot, I spent around $375,000at the time the world-record price for an American Indian art objectfor an 18th-century Tlingit war helmet with a fantastic birds head carved in wood on top and a crest of bristly human hair that today would be bound to fetch well over a million.

how did you manage to refocus your so-called european eye?There are standard aesthetic principles that can be applied to the work of all civili-zations. An eye is an eye is an eye, whatever you train it on, and I was able to teach my-self to read the visual language of Indian art. Its all the same business, reallyof looking for quality, for depth of expres-

sion, for workmanship, craftsmanship, art-istry. Surface appearancepatinawas an important consideration, too, every bit as much as it would be in Greek and Roman or medieval art: the effect of wear on ivory or metal or copper after hundreds or thou-sands of years of handling. A lot of Indian art is fugitive and fragile. Weavings, for instance. And things that were done with porcupine-quill coloringtwo weeks in the light and they fade, so you want to try and find pieces where the colors not all washed out.

what was your first acquisition?Clare spotted an attractive Victorian bead-ed pillow sham in a local shop. It turned out to be of Athabascan originlater we found it reproduced in color in a cata-logue. Wed bought it for only $500. As it was emblazoned with the American flag, I decided to buy some more flag-embel-lished stuff to try to make that a theme: a pair of Sioux leggings, a beaded Sioux violin case from 1899, and on and on until we had over 50 objects. I became known in the trade as the flag man! It had just snowballedwed gotten excited by the fact that you could still find things, you know. Then I branched out and bought a wonderfully carved Makah mask, and

left: Buckskin, glass beads and tin cones distinguish a circa 1895 girls dress by the Teton Sioux. above: The Hurons in Que-bec made moccasins from black-dyed hide, moose hair and silk, 184753.


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that paved the way for many Northwest Coast purchases. And then an Aleutian Is-lands lidded basket that was just superbly workedso closely woven it could pass for linen. And a sensational Plateau horse mask with a clutch of red-shafted-flicker feathers on top and a mane of horsehair attached along the back. And then a mas-sive 18th-century eastern Great Lakes burl maple feast bowl that had been deacces-sioned from the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford. I was off and running.

where did you find all these things? Its a fairly small world, the world of the American Indian collectors and dealers, and your name gets out there. I began to acquire market recognition as someone who might want the great pieces that could surface at any time from God knows where. And also, some of my academic friends, experts in the field, would tip me off if something especially fine was coming up at auction. Id make up my own mind about whether or not to buy itit was my taste and my judgmentbut I did like to get recommendations.

I also compiled quite a library on the subject. And I visited museums all over the worldI told you, I was revved upto look at the greatest examples of things and learn major object types. The wonderful museum at the University of British Co-lumbia at Vancouver had an open-storage gallery where the part of its collection that was not on display was still visible to the

public, and later I proposed that the open storage in the Fenimore wing be modeled on that.

i guess one really has to know a field before one can own it. did your old dealer friends think you had taken leave of your aesthetic senses when you began collecting american indian in earnest?No, no, they understood that it wasnt bows and arrows I was collecting. Someone like Bill Acquavella, when I told him, said, Just make sure you end up having the best collection. And I like to think I did. The best collection formed in my generation, at any rate. What helped move it along in that direction was when I got the chance to buy a beautiful group of 14 Northwest Coast objects from the Chicago collector Stefan Edlis in the late '80s.

hes been in the news latelyfor selling warhols turquoise marilyn for $80 million to one of those bil-lionaire hedge-fund guys, and also for maybe being the anonymous buyer at auction of a $40 millionplus bacon self-portrait.Well, it was his Indian things certainly that put me in a different category. All of a sudden I was the owner of masterworks, major historic piecestake that Tsimshian frontlet headdress with the face of a thun-derbird and the nose thats all marvelously beaked and curled, or that Tlingit clan hat made of wood. Now thats a magnifi-

cent thing: There are sea lion whiskers set into the edge of the visor, abalone shell inlaid in the eyes and an ancestral-crest image of a bear with upright paws all sheathed in copper. As you can tell, Im more strongly drawn to objects that are sculptural, three-dimensionaland there the great Northwest Coast carvings and Eskimo masks take precedentthan I am, lets say, to beadwork and quilts and Plains material.

tell me about some of your other large-scale collecting coups.Another big one was a multimillion-dollar en-bloc purchase from the man who was without question the best private dealer in American Indian art, George Terasaki. Some of my greatest treasuresespecially, again, Northwest Coast, which is the high-est Indian artcame from him. He had an apartment on East 78th Street, right off Madison, in a building that at one time I operated out of the ground floor of, myself. He was difficult, but I was able to make packages of things a couple of times with himbuy a group of objects. Paying too much, of course, but not as much too much as hed originally wanted. These were marathon negotiating sessionswe wound up having to employ a go-between, who managed to get each of us to bend, George to come down enough and me to come up enough. But whatever the sting, it was worth it. How do you put a price, for instance, on something as unique as


above: Dat So La Lees 19045 basket is constructed of western redbud and bracken root. right: A Micmac wool, glass bead and silk pouch, circa 184050.

Collector, dealer, educator and philanthro-pist Eugene V. Thaw (above) amassed one of the worlds most important Native American art collections and then gave it to Coopers-town, New Yorks Fenimore Art Museum..

Art Notebook



an articulated raven mask where the carv-ing of the upper and lower mandibles and the delineation of the eyebrows are out of this world? Or a pipe that depicts in the most painstaking detail a large bear devouring a cadaverous shaman? Not to mention some incomparable bowls and staggeringly beautiful daggers.

And on the heels of this, I succeeded in buying another core collection: 17 Cana-dian Woodlands objects in mint condition, all of them bright and unfaded, including a pair of Micmac moccasins with moose-hair embroidery, and a birchbark canoe model with paddler. These came from the 11th Earl of Elginstraight out of a trunk full of artifacts in the attic of one of his castles in Scotland. His great-grandfather, the eighth earl, was governor general of Canada in the mid19th century and was given most of these things as presentation pieces by the Native peoples.

what made you decide to give all this precious, if not priceless, material away?Once it reached a certain masswhen I had about 300 pieces of high quality and our house was positively overflowing with the stuff, and I mean walls, drawers, floors, tabletops, bookshelveswe began trying to find the right home for it. Its final resting place, if you will. Clare and I were never comfortable with the idea of a lovingly assembled collection such as ours being dispersed at auction after we were gone. We decided to give it to the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown because their crown jewel, the Fenimore Art Museum, already had a considerable collection of folk art and American 19th century. Frankly, it would be hard to envision a more ideal destina-tion for itthe place had geographical, historical and, through James Fenimore Coopers epic novels, literary ties to the American Indian. And besides, we had maintained a large farm in the area our-selves for many years. The architect Hugh Hardy was chosen to do the winghed designed a building nearby for the Glim-merglass Opera, where I was on the board at the time.

and you continued collecting.And how! Up to this point we had col-lected only those objects that appealed to

us personally, but now that we were going public, so to speak, we had to broaden and expand, fill in the holes, buy the greatest examples from every region and period. So then I really went to townI went on a binge and bought far more strenuously than I had when I was buying merely for myself.

what sort of stuff did you buy?I added considerably to my southwest-ern holdings by acquiring the Santa Fe art dealer Gerald Peterss personal col-lection of Pueblo and Navajo weavings, among them a first-phase chiefs blanket of such quality that it would surely have cost as much as 50 horses when it was made. There was one that turned up onI dont know if you ever watch that stupid program on public televisionAntiques Roadshow. Somebody brought in a chiefs blanket that they just had sort of over a chair in their house, and they were flab-bergasted when they were informed that it was worth half a million dollars and that they had a national treasure. And then when I discovered that the Taylor Museum in Colorado Springs wanted to deaccession their Northwest Coast art in order to concentrate on the South-west, which was the area they served, I snapped it all up. This got me, among some other fine things, the famous Kwa- kiutl potlatch figure of a man gesturing with the index finger of his right hand and holding a copper shield against his chest with his left.

did you find any memorable masks?I did get my hands on a distinguished group of Eskimo specimens, including a couple of pairs of exquisite miniature fin-ger masks. The women, you see, werent permitted to dance barehanded when they petitioned the gods for things like abun-dance for the coming yearthey had to hold a mask in each hand. As part of the temptation for me to buy themand they were expensivethe hopeful seller pulled out a big French book of Eskimo masks that featured them, along with masks from the collection of Andr Breton, one of the founders of Surrealism. American Indian material was popular with the Surrealists, you knowMax Ernst and Paul luard also had important collections.


Art Notebook


did you manage to get hold of any great baskets?I have the most fantastic basket. I bought it from the grandson of a Pittsburgh steel magnate who had paid so much for it in 1914 that it made all the papers$1,400, believe me, was an unprecedented sum then for an Indian basket. Its Washoethats the tribeand it was woven, 30 stitches per linear inch, by Well, Lou-isa Keyser was her American nameher Native name was Dat So La Lee, which I was told means big hips. Shes the most famous Native basket weaver of North America, and this is her most famous basket, the most historically significant basket of her career. Its known as Beacon Lights. The design is a scatter pattern of crosses repeated in rows. The crosses symbolize light or heat, and the wavy lines around them rep-resent flamessupposedly to commemorate the big signal fires that the Washoes built in the mountains to call members of the tribe together in coun-cil from far and wide. A basket like that is worth over a million dollars today.

i was particularly enthralled by the bound book of dream drawings by the sioux chief black hawk.Thats a world masterpieceprobably as fine as any ledger book in existence. Id been looking for a long time for one of those complete books of an Indian draftsman. This one is from the 1880s and has depictions of Native social and religious life as well as studies of local natural history. Its all done in pencil and crayon in a flat pictographic style so unlike the tradition of Renaissance to modern drawing, which has shading and perspective

continued from page 66and all of that. It came up at Sothebys in 1994 and went for the second-highest price ever paid for Indian art at the timealmost $400,000. I was the underbidder. But when the buyer told me that he was go-ing to break the book up and sell the drawings separately, because that was the only way to recoup his investment, I of-fered him 10 percent profit, and he took it.

it says somewhere that you took great care to avoid anything directly associated with human remains.Yeah, on the grounds that anything involved with an actual physical burial should stay there. Where it belongs. Native Americans have asked many museums to return their skeletons to themalong with the goods that were found with them. And we have nothing like that. We werent going to shoot ourselves in the foot by having stuff like that.

did you keep anything back for yourself?I have a few baskets in the house, and one or two pieces of local pottery. Theyll even-tually go to the museum, too.

you will then have shared absolutely every-thing.Its the Indians, rather, who will havethey have so much to share with all of us. My hope has always been that the collection can serve as an in-spiration to carry respect for- ward. We are at the beginning of this chain, not the endand thats an optimistic place to be. l

Visit ArchitecturalDigest.com for the 10 Steven M. L. Aronson interviews with Eugene V. Thaw that have been published to date.

Art Notebook


Its the kind of place where people check in with their pugsregistering the little darlings as Jack and Jackie in the guest bookand where fellow guests will recognize both the dogs famous namesakes and the fact that the 35th Amer- ican president and his wife honeymooned here. Such is the lore surrounding the San Ysidro Ranch, a fairy-tale-pic-turesque resort in Santa Bar-bara, California, that was once owned by film star Ronald Colman, hosted the nuptials of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier and has inspired writ-ers from Somerset Maugham to Sinclair Lewis. San Ysidros 19th-century history as a citrus ranch only adds to the nostal-gia and romance that hover over the place like the scent of navel orange blossoms.

If, by the end of the 20th cen-tury, its historic stone build-

San Ysidro RanchCharting the Remarkable Renovation of a Storied Southern California LandmarkRestoration Architecture by Appleton & Associates/Text by Peter Haldeman/Photography by Mary E. Nichols

ings, storybook cottages and rambling gardens were be-ginning to look a little shabby, the ranch was beloved enough that visitors were willing to overlook its flaws. San Ysidro was sort of like everyones fa-vorite maiden aunt, the one with the good bones and the slightly ratty sweaters. In 2000 the property was purchased by Ty Warner, the so-called Beanie Baby billionaire, whose plans to renovate the place sparked concern among the faithful that any improve-ments would compromise its understated charms. They can breathe again. Auntie has emerged from a three-year, $150 million face-liftand, frankly, she looks amazing.

Warner interviewed a num-ber of architects for the job, but its hard to imagine a more likely candidate than Marc

Purchased by Ty Warner in 2000, San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara, Cali-fornia, has undergone a three-year renovation by architect Marc Appleton. My vision was to make the needed improvements without changing its in-nate character, says Warner. Above: Appleton opened up the reception cottage, called the Hacienda, to the surrounding garden. Right: Olive trees and lavender line the new entrance drive.


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Appleton. Appleton, whose grandparents commissioned architect George Washington Smith to build one of the fin-est Spanish Colonial Revival houses in Santa Barbara and who has fond memories of dining at the ranch as a boy, has made the restoration and construction of period revival residences in California and elsewhere the cornerstone of his career. When he was ap-proached by Warner, he ar-ticulated two key concepts. I said that I felt a successful project would be one where those familiar with the ranch would come back and be a little confused as to what was new and what was old. The second thing was that I felt this was more of a landscape project, almost, than an architectural one. Because I think what guests at the ranch come away

top: Appleton and project architect Ken Mineau reworked the entrance to the Stonehouse restaurant and the Plow & An-gel bar and restaurant just below and created a new terrace, at right, with radiant heating and a fireplace and great ocean and mountain views, notes Appleton. Above: Patio dining.

Right: The 1825 Adobe is the oldest building at the ranch and a California historic landmark. We very gingerly made some minor repairs and did some structural work, Appleton says.



What guests at the ranch come away with is this marvelous setting with the gardens and trees.

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nia ranch house, with board-and-batten siding and pitched shingle roofs. To make them more private and intimate, Appleton designed entrance courtyards and enlarged pa-tios. Amenities like spas and indoor-outdoor showers were

installed, but not at the expense of character. The footprints of the bungalows were main-tained, and their homey hall-marks (exposed beams, stone fireplaces) still enchant.

The ranchs two restaurants were given a new kitchen, and

We preserved the architectural fea-tures of the cottages, Appleton remarks. Above: Lilac, a one-bed-room cottage. The garden was a constant element of almost every-thing, says the architect, who col-laborated with landscape consultants Laurie Lewis, Sally Paul and James Hyatt on the renovation. Right: A fireplace warms Willow Cottage.

the sandstone structure that houses them was refreshed. Appleton replaced its old wood deck with a stone terrace that matches the buildings exterior and takes full advantage of the ranchs ocean and mountain



with is this marvelous setting with the gardens and trees.

At the same time, the archi-tect harbored no illusions re-garding the scope of the job: There isnt a single building that wasnt totally restored or, in some cases, rebuilt entirely. He is quick to credit Warners commitment to the project. Its rare that a client as busy as he is gives the time to cham-pion such high quality or be-comes as personally involved in the details as he did.

The cottages scattered around the property (two were added, for a total of 41) were taken down to the studs and brought into the same mode of the classic Califor-

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views. Under the terrace he put in a private dining room styled after a wine cave, and under the dining room he in-stalled a 5,000-bottle wine cel-lar. The historic ranch houses that function, respectively, as the reception area and a sec-ond private dining room were invisibly restored.

As Appleton intended, its the improvements to the grounds that you notice first and last. Now you make the turn off San Ysidro Lane onto a gravel drive that winds below a dreamy canopy of gnarled olive trees underplanted with drifts of lavender. It was part of our concept that we were reminding you of the agricul-tural beginnings of the ranch,

Above Left: A bedroom of the restored Kennedy Cottage, where Jacqueline and John Kennedy honeymooned in 1953. Above Right: A clawfoot tub in Eucalyptus Cottage. All of the cottages were outfitted with new bath fixtures and tile. Some also offer indoor-outdoor showers. Left: The new Laurel Cottage has a creekside terrace with a spa. We redesigned the roadway and the landscaping, so theres an increased sense of privacy, says Appleton.

he explains. With the assistance of landscape consultants Lau-rie Lewis, Sally Paul and James Hyatt, he expanded the prop-ertys citrus groves and herb and vegetable gardens and enhanced the central garden with a new lily pond and rose arbor. War-ner selected oaks and peppers to supplement existing speci-mens, and the premises have been replanted with highly fra-grant perennials. Surely Cali-fornias agrarian past was never this prettybut then, mythol-ogizing the states history is as old as the state itself. l


San Ysidro Ranch

800-368-6788 www.sanysidroranch.com

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Bank on ItA circa 1860 chalkware bank, $1,250, in the shape of a dove, offered by Hamilton, Ohio, dealers Claude and Sharon Baker (www.claudeand sharonbaker.com; 513-726-5496) is a rare survivormost were broken open to retrieve the saved money.

Rock and RollBrazilian designer Jos Zanine Cal-das is perhaps best known for the furniture he sculpted from salvaged wood. In San Francisco, Hedge (www.hedgegallery.com; 415-433- 2233) has a circa 1970 tte--tte rocker of reclaimed pequi, $32,000.

Discoveries by Designers Architectural Digests Editors Present Designers Sources

A Bed in the BerkshiresTopping out at over six feet, a bed, $8,900, at Le Trianon is

a tour de force of wickerwork. The American piece, produced

around 1900, when wicker furniture was seeing a surge in popu-

larity, features intricate decoration, from the delicate scrolls

running along the canopy to the panels on each end that seem

to suggest a peacocks tail.

Le Trianon, 1854 N. Main St., Sheffield, MA 01257 413-528-0775; www.letrianon.1stdibs.com

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SchumacherGood Day Sunshine is a printed linen in the Schu-macher (800-523-1200; www.fschumacher.com) Modern Collection; it comes in black and white, flamingo, spring and china blue (shown).

Discoveries by Designers Architectural Digests Editors Present Designers Sources


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Quite a PairNew Yorks Tribeca neighborhood is home to Mondo Cane and its well-edited array of mid-20th-century furniture and

accessories. Of particular note is a deceptively simple pair of

bentwood-and-bamboo cantilevered chairs, $18,500, attributed

to the legendary Charlotte Perriand.

Mondo Cane Inc., 174 Duane St., New York, NY 10013 212-219-9244; www.mondocane.com

Carpet of FlowersThe tree of life, a folk art motif that recurs across cultures, appears on a nearly three-by-five-foot 193040 American hooked rug, $1,675, from A Bird in Hand Antiques (www.a birdinhand.com; 973-410-0077) in Florham Park, New Jersey.

Found MarblesIn Brooklyn, New York, S. Scott Powers Antiques (www.burlsnuff .com; 718-625-1715) has a circa 1860 stoneware basket filled with 50 1.25-inch-diameter Bennington mar-bles, $3,600 for the basket and marbles; $3,100 for the basket only.

At Scalamandr (800- 932-4361; www.scala mandre.com), Raj Bo-tanica is a floral union cloth, with background colors of ivory, soft blue, Indian yellow and Madras pink (shown).

Scalamandr

Discoveries by Designers ADs Editors Present Designers Sources



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Big Top MemoriesTella Kitchen, an artist often compared to Grandma Moses, was born

in Vinton, Ohio, and later moved to Attica, Indiana. Sometime in

the 1960s or 70s she painted the oil Circus in Town, $8,200, based on

her memories of one that came through Attica when she was a

child. The work, at Canup Antiques, captures the excitement of

the event in the figures animated gestures.

Canup Antiques, 828-743-9435; www.canupantiques.com

Lee JofaConjuring up old Eu-ropean wall paintings, Vintage Fresco is a printed linen available in champagne and pale aqua from Lee Jofa (800-453-3563; www .leejofa.com).

How BizarreTorontos 20th Century Objects (www.20thcenturyobjects.com; 416- 617-9119) has a fine example of a 1930s Clarice Cliff Bizarre vase, $2,800. The English potters output was typified by imaginative interpre-tations of the Art Dco aesthetic.

Abstract floral designs and a striking combination of colors distinguish a Cliff vase.

Obsolete (www.obsoleteinc.com; 310-399-0024), of Venice, Califor-nia, has a delightfuland expres-sive192030 American whirligig of a man riding a bicycle, $3,800. When the wind hits him, his legs move the pedals.

Rider on the Wind




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Lets Bowl!Bowling sets, such as one, $195, at Houstons Helen Warren

Spector Antiques, were popular in the United States from the early 20th century until the 1940s. The pins measure

just under six inches tall each and were likely used indoors.

Helen Warren Spector Antiques, 713-927-6444 www.helenspector.com

Right DirectionDating from the early 1800s, a wa-tercolor of a mariners compass, $2,350, at the Wiscassett, Maine, gal-lery Stauble & Chambers Antiques (www.staublechambersantiques .com; 207-882-6341), is notable for its bold primary colors.




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By Firstname Lasttktkt

Most designers faced with the prospect of having just five weeks to complete a job thats key to one of the biggest events of the year could be forgiven if they opted to turn and run the other way. But Carleton Varney has never been like most designers. It can always be done, he says simply.

The indefatigable Varney was about to board a plane when he got a call from Architectural Digest editor-in-chief Paige Rense asking if he would like to design the magazines green room for this years Academy Awards. Paige and I, we go back a while, and shed seen the work Id done for Joan Crawford and other stars, he re-calls. I told her yes, indeed, I would!

There was no question about the design concept. We wanted to give it the early Hollywood look, Varney notes, when movie stars were movie stars.

The president and owner of Dorothy Draper & Company didnt have to look far for inspiration. His green room pays exu-berant homage to four of Drapers most notable projectsCalifornias Arrowhead Springs Hotel, the Quitandinha Palace & Casino Resort in Brazil, the Camellia House at Chicagos Drake Hotel and New Yorks Hampshire House.

No one did glamour quite like Doro-thy Draper. The legendary decorator, who once pronounced, the Drab Age is over,

Left: Backstage at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, Carleton Var-ney, of Dorothy Draper & Company, evoked Old Hollywood glam-our in the Architectural Digest Green Room, which he created for the 80th annual Acad-emy Awards. The ped-estal table, foreground, is an original Draper design, as is the sconce; the doors and chande-lier are Draper replicas. BeLow: A life-size Os-car is at the entrance. Nourison carpet.


Interior Design by Carleton Varney of Dorothy Draper & Company Text by Kelly Vencill Sanchez/Photography by Mary E. Nichols

Design Notebook

A Winning Design for OscarArchitectural Digests Green Room at the Academy Awards


ABove: Varney. Left: The bar was inspired by a Draper design. Lamps, banquette, slipper chair and leather on bar, Kravet. Carleton Varney by the Yard floral fabric; Carleton V green silk.

This was a fantasy space, notes Varney. ABove: A seating area. The mirror and lamps are also vintage Draper pieces. He adapted the dishes and glassware from Draper designs. LG televisions, at Abt.com. White satin, red Ultrasuede, sofa fringe, sofa and tufted chairs, Kravet. Low table and rattan chairs from Ficks Reed. ABove Right: The entrance. Table and benches, Kravet.

was never one for the modest gesture. Rococo-style moldings, black-and-white-marble floors and overscale floral prints in vivid huesall were part of her stylishly dramatic vocabulary.

The Architectural Digest Green Room, which Varney likens to a set from a 20th-Century Fox musical, is crisply theatrical and marked by bold colors and patterns. There are lacquered double doors and a floor stenciled in a checkerboard design. Mottled aubergine walls are offset by a glossy white wainscoting and oversize crown moldings. Theres a tufted-black-leather bar and luxurious fabrics: white satin, lipstick-red Ultrasuede and a bright green banana-leaf damask. A Dorothy Draper print adds a vibrant floral note.

While many of the furnishings are re-productions, others are original Draper pieces, such as the baroque sconce and the palm-tree lamps.

The room was to sit just offstage at Hol-lywoods Kodak Theatre and needed to


accommodate between 25 and 30 people. Measuring approximately 40 by 20 feet, it was more or less the size of a New York City living room.

But most living rooms have things like walls, a ceiling, electrical outlets. The green room had to be constructed in its entirety at the ABC television studios before it was dismantled and rebuilt at the Kodak.

It took the set builders about four days to create the bones of the space, and then the carpentry, electrical, painting and drapery departments performed their du-ties. The move to the Kodak proved a bit

more complicated. The room was a foot and a half over the fire exit doors and had to be tweaked to fit. In the end, the various departments worked feverishly to pull the room together on time.

By all accounts, the green room was an enormous success, and Varney is pleased that he can bring back glamour to interior design. We live in a beige-and-gray world. We need a sparkle, a way to make people smile again. Thats what its all about. l

Visit www.ArchitecturalDigest.com to see more Oscar-related features.

Design Notebook


He was raised in the relatively civilized environs of Westhamp-ton Beach, on Long Island, em-barked upon an auspicious career on Madison Avenue and, in 1983, launched the Independent Television Network, which would become the largest supplier of non-network prime-time advertising in the country. But R. Michael Kam-merer, Jr., who died last year at the age of 67, was probably closer in spirit to John Wayne than to Donald Trump. He was definitely more comfortable in jeans and a cowboy hat than a business suit, says his son, Rudy Kammerer. My dad fell in love with the West through Hollywood movies and reading western writers like Zane Grey and Louis LAmour. He was just fascinated with those tales of heroism and adventure.

For a while R. Michael Kammerer suc-cessfully juggled his communications em-

Spreading Out in Santa FeThe Sprawling Rancho Alegre Rekindles the Spirit of the American West in New MexicoArchitecture by Bill Tull/Text by Peter Haldeman/Photography by Robert Reck

Above: The compound that architect Bill Tull designed for the late R. Mi-chael Kammerer, Jr., in Santa Fe reflects the owners love of southwestern art and architecture. below: The sunroom, originally intended to be a pa-tio, was enclosed with a bveda ceiling and doubles as a gallery space. A feather motif by potter Maria Martinez inspired the granite floor detail.


Design Notebook


pire and cowpoke enthusiasms. Around the time he started ITN, he bought a 200-acre property in upstate New York, where he built a log cabin and ran one of the largest beef cattle operations in the area. In 1991 he retired from managing ITN, moved with his wife to Carefree, Arizona, and indulged his inner Slim Pick-ens by learning the art of competitive team roping. Three years laterafter di-vorcing his first wife and meeting his secondhe purchased 175 acres of pas-tureland between the Ortiz and Sangre de Cristo mountain ranges in Santa Fe and hired the Scottsdale, Arizonabased archi-tect Bill Tull to build Rancho Alegre, his western Shangri-la.

They made an intense study of Santa Fe architecture and who the best crafts-people and practitioners were, says Rudy Kammerer. Siting the house against the backdrop of the Ortiz Mountains, Tull de-signed a sprawling pueblo-style compound that, while grand in scale, speaks the local vernacular. Its most prominent features are a stone torron, or tower, and a santuario, or chapel, around which the architect built a Mexican-style plaza. Tull was exacting

left: Paintings by Roy Anderson and saddles by Edward H. Bohlin are displayed in the saddle room. below: Native American weavings line a wall of the second-floor stairwell. Western historythats the stuff my dad loved, says Kammerers son, Rudy. He started with small bronzes, but he became a more sophisticated collector when he made the move to Santa Fe.

The house is filled with superb paintings by Taos School artists, Native American rugs and pottery, and western collectibles, from chaps to bridles to rifles.


Above: In the dining room, a custom-made chandelier hangs from wood beams that were smoked to give them a dark patina. The lighted niche is a Tull signature. The bronzes on the windowsill are by Dave McGary.

Design Notebook



that the former adman championed. One proceeds under the vaulted ceiling of the entrance to the living room, an impres-sive space with 20-foot ceilings and hand-carved beams that Rudy Kammerer says craftsmen spent half a year on their backs completing. Off one end of the room, a sunroom has travertine-and-black-granite

Left: Cowboy chaps dating to the early 1900s and flags deco-rate the walls of the office. The safe door, covered in leather, was hand-carved with a Code of the West de-sign. The bronzes are by Herb Mignery.

Above: Replicas of Plains Indian chiefs clothing are displayed in the confer-ence room. Cathy A. Smith, who designed the costumes for Dances with Wolves, spent three years creating the collection, says Kammerer. Every detail is authentic. Left: Turquoise pieces in a stone jewelry case.

when it came to building methods and ma-terials, whether he was using three layers of adobe bricks in the walls or retaining master stonemason John Morris to lay the Arizona flagstone floors.

R. Michael Kammerer had started col-lecting small bronzes by western artist Herb Mignery back in Albany, and by the

time Rancho Alegre was completed, he had assembled museum-quality collections of western paintings, Native American art and artifacts, and pioneer memora-bilia. Visitors to the house are greeted outside by Mignerys bronze sculpture of two cowboys shaking hands, along with a plaque titled Code of the West, describ-ing the commonsense frontier values



Design Notebook



Siting the house against the backdrop of the OrtizMountains, Tull designed a pueblo-style compound that,while grand in scale, speaks the local vernacular.

Above: Its the kind of room that makes peoples jaws drop, Kammerer says of the master bath. Stonemason John Morris modeled the space af-ter the pueblos at Chaco Canyon. The layering of rocks and the vigas and latillas are what the Anasazi used. An archaeologist took photos and enlarged them so the design could be replicated.

top: The cantina was dubbed La Tinaja de Mi-guel, or Michaels Watering Hole, says Kammer-er. Right: To further Rancho Alegres authentic look, Tull anchored the compound with a stone tower. Black-walnut doors mark the entrance.

floors featuring an American eagle-feath-er motif. A cantina situated off the other end of the room, where things tended to end up late at night, was inspired by a 300-year-old Spanish cowboy bar.

But the jewel of the house, according to Rudy Kammerer, is the master bath. Here John Morris has fashioned a tribute to Chaco Canyonthe Anasazi ruins in New Mexicos San Juan Basin. The baths banded sandstone walls, viga-and-latilla ceiling and petroglyph-like etchings all re-call the astonishing skills of the Puebloans. Of course, the Anasazi didnt enjoy free-standing pedestal showers or Roman tubs, but then the Anasazi didnt revolutionize television advertising.

R. Michael Kammerer continued to develop his collections at Rancho Alegre. The house is filled with superb paintings by Taos School artists, Native American rugs and pottery, and western collect-ibles, from chaps to bridles to rifles. The saddle room exhibits the workmanship of masters like Edward H. Bohlin (he made Roy Rogerss saddles), while the confer-ence room showcases quotations from Na-tive American chiefs and precise replicas of their dress by Cathy A. Smith (she did the costumes for Dances with Wolves).

People will say things like, This is the second-best holster collection in the country, and the holsters were a small part of my dads collection, says Rudy Kammerer. It was sort of the way it all fit together that made the collection spe-cial. This spring Sothebys auctioned off a good share of the paintings and Native American crafts. And Rancho Alegre itself will probably be sold. Whatever the fate of the ranch, however, its a safe bet the Code of the West will endure. l

Design Notebook


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COLORADO A Historic Home in the Heart of Downtown Aspen

A five-bedroom, 7.5-bath Caribbean colonialstyle house in Sea Pines Resort was designed by Michael Ruegamer, of Group 3. The oceanfront residence has geometrically patterned railings, custom ma-hogany doors and windows,

In 1892 businessman John Atkinson built what is now known as the Sardy House. Despite several renovations, the six-bedroom Victorian, with stained-glass windows, has held on to its period charm. The property, which includes a neoQueen Anne carriage house with an eight-bedroom wing and a one-bedroom suite, operates as a bed-and-break-fast. $21.5 million. Call 970-925-8810.

sOutH CAROLinA Hilton Head Gem with a Refined Yet Relaxed Ambience

heart-pine floors and 14-foot ceilings. A gym and a wine cel-lar are among its amenities. Two decks and a 500-square-foot veranda look out on the pool and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. $8.25 million. Call 843-785-7215.

Estates for Sale


Editors Select Properties Around the WorldCalifornia, Massachusetts, Colorado, Florida


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Architectural Digest 07 2008

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