The parlor of Julia Reed’s house in New Orleans featured in Parish-Hadley - Tree of Life. We created a scheme based on Julia’s memory of her grandmother’s house in Nashville, decorated by Herbert Rogers with a young Albert Hadley as assistant. 

The amazing legacy of Parish-Hadley is in the spotlight with the publication of a new book of reminisces of Sister Parish and Albert by their “colleagues” (as they called their employees) who went on to have careers of their own. The firm was always keen to hire the best talent without fear of future competition. Philosophically, Albert always felt that everyone in the end should “go out on their own.”  

Excerpted here is a passage I wrote for the book which speaks of the type of growth and mutually beneficial transition he encouraged. I have also included the last photographs of Albert’s legendary apartment that I published in The Finest Rooms, a collection of rooms that represent American refinement, something I learned a great deal about at Parish-Hadley.

From my section in Parish Hadley - Tree of Life

Albert taught me how to go about making a comfortable room, and having an object of quality as a focus. I have never been in a Parish-Hadley room that did not have a work of art—usually the object of focus that a room is arranged around. It may not have always been valuable, but there was art. And there was always thought given to the room’s arrangement. This is what makes a fine room.

Not long ago I wrote The Finest Rooms in America, a personal selection  of American rooms that I consider fine, all created by designers other than me. I asked to feature the sitting room of Albert’s apartment as the last room in the book, and he gave me permission to photograph it. Then, the day before the shoot, he called to say he had changed his mind. “This room is not grand enough,” he said. I paused, then asked to go ahead with the photographs, offering to show him the layout for his approval. And I emphasized that the point I wanted to make in the book is that a fine room is not just a room of extreme luxury, it is a room with a focus and thought about its arrangement. His room epitomized how a relatively modest space can be a fine room, and in the end he blessed the manuscript.

As I showed him the layout, he was talking about closing his firm, and about the people who had most recently worked for him. He said, “You know, I did what I always do. I encouraged them to go out on their own.” That was his way, and likely why there are so many Parish-Hadley “alumni”.

It turns out that my photographs of the living room and the sitting room are the last photographs taken of his apartment. The living room has that great, of-the-moment holographic paper on the ceiling. The Italian crane lamp with colored shades had been in his apartment since the 1950s, and he just moved it forward. You can see certain pieces he carries over, and new pieces he adds. He had a great eye for arrangement, and he was very editorial about his own rooms. Not all of us can live up to that standard, but it is highly inspirational.

And here is the passage I wrote on Albert’s apartment from The Finest Rooms in America:

Albert Hadley was reticent for his New York apartment to be represented here because he felt it was not grand enough. But, while it is not a large space, Hadley’s sitting room encapsulates the notion that refinement is not about size. In fact, the success of Hadley’s room is created by its intimacy as well as by the play of patterns and voids that come together in a complete and artistic picture. On one wall there is an alcove with a day bed under a mirror. Opposite, a framed panel of turquoise serves as a centering device. All of the walls are covered in one of Hadley’s signature patterns and the shiny brown lacquered ceiling highlights the regular geometry, uniting all the parts of the room and injecting a sense of expansiveness into the small space. The white-painted chairs and lacquered work table are light and effortless to rearrange, making it easier to move about the room and to use the space for different occasions. Hadley has also set the visual center relatively low, making the room welcoming and commodious. His works of art, many of them associated with some of the most important figures of twentieth-century American decoration, including Elsie de Wolfe, Van Day Truex, and Eleanor Brown, represent the continuum of great decorators among which Hadley can easily be counted. What makes this or any room fine? It is the sum of parts, whether elaborate or simple, novel or well-known, that in the end, as Hadley so remarkably demonstrates, is the tangible genius of its maker.

(Above photos show Albert Hadley’s sitting room, and below his living room and entry. Photos by Kerri McCaffety)

Further reading:

See Architectural Digest’s review of the book.

My own tribute to Albert from 2012 in TMagazine’s blog.

And, Albert’s obituary from the New York Times which illuminates his life and achievements.

Living Room, Robert Hatfield Ellsworth apartment, New York

William Cullum is our guest author for this House of Details, part of a series where we look at key elements that create great houses. Wiliam is a decorator at Jayne Design Studio, and currently working on a commission for a light house in Oyster Bay and a house in Dallas. He writes today about the Robert Hatfield Ellsworth apartment, whose exceptional collection of art and antiques are coming up for sale at Christies.

The collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, considered one of the largest and most important assemblages of Asian antiquities, is being offered at Christie’s as a six part sale beginning March 17th through the March 21st. To celebrate the event, the scale and quality of which is unlikely to be seen again, Christie’s offered guided tours of this storied apartment on Fifth Avenue. Ellsworth purchased the 22 room apartment in 1975 and furnished it with his collection of Asian antiques, English and Continental decorative arts and contemporary Asian works of art. In the process, he created a distinct and modern way of displaying these objects.

Ellsworth’s professional career began with his introduction to Alice Boney, a well respected dealer of Asian antiquities, in his late adolescence. She fostered his interests by encouraging him to study at the Yale Graduate School of Far Eastern Languages in 1948. Shortly thereafter Ellsworth began collecting twentieth century Chinese paintings leading to a lifetime of interest in the decorative arts of Asia.

The apartment’s 1920s character is most prominently displayed in the gallery where the walls are lined with faux baronial woodwork. The paneling serves as a backdrop for a collage of a broad range of decorative arts. A series of pillar carpets are seen on the floors.

In a nod to the twentieth century, a mounted Ibex skull on a silvered base by Anthony Redmile sits atop a chest next to the entrance to the library.

Ellsworth dealt with the awkwardly long gallery by separating the space with a Chinese side table, an extremely unusual example with a white lacquer top. White, symbolic of death in Chinese culture, implies that this may have served a funerary function.

A Tielimu recessed-leg side table, Pingtou’an, China, Late Ming - Early Quing, 17th - 18th Century.

The library owes a heavy debt to Ellsworth’s collection of 18th century English furniture. However, the strongest and most dynamic element is the ‘Nine Dragon’ Chinese carpet, most likely a 19th century copy of a 17th century original.

Carpets were removed when the emperor was not in residence, requiring each to be labeled with the name of it’s respective room.

Colonel William Fitch’s Horse in a Landscape by John Singleton Copley surmounts a French chimney piece with an assemblage of sculptural objects ranging from Africa to Asia.

Ellsworth’s desk took advantage of the sweeping view from the library through the living room, framing a calligraphy table on the far wall which displayed a prized scholar’s rock.

The library’s subtle decorative paint was inspired by an 18th century Chinese Qing Dynasty brush pot with an unusual glaze which simulated realgar, a mineral believed to hold magical qualities.

The living room’s pale silk walls and golden yellow strie millwork serve as foils to the darkly colored gallery and library. A suite of Billy Baldwin-esque sofas, chairs, and stools counter the skeletal quality of the Chinese chairs and tables.

A pair of six paneled Japanese screens, Edo period 17th century, depicting horses in stables and a rare set of four huanghuali horseshoe-back armchairs, China, Ming Dynasty, were divided into two separate seating groups on either side of the room.  

A rare and important set of four huanghuali horseshoe-back armchairs, China, Ming Dynasty, 17th century, the chair form is known as quanyi, literally meaning “chair with a circular back”

Ellsworth’s first purchase, acquired during his adolescence, was this large Chinese polychrome figure of a seated Bodhisattva from the Song-Jin Dynasty (960-1234 AD) which was framed by two windows that looked out to Fifth Avenue.

The dining room was centered on a Georgian dining table and brass chandelier which was lit with candles. The Chinese velvet-clad screen obscured a door into the butler’s pantry and undoubtedly served as inspiration for the unusual moss-green walls.

A Chinese cut-velvet three panel screen, the fabric late Ming - early Qing Dynasty, 17th - 18th century.

In a very typical Ellsworth manner, the chimney piece was arranged with a variety of objects from differing periods and cultures. A portrait attributed to Nattier presided over the room.

A large and rare huanghuali recessed leg painting table dating from the Ming Dynasty with a pair of rare huanghuali lampstands from the same period on either side. The table dressed with a collection of British silver.

The entrance into the living room from the dining room was flanked by a pair of large Hongmu, Huamu and camphor compound cabinets, late Ming - early Qing Dynasty, 17th century.

Ellsworth in his living room.

Christie’s sale, The Collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, March 17 to 21, 2015 

Photos courtesy of Christies