Streamlined classical moldings, diamond-shaped door details, machine-age artwork-all are ingredients that inspired the interior design of a 1928 Moderne apartment on Chicago’s Gold Coast. In the hands of Art & Design’s Roger Ramsay and Michael Syrjanen, the late-Deco abode “evokes an ambience that’s French rather than English,” Ramsay explains. “Think of designers Pierre Chareau and Jean-Michel Frank; think of the great French ocean liners of the 1930s.” Adds Syrjanen, “Instead of fighting or hiding the traditional Moderne aesthetic, we chose to work with it, particularly since our client’s art and furniture lend themselves to that era.”
Indeed, a vibrant Fernand Leger tapestry from the late 1920s became the focus of the dining room, where an ebonized table, dark wood floors and carved African sculptures harken to the artwork’s black outlines. In contrast with Leger’s bold primaries so typical of the Moderne period, a handpainted harlequin wall in dove gray and pale yellow echoes the diamond- patterned doorway. Combined with the apartment’s original Waterford crystal fixtures and marble fireplace, visitors half-expect to catch a glimpse of William Powell and Myrna Loy in the stylish “Thin Man” atmosphere.
Rich, saturated color imbues the home, thanks to the client’s very specific wishes. “She gave us an actual lemon to match for the living-room walls,” Syrjanen reveals. With the streamlined moldings, tomato-red upholstery, hand-smocked drapery and period artwork (such as the Augustus St. Gaudens bronze figure of Diana), the room is both visually lively and unequivocally elegant.
While a piece of fruit inspired one room’s painted backdrop, it was a Chinese lacquered cabinet that led to the library’s glossy red walls, hand-ragged for texture and offset by a gray, harlequin pattern, this time in fabric for the drapes and upholstery. An eclectic mix of furniture and objets d’art complement the Moderne underpinnings: Graphic, black and white Fornasetti side chairs echo the original bi-toned marble fireplace, as do the end tables, one a 19th Century Anglo-Indian piece, the other in black leather by Karl Springer. Both are punctuated by Neoclassical bronze lamps with handmade paper shades the color of the wall. Nearby, a 16th Century Italian Madonna, antique marble Roman head and ceramic pieces by Picasso take visitors on a peripatetic tour through the history of art. “Were it not for the view of Lake Michigan, you might think you were in a hotel particulier in Paris circa 1929,” Ramsay says. “That’s the look we were aiming for.”
