Mario Buatta, Curtain Master

Curtains in the Dillon Room of Blair House
decorated by Mario Buatta. 1988.
Photo from Southern Accents.

Granted, there are many other examples that would better prove Mario Buatta's skill in curtain design, but this one illustrates several valuable lessons.  While it is admirable that the form of the curtains acknowledges the form of the window (or doorway), it is not critical that the form be absolutely followed.  Windows with a rounded head do not necessarily require rounded head curtains.  (As with any rule, there are exceptions and I will contradict myself in a future post, but let's stay with this for the moment).



The Dillon Room at Blair House
as decorated by Mario Buatta, 1988.
Photo from Southern Accents.

Identifying the gilded, pierced element of the valance (or pelmet) as the curtain cornice, note how that feature gives grace to the large opening.  The curtain cornice allows the striped silk taffeta fabric of the valance and panels to just simply hang; the volume of the fabric along with lining and interlining as well as the correct dimensions keep the ensemble from looking limp.  Although the center of the curtain cornice rises to a height above the cornice (or crown molding) of the room, note that the attachment of this treatment is made to the wall.  Curtains should never be attached to the face of the cornice of the room.  (And that is one rule for which I can think of no exceptions).


Another view of the Dillon Room, Blair House.
Photo from Architectural Digest.

While many might know that Blair House is the official guest house of the President for visiting foreign dignitaries and their entourages, some may not realize that it is actually four houses; two face Pennsylvania Avenue and two face Jackson Square adding up to over 100 rooms.  The 1984 to 1988 renovation dealt with architects John Mesick and John Waite restructuring the interconnection of the interior spaces and other functional issues with an $8.6 million grant from Congress.  But an additional $5 million was raised by private donations for the décor by the Blair House Restoration Fund headed by Selwa "Lucky" Roosevelt (Chief of Protocol from 1982 to 1989 and wife of Theodore Roosevelt's grandson) and Clement Conger (who was the force behind the White House decoration of public rooms from Pat Nixon until Nancy Reagan).  Half of those funds was used for decoration and half was reserved for an on-going acquisition and maintenance fund.  The responsibilities for the interior design were divided between Mario Buatta and Mark Hampton, each among the top "name' decorators of the time.


The Queen's Bedroom at Blair House
as decorated by Mario Buatta in 1988.
Bunny Williams redecorated the room in 2011.
Photo via The Washington Post.

In 2011, Bunny Williams, one of the top talents today, was brought in to redecorate three bedrooms, two by Mario Buatta and one by Mark Hampton, which had discontinued fabrics that made it not feasible to reproduce the original scheme. The curtains, however, were still in a condition suitable for re-use and sent to be auctioned in September, 2011 by the Potomac Company in Alexandria with proceeds to benefit the restoration fund.  The  headboards and associated hangings along with the curtains, all in a discontinued Lee Jofa chintz, were given a pre-auction estimate of $400 to $800; the results are not known.

Mark Hampton for Susan and Carter Burden, 1020 Fifth Avenue

The Drawing Room of the Burden apartment.
Photo by Scott Frances for HG magazine.
All magazine images via Toby Worthington.

The previous post of The Devoted Classicist gave a view into the apartment of Susan and Carter Burden at 1020 Fifth Avenue, New York City.  Decorated by Mark Hampton, it was published with great fanfare, appearing on the cover of the September, 1992 issue of HG magazine.


Details of the Burden apartment.
Photos by Scott Frances for HG magazine.

The magazine article, written by the Burdens' friend John Richardson did not reveal the owners' names, but it was not hard to figure it out. 


An exterior rendering of 1020 Fifth Avenue
from the original Douglas-Elliman offering.
Via Columbia University Library.

The building is very distinctive, even from the interior.  And Hampton had decorated Carter Burden's previous apartment at The Dakota when he was married to Amanda Mortimer.


The original floor plan of the 11th floor
of 1020 Fifth Avenue, NYC.
Via Columbia University Library.

The Burdens bought the eleventh floor of 1020 Fifth for $4.9 million in 1990.  With the help of my friend and former Parish-Hadley co-worker Oscar Shamamian of Ferguson & Shamamian Architects, the whole-floor apartment was completely remodeled to showcase Burden's art and rare book collection. 


Description from the original offering
by Douglas-Elliman.
Via Columbia University Library.

The building, designed by Warren & Wetmore (best known for Grand Central Terminal) and completed in 1925, is notable for six of the 13 apartments having drawing rooms with ceiling heights up to 18 feet.  It is one of the most desirable Pre-War co-op buildings in Manhattan.  The original price for the eleventh floor was $120,000. 


Building section of 1020 Fifth Avenue
from the original Douglas-Elliman offering.
Via Columbia University Library.

When Susan Burden placed the 11 room apartment on the market in 2002, the price was $23.5 million. 


The Library of the Burden apartment.
Photo by Scott Frances for HG magazine.

The HG article mentions that the Burdens used the Drawing Room for most activities, but there was also a smaller sitting room, a Library.  As the text of the magazine article points out, it was inspired by the library that Emilio Terry designed for the British Embassy in Paris.  After Carter Burden's death in 1996 at age 54, much of his collection of rare books, valued at $10 million, went to the Morgan Library.  (But the shelves were not left completely bare; in 2009, an electronics installer was convicted of taking more than $1 million in books, including a signed F. Scott Fitzgerald valued at $500,000).


The Dining Room of the Burden apartment
at 1020 Fifth Avenue as decorated by Mark Hampton.
Photo by Scott Frances for HG magazine.

The Dining Room, with a 10 ft ceiling like the other family rooms after the Drawing Room, was put into service when the Burdens entertained, as they often did in the early 1990s. 


Carter Burden's Bath/Dressing Room.
Photo via Corinne Gilbert.

Another book and art-filled room was Carter Burden's Dressing/Bathroom.  Much like any other room furnished by Mark Hampton, it just happens to include plumbing fixtures.  The antique w.c. was discretely located around a corner behind a gothick folding screen.


Susan and Carter Burden, Jr.,
January, 1990.
Photo: Ron Galella, Ltd, Getty Images.

Carter Burden, Jr., was a great-great-great grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of the richest men in American history.  After working as an aid to Robert Kennedy, Carter Burden served on the New York City Council from 1969 to 1977 although attempts at other public offices were not successful.  At one time, he owned the Village Voice newspaper and New York Magazine, and then a conglomeration of radio stations.  For those keeping track, first wife Amanda was the daughter of legendary style icon Barbara "Babe" Paley from her first husband Stanley Grafton Mortimer, Jr., heir to a Standard Oil fortune; Amanda went on to marry Steve Ross, head of Warner Communications, and is now in a long term relationship with television personality Charlie Rose.  Susan Burden serves on the Board of Directors of the Carter Burden Center for Aging.


Mark Hampton in his own Manhattan Living Room.
Photo: T Magazine.

Mark Hampton died in 1998 at age 58.  Obviously, he was proud of this project; it appears on the dust jacktet of the 2009 book MARK HAMPTON: AN AMERICAN DECORATOR by his wife Duane Hampton. In ways more than just one, the decoration of the apartment was an example of the end of an era fueled by the Reaganomics of the time. But there is every indication that there is a rebirth in traditional decoration just beginning to flower with prime Manhattan residential real estate in demand as ever and suppliers re-issuing hand-blocked chintz, handmade trims, and custom wallcoverings.  Misters Hampton and Burden would be pleased.


The Drawing Room of the Burden apartment
at 1020 Fifth Avenue, NYC,
appears on the cover of the Mark Hampton book.

The Travellers: Classical Rondels

A pair of rondels depicting classical busts.
Image: R. Louis Bofferding Decorative and Fine Art.

As a continuation of the on-going but non-sequential posts of exemplary objects being re-used in different settings, this edition features a pair of oil on canvas paintings depicting busts of Jupiter and Diana (or Zeus and Artemis in Greek mythology).  With a framed diameter of 41.5 inches, they were surely intended as overdoor decoration as they were painted di sotto in sù (as seen from below).  Currently offered for sale by R. Louis Bofferding Decorative and Fine Art, the paintings are described as mid-eighteenth century English, though perhaps by an Italian hand, a follower of Antonio Verrio.  (Verrio, brought to England by the Duke of Montagu, is best known for the frescoed walls of the grand staircase at Hampton Court for King William III).  It is not known if they were part of a larger set.

The painting of the bust of Diana
in the New York home of Gaser Tabakoglu.
Image via R. Louis Bofferding Decorative and Fine Art.

Gaser Tabakoglu, an associate of legendary decorator Renzo Mongiardino, bought the pair from equally-legendary antiques dealer Christopher Gibbs in the 1980s.  Tobakoglu displayed them in his home on Sloane Street in London and then in the master bedroom of his weekend retreat, Brick House, in upstate New York.


The painting of the bust of Zeus
in the Manhattan apartment of
the Carter Burdens by Mark Hampton.
Image via R. Louis Bofferding Decorative and Fine Art.

Bofferding had acquired them for his shop when they were spotted by the late interior designer Mark Hampton.  Hampton knew they would be perfect for a tall-ceilinged Drawing Room he had decorated in the apartment for Carter and Susan Burden, and the Burdens agreed.  Hampton added the frames according to Bofferding, the source of much of the factual information used here.


The Burden Drawing Room
as painted by Isabelle Rey.
Image via Carolyne Roehm.

The rondels do not appear in the published photos of the Burden apartment that appeared in HG magazine or in the Burden chapter of the book MARK HAMPTON: AN AMERICAN DECORATOR.  Undoubtedly a project of great significance to the designer, a view of the room also appears on the book's dust jacket.


The dust jacket for MARK HAMPTON:
AN AMERICAN DECORATOR
features a view of the Burden Drawing Room.
Image via The Devoted Classicist Library.

Who will be the next caretakers of these delightful decorative paintings?  Keep an eye out, Devoted Readers, and let's see if we can spot them again, soon.  For other posts in this series, just type in "Travellers" in the SEARCH THIS BLOG feature in the right-hand border of the regular web version of The Devoted Classicist. 

Gracie Mansion

Gracie Mansion, official home of the mayor
of New York City.
Photo via Architectural Digest.

There has been a storm of Sharknado intensity in the social media this week about the donation of $65,000 worth of furniture from the mall/mail-order store West Elm for Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the mayor of the City of New York.  Attention-getting headlines such as this one from Curbed New York, "De Blassios Swap 300-Year-Old Antiques for West Elm at Gracie," incited indignation that the comparatively uncouth new First Family of NYC would not appreciate the relatively lavish refurnishing untaken during the Bloomberg years, all paid for by private sources including a significant amount donated by Bloomberg personally.  But it must be noted that the West Elm furnishings were for the private quarters of the residence and were given to the Gracie Mansion Conservancy, the non-profit group that supports the historic and decorative aspects of the property.



The Entrance Hall in 1946.
Image via Corbis.

The Gracie Mansion Conservancy was founded in 1981 at the start of a $5.5 million renovation that was carried out 1981 to 1984 during the administration of Ed Koch.  Two interior designers at their peak of popularity, Albert Hadley of Parish-Hadley Associates and Mark Hampton of Mark Hampton LLC, were invited to donate their services to decorate the mansion.  Albert was to create a viable décor for the public rooms in the historic part of the house, essentially the Entrance Hall, Parlor, Sitting Room and Dining Room in addition to the State Guest Room suite.  Mark was to decorate the Visitor's Entrance Hall, the Banquet Hall, and the Ballroom, all in the 1966 addition designed by architect Mott B. Schmidt and named in honor of former Mayor Robert Wagner, Susan, who had worked towards the creation of the wing but died before it was completed.

A 1983 sketch of a hall by Albert Hadley.
Image via One Kings Lane.

I worked at Parish-Hadley in the 1980s and assisted Mr. Hadley in the aspects of the Gracie Mansion project that required architectural input from designing the improvements to the State Guest Suite to locating electrical outlets and reviewing construction plans as they impacted the interior design.  The sketch titled "The Hall" above may or may not have been intended for Gracie Mansion but it is indicative of the drawings Mr. Hadley used to convey his ideas for committee approval and stir up support from his deep-pocketed friends.  And it is from the same time period as his involvement at Gracie Mansion.


The Entrance Hall circa 1985.
Photo via City of New York.

Although Mr. Hadley was not opposed to painting the floor in two tones of gray as a checkerboard, the results as carried out under the direction of the Conservancy (and executed by a compensated family member of the committee) were too theatrical, including the marbleizing of the stair risers (painted out in a later refurbishing) and the non-relating compass star. 


Albert Hadley's conceptual sketch of the Parlor
at Gracie Mansion.
Image via One Kings Lane.

Albert Hadley's concept for the furnishing of Gracie Mansion was not unlike that carried out for the second floor rooms at the White House for the Kennedys that he had worked on twenty years before with Sister Parish, later becoming her business partner in the legendary firm Parish-Hadley Associates.  The idea was to take some historic pieces of Mid-Atlantic, if not New York, origin of the late 18th and early 19th century and supplement them with quality new furniture and comfortable upholstery to allow these rooms to be realistically used on both daily and official entertaining occasions, not a museum setting despite the historic nature of the mansion.  It was not unlike how the Kennedys used the Yellow Oval Room, Family Dining Room and the adjacent hallways in the White House, decorated to be attractive enough for distinguished guests but comfortable enough for family use.


The Dining Room at Gracie Mansion, circa 1985.
Photo via City of New York.

Despite being known later as the Albert Hadley Refurnishing of the historic part of the mansion, very little of the work he proposed was actually realized.  Although Mark Hampton seemed to have fared better in the Wagner Wing, the Conservancy committee approved but prevented most of Albert Hadley's contributions from being realized.  The Dining Room was the one space where Mr. Hadley's ideas were clearly evident.  All the furnishings were donated by Hadley supporters including the scenic wallpaper.  Among Albert's own donations, in addition to his time, were the simple gauze curtains hung from stamped gilt metal valances; the committee fought him on those, insisting much more formal window treatments would be better suited for the room.  The final straw was the fitted carpet;  the multi-colored striped carpet had been selected for the adjacent sitting room and a durable dark green moire-patterned plush-cut carpet was specified for the Dining Room.  When the carpet company brought the goods (donated because of Mr. Hadley) to be installed, some ladies of the committee made a last-minute Executive Decision to switch the goods as the rooms were of similar size and the striped carpet could be stretched a bit to make up the difference.  Since there was not any patterned fabric in the room, they thought the more colorful carpet was better.  By the end of the day, Albert Hadley officially resigned from the effort and the committee was left to "play house" as it wished.


The visitor's entrance to Gracie Mansion
showing the 1966 Susan Wagner Wing.
Photo by John Foreman for
the Big Old Houses blog.

Despite press reports to the contrary, Mayor Ed Koch did not live in Gracie Mansion on a regular basis, preferring his rent-controlled apartment in Greenwich Village.  A rule that allows that the only overnight guests may be the immediate members of the First Family and the official guests of the City of New York prevented Mayors Guiliani and Bloomberg from cohabitating there with their girlfriends.  Mayor Bloomberg did contribute some of his own funds, however, to the $7 million restoration in 2002 with the interior design carried out by his decorator of choice, Jamie Drake.  Those interiors may be seen as photographed by Architectural Digest here.


Gracie Mansion as it appeared circa 1900
(prior to the 1923 restoration)
Image from Bettman Archives via Corbis.

More can be read about the history of Gracie Mansion on John Foreman's Big Old Houses blog here and on the official website of the City of New York here.  In summary, the mayors bring their own furniture for their private rooms and it looks like the Gracie Mansion Conservancy arranged for this donation by West Elm to supplement the De Blassios' belongings although the furniture officially belongs to the Conservancy.

Mark Hampton and the Single Fabric Scheme

A double-height Drawing Room
decorated by Mark Hampton.
Photo by Peter Vitale for Architectural Digest.

Having worked with a number of 'name' interior designers, I am often asked if there are formulas for decorating.  Yes and no.  There are some themes that are often used in developing an interior décor and one is what I have termed the Single Fabric Scheme.  Popular for years and still used today by both professionals and amateurs alike, the concept is based on choosing one particular fabric for a room and then using it on just about everything.  Success largely depends, as you might imagine, on the fabric.  Also, all of the furnishings and the architecture of the room must be able to be compatible with the unyielding effect of the material.  An example of the Single Fabric Scheme may be seen in this project decorated by Mark Hampton.


The Drawing Room of a townhouse
decorated by Mark Hampton.
Photo by Peter Vitale for Architectural Digest.

Featured in the April, 1983, issue of Architectural Digest, this Beekman Place, New York City, townhouse belongs to Dr. and Mrs. Lorenzo Mendoza of Caracas, bought by his parents in the 1940s.  Blessed with a big, double-height Drawing Room, the article said the house served as a family meeting place for the six children who were in school in the U.S.  Following the Sister Parish practice of providing three seating groups - themes of furniture arrangement will follow in future posts - a sofa faces the fireplace while two others flank the chimney breast.


The seating group opposite the fireplace
in the Drawing Room.
Photo by Peter Vitale for Architectural Digest.

The same silk damask from Brunschwig & Fils covers two of the sofas, two upholstered club chairs, a set of four slipper chairs, a pair of folding screens, a tufted pouf, the walls above the chair rail, and the swagged curtains of an enormous window.  Welcome relief is provided by a suite of nineteenth-century, gilded, Louis XVI style chairs and canapé covered in Aubusson tapestry.  Silk of a creamy pink color is used for a pair of round, draped tables and fringed accent cushions.  A rug made from multi-colored, patterned Stark carpeting also offers some variation in the scheme.


The Library of the Beekman Place townhouse
decorated by Mark Hampton.
Photo by Peter Vitale for Architectural Digest.

The Library overlooking the Drawing Room has walls painted with a glazed lacquer effect in dark green to match the linen velvet upholstery.  This would be considered a variation of the Single Fabric Scheme.  A patterned Stark carpet in dark green and cream also coordinates with the cream painted millwork and cabinetry.  Hampton's associate Lino Correia was credited in assisting in the additions and changes to architectural details.


The Master Bedroom decorated by Mark Hampton.
Photo by Peter Vitale for Architectural Digest.

The Master Bedroom is another variation of the scheme.  Although the same floral chintz is used for all the upholstery and bedspread, another fabric - a subtle strie - was used for the curtains.


The Dining Room decorated by Mark Hampton.
Photo by Peter Vitale for Architectural Digest.

It appears that the same bedroom curtain fabric was used for curtains in the Dining Room.  And it also appears that the same carpet from the Library was used again here.  Although the text makes no mention of the wall decoration, The Devoted Classicist guesses that it is the work of noted decorative painter Robert Jackson.  The elements of the fretwork pattern work out too perfectly not to have been custom painted for the room.


The Entrance Hall painted by Robert Jackson.
Photo by Peter Vitale for Architectural Digest.

The text does reveal that Robert Jackson painted the walls of the Entrance Hall with the Chinese-inspired design.  Robert was one of this country's best decorative painters in the second half of the century, and his work is always a delight to see.  (For a look at a room painted by Robert Jackson for two of my own projects, click here and here).

Is the Single Fabric Scheme a good approach to interior decoration?  As seen here, it cannot be carried through a whole house or apartment without at least some variation, room after room, but it can be an effective solution for one space in a residence.  The advantages of this approach are many; it is relatively easy, and if the designer's fee is based on a mark-up, bolts of an expensive fabric rack up a big commission fast.  But whether it is the best approach is a matter of preference.

Mark Hampton at Home in Southampton

Mark Hampton on the awning-covered terrace
of his Southampton, Long Island home.
Photo by Durston Saylor for Architectural Digest.

The recent post about Lakeview House, Palm Beach mentioned that one of the former owners, Madame Balsan (Consuelo Vanderbilt) spent summers in Southampton, a village settled in 1640 on Long Island.  Her estate Gardenside (also known as Cara Mia) on Ox Pasture Road featured a circa 1900 shingled house and several outbuildings.  After Madame Balsan's death in 1964, the property was subdivided.

The main house of the estate Gardenside in Southampton.
LONG ISLAND'S PROMINENT FAMILIES
IN THE TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON,
THEIR ESTATES, AND THEIR COUNTRY HOMES.
 

Although virtually all the estates have been subdivided, the streets west of Lake Agawan are still known as the Estate Area and a desirable place to own property.  (Since 9/11, the full-time population of the Hamptons has grown, especially for families with children).

An aerial view of part of Southampton,
with Lake Agawan in the center
and the Atlantic Ocean at the bottom right.
The red pin marks the main house of Gardenside
and the purple pin marks the former gardener's cottage.
Image:  Google Maps via MapQuest.

The year-around weekend get-away house that the interior designer Mark Hampton created for his own family started out as the estate gardener's cottage at Gardenside.  Hampton added a complimentary garden of his own after he tripled the size of the house and created an interior in his own distinctive style.  (In numerous interviews, he always insisted he did not have a signature style, but his interiors are unmistakably a reflection of his preferences).

A closer aerial view of the Gardenside estate
with the red pin indicating the original main house
and the purple pin the cottage expanded by Mark Hampton.
Image:  Google Maps via MapQuest.

Along with Mario Buatta and Albert Hadley, Mark Hampton was one of the best known 'name' decorators of the early 1990s.  At the time of the article written by Aileen 'Suzy' Mehle for the September, 1996, issue of Architectural Digest, Mark was riding high with international fame as decorator-of-choice to the rich and influential, not the least being Bush 41.  Mark decorated the Vice-President's residence at the Naval Observatory, their house in Houston, the Kennebunkport compound and Camp David in addition to the White House for Barbara and President George H.W. Bush.

The Mark Hampton Residence in Southampton
as it appeared in the September, 1996, issue of
Architectural Digest.  Photo by Durston Saylor.

In the article, Mark said, "Most of the things in the house Duane [his wife] and I bought over the years of travel long before we had the place."   The Hamptons bought the property around 1980.  Facing the entrance elevation (above), the original cottage is to the right and the addition to the left.


"The design is based on old-fashioned
cottage architecture," Mark Hampton
said of his Southampton home.
Photo by Durston Saylor for Architectural Digest.

The entrance stair hall, in the new part of the house, is always bright with a skylight and spotted chocolate carpet with a strawberry motif.  Part of the collection of framed antique architectural renderings decorate the walls.  "Our interest in architectural models, engravings and drawings had an immense effect on how the final collection of odds and ends turned out."



Dark brown walls give a sense of architecture
to the living room in the addition to the cottage.
Photo by Durston Saylor for Architectural Digest.

In the living room, the new bookcase cabinet along with antique pieces are prototypes of models that later were manufactured for the Mark Hampton line of furniture for Hickory Chair.


The living room opens to a terrace
covered by canvas in the summer.
Photo by Durston Saylor for Architectural Digest.

The white slipcovers in the living room are removed in the winter to return the upholstered chairs and sofas to chintz.  The sisal rugs remain year around.


Plates from VITRUVIUS BRITANNICUS flank
the Georgian Revival chimneypiece.
Photo by Durston Saylor for Architectural Digest.

"And although we needed a palette that would be peaceful and cool in the summer, it had to be cozy during the winter weekends, when we have fires burning all day long."


"A cream room with blue-and-white ceramics
is a classic recipe," said Mark Hampton
in describing his dining room in Southampton.
Photo by Durston Saylor for Architectural Digest.

In the Dining Room, a round table can seat up to eight, and a second table can be added to seat eight more.  The walls are painted with trompe l'oeil panelling and decorated with blue & white early 19th century Staffordshire platters and plates.



The walls of the master bedroom
are a pale lettuce green to compliment
the Colefax & Fowler chintz.
Photo by Durston Saylor for Architectural Digest.

"The master bedroom is a kind of melange of pieces we're both crazy about -- French chairs, English chairs, a Gothic bookcase, and antique Gothic stove, a painted George III bed and a walnut desk from Indiana that I've sat at for forty-five years, writing and drawing since I was a child. . .The bed is always dressed entirely in white except for the antique American quilt we pull over ourselves in the winter."

The garden designed with landscape architect
Bruce Kelly.  Mark Hampton designed the bench
with the tall slat back.
Photo by Durston Saylor for Architectural Digest.

"When we were remodeling and adding on to the cottage," Mark is quoted in the article, "we had the good fortune of working with the late Bruce Kelly, a landscape architect who helped us create the English-style perennial garden.  It cheered us up to have beautiful old fruit trees and herbaceous beds bordered by box hedges when we had to tear down a glorious greenhouse on the property to make room for the swimming pool."

The house from the approach.
The garage, right, was converted to become the poolhouse.
Photo by Durston Saylor for Architectural Digest.

At both of the architectural firms this writer worked for prior to his tenure at Parish-Hadley, there was an association with landscape architect Bruce Kelly;  we worked on a couple of projects together that were never realized.  Bruce was best known for the design of the tribute to John Lennon, Strawberry Fields in Central Park.  Bruce died of AIDS in January, 1993, at age 44.


From
The Devoted Classicist Library

Mark Hampton died in July, 1998, at age 58.  Duane, who had been involved in the marketing and promotional aspect of the business, wrote a beautifully produced book titled MARK HAMPTON: AN AMERICAN DECORATOR that documents a wide survey of her late husband's work; she sometimes lectures on the subject.  Daughter Alexa had been groomed to take over Mark Hampton LLC  and became president and head designer after her father's death;  she has achieved success in her own name and also has a book ALEXA HAMPTON: THE LANGUAGE OF INTERIOR DESIGN.  Also following in her father's footsteps (Mark had studied theatre in college), daughter Kate is the actress Kate Hampton.