When the late Albert Hadley closed his office as of November 1, 2010, and "officially retired" from his career as an interior design legend, he set up a home office in his Manhattan apartment. He continued with just a few, select, last projects there until he joined his sister in Nashville last December. Items from the apartment and his house in Southport, Connecticut, along with a cache of his famous sketches, were the subject of three sales recently on the on-line shopping venue One Kings Lane. With the thought that readers of
The Devoted Classicist would appreciate seeing some of these pieces up close, a selection follows. Mr. Hadley followed Billy Baldwin's philosophy (paraphrased as "It's not what you have, but how you use it") for his personal decoration, not always using the most precious objects but rather some simple, inexpensive pieces (though premium priced on OKL) to achieve his fresh decor.
Mr. Hadley's desk in the East 63rd Street office during my tenure at Parish-Hadley was a large table of his own design with legs of scrolling straps of distressed gilt iron and a top painted to resemble squares of parchment. But it is no surprise that he would end with this simple 1970s table with an H-stretcher and legs of white painted steel designed by Mark Scharillo. Mr. Hadley often used wool felt intended to cover billiard tables as a table cloth for writing tables and that appears to be the case here, as a more usuable surface than the black lacquered top.
This standing lamp from the 1950s was a gift from his mentor Van Day Truex and among his favorite possessions. Useful as well as stylish, it sometimes made an appearance in his often-changing Parish-Hadley office and was a favorite of mine as well.
To compliment the standing lamp, a set of six German ebonized sidechairs from the 1930s had their seats upholstered each in a different color of silk. Variations on this model, a simplified verson of the classic klismos chair, were often chosen by Mr. Hadley for projects throughout his career.
I cannot related anything about the story behind his acquiring the bronze falcon by Geoffrey Dashwood on his desk, but I am sure he appreciated the Art Deco architectural form of it.
In contrast, he no doubt also appreciated the contemporary baroque decoration of the small vase used as a pencil holder.
Despite his great appreciation of the antique, Mr. Hadley was a great patron of young contemporary artists. This abstract painting by Mark Scharillo from the 1980s had previously hung in Mister's Southport weekend home between a pair of windows. When the artist later saw the installation, it was said that he had joked it was painted for that location.
Wood sunburst mirrors were an accent that often appeared in Parish-Hadely interiors and this contemporary version by Mark Scharillo held a place of honor in the apartment.
Perhaps only aspect of the collection that The Devoted Classicist failed to fully appreciate was Mr. Hadley's patronage of large photographs by Dennis Krukowski. The photos from 1983 documented the urban artist Richard Hambleton's grafitti-like paintings on exterior walls of buildings in lower Manhattan. This and another also in the sale had hung prominently but in the more private areas of the Parish-Hadley offices on East 63rd Street during my tenure.
"Personality" chairs were another favorite of Mr. Hadley that appeared in almost every project in some form or another. This unique, sculptural Regency period hall chair was purchased from antiques dealer Barry Sainsbury in London.
This rendering is another favorite of The Devoted Classicist, a 1946 depiction of an interior by the legendary decorator Dorothy Draper by John Marsman. In the East 63rd Street offices of Parish-Hadley during the 1980s, it had been part of the decor in the office of Mr. Hadley's talented assistant, the late Tice Alexander.
In this
Elle Decor cover, the rendering is shown installed in the Guest/Sitting Room of the apartment mounted on the bulletin board. Leaning below is a gouache on canvas profile portrait of another legendary decorator, Elsie de Wolfe, dated 1926.
The sadness of the dispersal is balanced by the joy that must have come to the buyers. Surely all these furnishings have found much-appreciated new homes.
The photos of the furnishings are from the offering by the members-only site, One Kings Lane. The photo of Mr. Hadley's home office previously appeared in a tribute written by Thomas Jayne.
