"... by people doing their own homes is choosing every perfect detail. The greatest chair, the greatest rug, the greatest fabric. But they don't work together. Overblown. Just too many things. Nothing becomes important." So said Harrison Cultra, presumably in answer to a question asked by the author of Decorating for Celebrities, in 1980.
There is nothing overblown, nor are there too many things in the rooms shown here; dapper, affable and livable spaces. Mr Cultra described his living room as being painted a color he "matched to the moment of Spring when everything turns green. That very special perfect green; in summer it appears very yellow." He also mentioned that the furniture, because of the spare and modern feel to the room, appears to float. Furniture did that a lot of that those days.
The photo of him in the book shows a handsome man, short-haired and full-bearded, in a waisted suit with wide lapels over the broadest of ties - the likes of which has not graced the neck of man since. A comely man indeed, looking quite the swell in best bib and tucker standing happily in front of his own fireplace in the living room of his 1773 Hudson River house. Three years later he was dead of AIDS at the age of 42.
Photos by Billy Cunningham, from Decorating for Celebrities, Paige Rense, Doubleday & Company, 1980.
I swooned when this house was first published. I've been driving myself half mad (or rather, the rest of the way mad) trying to find the issue of AD that had this house in it, with slightly different versions of the rooms...sigh, such good stuff.
ReplyDeleteDown East Dilettante - I remember that issue and have had it in my hands recently but, maddeningly, I have no idea where it is. It could be one of the ones I saved when my previous university divested itself of its library - the theory being that the 21st century student everything necessary is online. Where those magazines are now is unknown to me as what I saved is now stored in some remote storage facility - they say!
ReplyDeleteI have had the pleasure of being in these rooms only recently. They remain mostly intact, rather the worse for wear, but magical still. I have been in numerous interiors that Cultra decorated over the years, and consider him to be one of the greats, sadly cut down when he was at his peak, and therefore mostly unsung today.
ReplyDeleteI too have saved the issue in the 70s, actually just the pages, if I can find them I will comment again with the info. Two decades later I ended up spending a great deal of time in this very house. The current owner was left the house by his lover who was left the house by Cultra. It really is the most wonderful house...everything about Teviotdale circa 1773 is just perfect. Much of Cultra' original interior is still intact and has acquired a beautiful patina. The few changes made by its current owner are simple and tasteful.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - thank you for your comments and the knowledge that the succeeding owners valued what Cultra had done. At this remove, his decor seems as contemporary as it must have done then.
ReplyDeleteMr Darling - there were so many cut down, as you say, and today they are quite unknown except perhaps to those of us with libraries, or personal memories. What strikes me the most is how modern their work still is, proving I suppose that once its right, its right. Some, such as Michael Taylor, survive in the collective memory and are feted still, whilst others await rediscovery.
The first room is indeed very restful, and uncluttered, a style featured by me, (and you). I'm not so sure about the picture in the left hand corner resting on the floor, however.
ReplyDeleteI should correct my last comment..."a style featured and favoured by me, (and you)..."
ReplyDeleteSo pleased to know that Teviotdale is still in tact. He told me "you work to make a space perfect and then the maid moves the furniture". Unlike an artist that works on canvas we just don't have the records of the wonderful things that lost generation created. HBC's sister
ReplyDeleteMa'am (Anonymous) thank you for your comment. I am honored, indeed! That lost generation is my generation for this reason I want, a generation later, to mark its passing. The time seems right, but I didn't know it till I'd begun.
ReplyDeleteAgain, thank you.
I have many snap shots of this great house...the scale of the rooms is large, very high ceilings, these pics do not begin to do it justice. The most stunning room being the Stair Hall which contains a rather large Chinese Chippendale stair case installed and designed by Cultra. There are 4 large rms. on the first floor and a very small kitchen. The house is in many ways a Pavilion or folly. It is believed that there were flanking wings in the 18th century that extended to meet octagonal Garden Houses. The basement I think was originally used for livestock or was it that live stock had been living in the house when Cultra bought it? In other words, it was truly derelict and Cultra made it everything it is today- millwork and all.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - may we correspond thru email? If you agree, please email thru my blogger profile and then I can send you my personal email address. In any case, I'm grateful for your description of what the house had been and what it became.
ReplyDeleteWhat an exquisite colourist. And I love his way of describing the yellowy spring green.
ReplyDeleteOh, Blue, what an interesting wave of comments you've unleashed. First, however, I want to address your mention of the giant library toss-out that is going on. It is so astonishing to me that the libraries are tossing out babies with the bathwater that it leaves me speechless. They all seem to assume that it's available digitally, and often it isn't. I've been trying fruitlessly to find a 1930's article from Country Life in America, something once easily done. Except that now, there is no library within two hundred miles that has a file of this magazine, whereas just a few years ago there were three. And no, no one has digitized it. And the ones that the libraries are tossing are going to dealers who cut them up and sell the ads and articles on ebay.
ReplyDeleteIt is worth noting that I speak as the former president of the board of trustees of a library.
Dilettante - you've perhaps read this in a previous post, but just before I left my previous job the new president, an ex-military finance officer, of no particular understanding or culture, mandated the library be disposed of. I was able to benefit, as were other universities, but as I had already filled the new bookcases I asked that the magazines be stored for me - magazines going back to the 70s and 80s. Now they are nowhere to be found and despite protestations to the contrary I'm sure they've been tossed. Without sounding overdramatic, the closing of libraries and the disposal of the contents without first digitizing them, is, to me, like the burning of the ancient Library of Alexandria, and as wilfull. It is depressing. The barbarians are not at the gate, they're through it and rampaging like hell. We are living through a terrible cultural shift.
ReplyDeleteGood night, sir. I must say I thoroughly enjoy your blog.
Blue,
ReplyDeleteHe was a magnificent colorist. It was Matisse who said "A colorist makes his presence known even in a single charcoal drawing." And that is so readily apparent here.
I so loved the comment from HBC's sister (and isn't that just delightfully serendipitous?) credited to him saying "you work to make a space perfect and then the maid moves the furniture". Wonderful.
And finally, I felt sick in my heart at the pillaging of the library you speak of, any library for that matter, without making even the slightest of efforts to preserve and protect what is now lost forever. I cannot think of a greater desecration.