I’m quite fond of a dramatic interior and of “clutter”, as my erstwhile and failed-minimalist flatmate used to call it (in my mind a pigsty in the bedroom is a sure sign of pigsty in the head, especially when said head aspires to an interiors of the all-white, cube in the centre of the room variety. We fought over the cleaning. Can you tell?)… Anyway, as the cliché goes, I digress.
Tony Duquette was a Los Angeles based designer and artist for Hollywood films as well as the homes of the Los Angeles glitterati. Luminaries like Gloria Swanson, Greta Garbo, Fred Astaire, Vincent Minnelli, Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper attended his 1949 wedding to artist, Elizabeth Johnstone. Duquette was the first American artist to hold an exhibition in the Pavilion de Marsan of the Louvre Museum, Paris and he received design commissions from the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Doris Duke, J. Paul Getty and Elizabeth Arden.
The drawing room at Duquette's home, Dawnridge
Duquette passed away in 1999 at the age of 85, but his legacy lives on through his protégée Hutton Wilkinson, who still creates fine jewelry and home furnishings collections inspired by designs he and Tony Duquette created together, from the headquarters at Duquette’s glamorous Beverly Hills home, Dawnridge.
There are heaps of pictures of Duquette’s designs for interiors, theatre, jewellery and museum exhibitions on the Tony Duquette website, but for the moment, here are some images of his homes. Looking at these pics it makes me think Duquette has been a major influence for the celebrity-in-her-own-right decorator to the stars, Kelly Wearstler.
The drawing room at Duquette's home, Dawnridge
The Green Dining Room, note leopard print vinyl tablecloth and abalone chandelier
The guest bedroom, complete with pink Thai silk canopy bed and carved alligator from New Guinea
The Duquette's bedroom
Tony Duquette's office
Tony Duquette standing by the 'Little Thai House' in his garden, complete with architectural fragments from Thailand and Bali, English gothic spires and salvadged Victorian gingerbread
Sortilegium was a 30-year labour of love for Tony Duquette and his wife Elizabeth. Every weekend they visited the 150-acre property in the Malibu hills, from the 1950s to the day when the property was decimated by fire in the 1990s. The couple renovated or built 21 different structures on the site, each one named and decorated according to different themes.
The Tea House, in which a cup of tea was never served.
The bedroom in Horntoad, which was decorated in "gingerbread" and Americana, note the stuffed owl above the denim-draped bed.
The kitchen at Frogmore, Duquette's home on the ranch
Hamster House, the former 1920s mobile home, expanded to a house
More information:
Tony Duquette website for reams of photos
New York Times article
Check out a style.com video tour of Tony Duquette's home, Dawnridge here.
http://video.style.com/?fr_story=2ec0218be565702dda63402b7b5d0d37e201e2bd&mbid=sn
Posted by: eyesing sonya | January 09, 2008 at 10:51 PM