A Holiday Walk | Greenfield Hill

Greenfield Hill, Connecticut is a part of Fairfield that is filled with a wonderful blend of antique houses built in the 1930s. Many of them are designed by architect, Cameron Clark. Clark lived in Greenfield Hill and had offices in Southport and Manhattan. He is well-known for his residential work and for his redesign in 1939, of the Fairfield Town Hall. Clark was married to Agnes Selkirk, a graduate of the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture—a school for women founded in 1901, specializing in landscape architecture and horticulture—located in Groton, Massachusetts. Agnes worked for renowned landscape architect and teacher Ellen Biddle Shipman before opening her own Park Avenue office.

Not all of these houses were designed by Clark, but they are all gems that I wanted to share with you. I took these photographs on an afternoon walk last winter. The architectural details and stonewalls are timeless and elegant and truly Connecticut.

Everything looks particularly beautiful in late afternoon winter light.

Here is the Greenfield Hill Congregational Church that sits on the green. It's the church I got married in almost 14 years ago. In the month of May, there is a lovely Dogwood Festival here. It's been a tradition for 76 years. I hope you enjoyed our afternoon walk around Greenfield Hill. Wishing you glad tidings and all the best in the New Year!

Aesthetics | From Blogger to Architect

Images from Little Augury blog

I was taking part in my first tweet-chat hosted by @DesignTVchat on Twitter the other day, and we were asked which design blogs inspire us. There are many good blogs that I read regularly [see blog-roll on the right], but the blog Little Augury instantly came to mind. It's author [and decorator] Patricia Gaye Tapp touches on subjects that truly inspire—art, fashion, literature, décor and a pantheon of cultural/style icons; I cannot be inspired by one without the other. And, this is why Little Augury hits the mark in interior design blogs. For me, design inspiration comes from all things that are rooted aesthetically and return to the basics—light, color, texture, shape and scale. And, this is what matters to me in interior design.

I was recently reminded of these basic elements of design while reading  Benjamin Baldwin: An Autobiography in Design. Benjamin Baldwin [who died in 1993] is the type of designer who inspires me. Louis Kahn called him the dean of "American interior designers." He studied architecture at Princeton then painting with Hans Hofmann—eventually returning to Princeton for a masters degree in Fine Arts—and then, on to the Cranbrook Academy of Art where he met and collaborated with Pei, Kahn and Saarinen. Brilliant!

Baldwin [at left] designed residential and office interiors, furniture and textiles, and beautiful gardens. He felt that gardens represented the ultimate form of creativity. In his concept-house of the future, Baldwin imagined... "floors would be friendly to bare-feet and sandals, furniture would be nondescript and inexpensive." As much as I love interiors that are full of lush, tactile beauty, the foundation of my design principles are aligned with Baldwin's philosophy.

Photographs [above] from Benjamin Baldwin: An Autobiography in Design, W.W. Norton

The spaces Baldwin created seem timeless because they are rooted in an architectural aesthetic of good taste and practical judgement. I find much the same sensibility in the work of my favorite American decorator, Tom Scheerer.

Scheerer [shown above in bare-feet with Saarinen table!] also has a degree in architecture. Tom carries on the tradition of a studied yet relaxed modernism by creating civilized and beautiful, yet unpretentious spaces. I am a huge fan. I can spend more time studying a Scheerer-designed room because of its foundation in design and abundance of aesthetics, and cozy common sense.

Tom Scheerer photos top: Paris Townhouse, Lyford Cay Club by Pieter Estersohn
photos bottom: by William Waldron

So, the circle of my wonderful tweet-chat brought me back to thinking about the fundamental elements and principles of good design and what inspires me—whether found in the architecture of an inspiring blog or a simple American interior.

Visit Little Augury here.
See my previous interview with Tom Scheerer here.
Learn about another student of Hans Hofmann here.Visit @DesignTVchat on twitter.Read about my grandfather, the architect here.