Mt Vernon Street House I

c. 1840
Decoration, 2011

The first time we worked on this house, it was designed to be in perfect keeping with the heritage of the building. The rooms were laid out in a traditional manner. The millwork was designed to look original. Blind cut doors, pantries with dumbwaiters, and a paneled mahogany library seemed to be appropriate design gestures that lent a sense of authenticity. Our clients had a collection of antique furniture and accessories that was perfectly suited to this mid 19th century Beacon Hill townhouse. Only the kitchen and the den strayed from the period aesthetic, but not too far.

Having just moved from New York, the house and the treatment of it seemed an elegant way to absorb the aesthetic and mores of Boston. These images are of that design.

Eight years later the couple had become a family and they bought a country house, moved all of the antique furniture that had been in this house was moved to that house, and we embarked on the second transformation of this one. Those images follow.