IN THE NEWS: C HOME MAGAZINE FEATURES ELEGANT TWG PROPERTY

Be sure to grab a copy of C Home magazine (Spring 2014). Diane Dorrans Saeks has written an article about a lovely Tudor home with interiors designed by The Wiseman Group. The attention to detail in this Bay Area home is exquisite and brings out the best of its interior architecture.

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FIELD TRIP: WASHINGTON, DC

Images from the Van Gogh Repetitions exhibit at The Phillips Collection Source - The Philips Collection

Design principal Brenda Mickel recently took a trip to the East Coast to visit family in the Washington, DC area. While there she made two cultural outings which were especially enjoyable: one to The Phillips Collection and the other to the Dumbarton Oaks estate.

The Phillips Collection opened to the public in 1921 in Washington’s Dupont Circle neighborhood. It is considered the first museum of modern art in America. Paintings by Renoir and Rothko, Bonnard and O'Keeffe, van Gogh and Diebenkorn are among the many stunning impressionist and modern works that fill the museum. Extensive new galleries adjoin the former home of its founder, Duncan Phillips. The collection continues to develop with selective new acquisitions, many by contemporary artists. 

Brenda was quite fortunate to visit while a special exhibit, Van Gogh Repetitions, was hung. Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) created numerous versions of some of his most famous subjects. "The first exhibition in Phillips Collection history devoted to the artist, Van Gogh Repetitions goes beneath the surface of some of his best-known paintings to examine how and why he repeated certain compositions during his 10-year career, inviting viewers to look more closely than ever before at van Gogh’s celebrated works." (Source - The Phillip's Collection)

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection is located in Georgetown, an area Brenda knows well and loves. Administered by the Trustees for Harvard University. It supports research and learning internationally in Byzantine, Garden and Landscape, and Pre-Columbian studies through fellowships and internships, meetings, and exhibitions. Visitors can stroll the historic gardens, tour the world-class museum collection of art, and attend lectures and concerts in the music room.

Dumbarton Oaks estate Photo - Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

Music Room at Dumbarton Oaks estate Photo - Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

In 1920, after a long and careful search, Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss found their ideal country house and garden within Washington, DC. They purchased a fifty-three-acre property, described as an old-fashioned house standing in rather neglected grounds, at the highest point of Georgetown. Within a year the Blisses hired landscape gardener Beatrix Farrand to design the gardens. Working in happy and close collaboration for almost thirty years, Mildred Bliss and Beatrix Farrand planned every garden detail, each terrace, bench, urn, and border.

Since that time, other architects working with Mildred Bliss, most notably Ruth Havey and Alden Hopkins, changed certain elements of the Farrand design. The gardens have also changed in function. In 1940, Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss gave the upper sixteen acres to Harvard University to establish a research institute for Byzantine studies, Pre-Columbian studies, and studies in the history of gardens and landscape architecture. They gave the lower, more naturalistic twenty-seven acres to the United States government to be made into a public park. An additional ten acres was sold to build the Danish Embassy. (Source: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection)

Garden at Dumbarton Oaks, designed by Beatrix Farrand Photo - Karl Gercens

Garden at Dumbarton Oaks, designed by Beatrix Farrand Photo - Fine Gardening

Brenda was intrigued by the 1960 Pre-Columbian Pavilion. It's architectural style is distinctly mid-century modern, contrasting sharply with the Georgian and french Neoclassical architectural features of the rest of the estate.

Perspectival rendering of the Pre-Columbian Pavilion, designed by architect Philip Johnson Artwork - Peter Jacoby

Pre-Columbian Pavilion Photo - Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

Exposure to such wonderful art, architecture, and gardens is a high priority for The Wiseman Group staff. Brenda returned to work in San Francisco energized and inspired by her trip to Washington, DC.

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BLOG AUTHOR

Kirsten Honeyman was asked to join TWG's team as a writer and consultant after posting an article about Paul Vincent Wiseman's mediterranean garden on her lifestyle blog, La Dolce Vita California.  She now writes the firm's blog, TWG : Design Journal. 

Feel free to contact Kirsten at: 

designjournal@wisemangroup.com

OUT AND ABOUT: COCKTAILS ON THE PENINSULA

Front entry area with large pivoting door

The Wiseman Group was recently invited for cocktails at the Hillsborough residence of clients of the firm. The occasion: the completion of the design project's furniture installation. The hosts wanted to share their lovely home with the staff and show their appreciation for a job well done. Design Principal James Hunter lead the creative team with assistance from Designer Luis Alves, both of whom were on hand to answer questions and show everyone around.

Library furniture installed, with finishing accessories soon to come

Seating near the living room fireplace with additional decorative elements yet to be installed

Seating by the fireplace accented with pillows in Fortuny's Shanti pattern

Panel above fire place raised to reveal a flat screen television

Small patio outside of the master bedroom suite, featuring a black oval soaking tub

Master bathroom vanity

Guest bathroom shower

The clients have a preference for modern design, evident in the home's architecture and in their choice of furniture and fixtures. The house was completely remodeled (by Charlie Barnett Associates) to increase a feeling of interior spaciousness. In spite of the large size of the great room, which combines the kitchen, dining area, and seating near the fireplace, the house feels warm and comfortable -- much to the credit of the design staff.

Design Principal James Hunter flanked by the client and her neighbor, also a client of TWG

The client with CEO Kevin Peters

President Paul Wiseman and Design Principal Brenda Mickel

Designer Luis Alves and Kevin Peters

Designers Kelsey Mazzotta and Victoria Reynolds with attorney Richard Snyder

Designers Jessica Barnard, Anna Sweeney, and Victoria Reynolds

Accounting Manager Eloisa Saquilayan, Designer Marilyn Autry, and PVW Assistant Chase Roberson

Kevin Peters with (from left) Designers Anna Sweeney, Lauren Daley, Marilyn Autry, Sadie Darsie, and Kelsey Mazzotta

The staff enjoyed seeing the project firsthand and appreciated the gracious manner in which the clients showed TWG their thanks!

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FIELD TRIP: FOCUS ON FRANK GEHRY

Kirsten Honeyman with Frank Gehry's "Rose for Lilly" at the Disney Concert Hall in L.A. Photo - Kimberly Dougherty

Regular readers of the Design Journal will have noticed a lack of activity on the blog of late. Kirsten Honeyman, our blog author has been focusing her full attention on the firm's first interior design book, Inner Spaces, to be published in 2014. Kirsten is part of a team that includes TWG President Paul Wiseman; CEO Kevin Peters; Design Principals James Hunter, Brenda Mickel, and Mauricio Munoz; staff members Chase Roberson and Carrie Swing; author Brian Coleman; and photographer Matthew Millman. The team has been working furiously -- selecting photographs, supplying information about projects, providing design input, and reviewing the manuscript -- to meet deadlines for publisher Gibbs Smith. Everyone is pleased with the progress, and the finished book promises to be a wonderful exploration of the firm's work. There are many exciting aspects of the book project (more on that later), but one of the most thrilling is the contribution of a foreword by Frank O. Gehry, arguably the world's most famous living architect.

A façade of the Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California Photo - Kirsten Honeyman

With Gehry so much in the forefront of the team's consciousness, Kirsten decided to make two excursions to experience the master’s work. First stop: Gehry's acclaimed Disney Concert Hall. Paul Goldberger, currently a Contributing Editor at Vanity Fair and previously the Architecture Critic for The New Yorker (1997 through 2011), has described the hall as “surely the most distinguished building” in downtown Los Angeles. “The auditorium is the finest interior Gehry has ever made," Goldberger opined in 2003, noting that the “shape of the hall and its warm rich wood, suggest a musical instrument.” Kirsten was not able to tour the interior of the concert hall, as there was a matinée being performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, but she did capture several images of the building's exterior. She enjoyed roaming the hall's interior public spaces as well as strolling around the perimeter of the building.

Photo - Kirsten Honeyman

Photo - Kirsten Honeyman

Photo - Kirsten Honeyman

Kirsten was completely humbled by her second stop at the Stone Photography Studio in Davis, California. Recently retired from careers as mental health professionals, Andrea and Rob Stone have turned their avid interest in photography into a second career. Andrea has created a portfolio of photographs called the "City Reflections Project," which has been published in three international publications. Many of these large-scale images were taken at Gehry's Experience Music Project in Seattle.

Frank G Interpreted #2 Photo - Andrea Stone

The Bishop Photo - Andrea Stone

In Gehry's highly reflective metal surfaces, Andrea's artful eye has composed and captured "paintings." She has taken the experience of Gehry's architecture in a wonderful and unexpected direction; her images offer a unique avenue for enjoying Gehry's work -- one that the architect himself might not have foreseen!

Luminosity Photo - Andrea Stone

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