Tour a Gold Coast Chicago Pied-à-Terre That Takes Art Deco Style to the Next Level
When a couple purchased a Chicago co-op in a prestigious 1920s building, they knew they had a lot of work to do. The grand Gold Coast flat on a high floor had remained mostly true to its original layout from a century ago, but decor choices had left it more coastal grandma than Art Deco swank. A refresh was most definitely in order.
Jessica LaGrange, known to have an eye for high-touch design that’s still effortlessly livable, was the obvious choice for the owners, who both claim family trees ripe with fruit. (His family has been in the juice concentrate business for three generations; hers is in juice manufacturing.) LaGrange decided to use the building’s history as a guide in order to create a home that could serve as a sanctuary when the art-collecting couple was in town. “They loved the provenance of the building, along with its location and views,” the designer says. LaGrange saw the apartment early on, when it was swathed in chintz and shades of powder blue and peach. “It had a very gracious layout and was the perfect size for their city pied-à-terre.”
LaGrange devised a brilliant idea to set the tone: She’d inlay into the elegantly proportioned foyer a custom terrazzo-and-bronze circular design that’s both Deco and exceedingly modern. It beams from the floor like a captured sunburst. An art piece by Jacob Hashimoto, constructed out of kites, adds texture and pop: another warning shot of the surprises still to be revealed further in the home.
An arch to the east (carved to match two other original archways) leads to a jewel box of a library, which further conceals a secret wet bar and powder room tucked behind the bookshelves. Another arch off the foyer opens onto a spacious living room that showcases an affinity for collecting: A 1960s Vladmir Kagan curved sofa reupholstered in shearling is punctuated by a moody Zhou Brothers painting—Spirit (1990)—and two Jean de Merry Lora armchairs redone in a pale purple velvet. Across the room, bathed in the warmth of a fireplace and shielded with an abstract Mari Suri Constellation fire screen, a Pierrepont sofa joins an eclectic array of armchairs, a lounger, and a bench. Taken together, the earth tones of these pieces provide contrast to a Babe Shapiro print, which almost seems to glow. “They placed a big emphasis on finding interesting pieces and forms that felt collected over time,” LaGrange says.
Beyond the living room stands a Lilliputian dining room, its walls covered in embroidered silk birch trees. A chandelier made of crystal nuggets gives the vintage Karl Springer table and four chairs a luminosity that teeters on ethereal. The couple likes to cook, so the kitchen—no longer anchored by dated green granite countertops—accentuates its efficient functionality. A custom lighting fixture now hangs atop a petite Arabescato Corchia marble island that matches the countertops and backsplashes. The coffered ceiling, painted a glossy black and white, and original wood floors provide enough interest that a bowl of fruit is all the kitchen requires to appear eminently lived in.
There’s much more to entice the owners to stick around for longer than a weekend d’amour in their city haven: a primary bedroom that’s awash in lavender and its en suite bath illuminated with Tony Duquette Plume sconces, a guest room plastered in mock shagreen and lit by vintage sconces, a family room decorated with the matriarch’s own works, and views from most windows over the endless blue of Lake Michigan.
Now, when the owners return, they truly have an oasis from which to contemplate all the beauty that surrounds them from day to night. A pied-à-terre, yes, but one worthy of becoming a forever home.
