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| STUNNING ENTRANCE: The entry is anchored, literally, by a Chilean lapis lazuli tabletop on a bronze column imbedded in the floor. The lapis lazuli carved eagle on rock crystal base is from Afghanistan. And one of the homewoner’s favorites, “Venus and Adonis,” oil on copper by Lodivico “Il Cigoli” Cardi c. 1606-1612. |
Renaissance Man
A private art collector carves an extraordinary Turtle Creek apartment from an ordinary space.
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| DISPLAY: Pat McElwee created niches for displaying books, a detail inspired by Jean Michel Frank. Art from left: “Saint Onophrius,” oil on canvas by Jusepe de Ribera 1643; “A Still Life with a Brazier, a Glass of Beer, and a Clay Pipe,” oil on panel by Pieter Claesz 1642. |
“It was just not how I wanted to live,” says Dallas decorator Pat McElwee’s client, who flatly rejected conventional wisdom that a house must have a certain number of rooms and doors and the requisite two sinks in the master bath. While others advised him on resale value, he listened to his heart. He wanted a simple but well-designed space to house his deepest passions: art, books, and music. The resulting space could be compared to great art – it is at once exciting, unconventional, and beautiful.
“Joe D’Urso used to say that working with space was like sculpting,” remembers McElwee, who worked for the seminal contemporary designer in the ’70s and early ’80s, in addition to stints at Parish-Hadley and with Tonny Foy. “He stripped every job to the bones so you could look at it from a new perspective,” he says.
A fresh perspective is what McElwee and his client got when they gutted the Turtle Creek high-rise apartment. He visited the hollowed out space often, sketching his ideas. “I wanted to come up with the best use of the space without making it into something it wasn’t,” the client says. “With no walls and a core space, it was a good opportunity to see how I’d live in there. I imagined how I might entertain and where I wanted the art hung. I gave consideration for a while to leaving it as a loft and not even putting up a wall in the bedroom but decided that was going too far,” he says.
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| TASTEFUL: 19th-century carved American eagle Federal console with a sienna marble top. Art clockwise from top: “Nature Morte aux Fruits et au Chaundron,” oil on canvas by Germain Theodore Ribot c. 1850; “Sicilian Landscape, The Ruins of the Greek Theatre at Taormina,” oil on panel by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller 1844; “A Ferry Boat,” oil on panel by Jan Van Os c. 1775. |
Eventually, the area was carved into a long rectangle and bisected by a shorter rectangle. A small foyer and an arched, windowless gallery for drawings were added. The floor plan is reminiscent of a Roman basilica with its semicircular apse, central nave, and transept. The comparison to an early Christian church is coincidental, both McElwee and the client assure, but whatever its unconscious influences, the architecture makes a stunning backdrop for a collection of more than 50 pieces of art that includes a Tiepolo and a Rembrandt.
The client’s passion for art was sparked while living in Florence for many years, where he and his wife renovated a villa. After his divorce, he moved back to Dallas two years ago and brought his art collection with him. “People sometimes conclude that I collect religious art, but I buy what viscerally moves me,” the client says. “It’s just that what moves me happens to be between the 13th and 16th centuries, when European painting was predominately Christian or Biblical.” His collection also includes works by later artists such as Salvador Dali, Edouard Vuillard, Aristide Maillol, and Gerhard Richter.
With polished Venetian plaster walls – the color of an ostrich egg – and floors planked in walnut, like those found in many Italian homes, the residence has an Old World richness meshed with modern dash. “He wanted a balance between traditional and modern, so we made it both,” says McElwee. The stone floors in the master bath are wired with electric heat and synchronized with the client’s morning schedule. Museum shades are raised and lowered on automatic timers during the brightest times of day to protect the art, while special window coatings help keep out damaging UV rays. Lighting specialist Craig Roberts carefully lit each painting with computerized low-voltage spots for drama. Recessed lighting around the ceiling’s perimeter makes the entire apartment glow, as if by candlelight. “Living in Europe had a tremendous effect on how I designed my apartment here,” the client says. “We spent three years remodeling our villa in Florence, and I was able to bring over some of those ideas.”
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| COMFORTING: The master bedroom walls are covered in cut-velvet wall fabric from Great Plains; custom headboard from George Cameron Nash. Art from left, at back: “Etude Pour le Monument a Claude Debussy (Baigneuse Accropie),” sanquine and white chalk on paper study by Aristide Maillol 1930; “Time Discovering Truth,” oil on canvas by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo c. 1743; “Nature Morte,” oil on canvas by Armand Guillaumin 1868. |
Except for a scattering of fine antiques, most of the furniture in the apartment was custom-made. “Until after the war, no one in Italy bought furniture, they either inherited it or had it made,” the client says. “The prices for handmade furniture were so reasonable back then. So why would you not customize it? It’s much more gratifying.”
A pair of burl wood nightstands in the master bedroom are copies of custom pieces he’d designed for his villa, with drawers on a pivot. The design makes it possible to comfortably reach into them while lying in bed. A 10-foot dining table was designed by the client and made from a rare, almost-4-inch-thick solid piece of black walnut that he discovered in Oregon after much research on the Internet. It arrived by flatbed truck with the bark still on it. “Great old refectory tables are thick, but usually made from several boards because a solid piece of wood is hard to find. Early Italian furniture was often black walnut, which has become scarce because it was harvested in the 20th century for telephone poles and railroad ties,” he says. “I was overjoyed when we found it.”
A walnut Hamburg Steinway grand piano, sitting at one end of the apartment, has been with him 18 years. “It was the first piece of furniture I ever owned,” he says. “I used to put the top down and eat dinner on it when I was single. I love playing the piano – it’s a therapeutic outlet. I have to have music and books around me. Architecture is like that for me, too. I hope that my house conveys a life well-lived.”
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| MIXTURE: In pulling together the Turtle Creek apartment, McElwee mixed the owner’s European art collection with furniture from local sources including this custom daybed by Johnson + Hill/Square One, upholstered in Travers velvet. Art from left: “Italianate Landscape,” oil on copper by Goffredo Wals c. 1620-1625; “The Virgin of the Cherries,” oil on panel by Giovan “Giampietrino” Pietro Rizzoli c. 1510-1530; “Saint Ivo with a Kneeling Supplicant,” tempera and gold on panel by Master of the Rinuccini Chapel c. 1351-1375; “Saint Onophrius,” oil on canvas by Jusepe de Ribera 1643. |
Million-Dollar Details
GENERAL CONTRACTOR, INCLUDING CABINETWORK
JG Priest Construction
10940 Alder Circle
214-213-1519
LIGHTING DESIGN
Craig Roberts Associates
4230 Avondale Ave.,
Ste. 202
214-526-6470
VENETIAN PLASTER WALLS
Terrence Sweeney Design
5036 Airline Rd.
214-651-7101
MUSEUM SHADES
Designer’s Workroom
1825 Summit Ave.,
Ste. 205, Plano
972-881-1985
WALL UPHOLSTERY
Robert Turner Associates
4410 Walnut Hill Ln.
214-351-4870
CUSTOM DINING TABLE
AND BEDSIDE TABLES
P.K.I.
8920 Director’s Row
214-637-4722
CUSTOM CHAISE, DISPLAY CABINET,
AND BOOKCASES
Johnson + Hill/
Square One
4528 McKinney Ave.
214-599-0266
WALNUT FLOORING
French-Brown Floors
7007 Greenville Ave.
214-363-4341
