WHEN Dr. MARK LEMMON MARRIED the former Barbara Thomas six years ago, he agreed to make her home his on one condition: He had to have his own study.
The sprawling contemporary style house, set on two rolling acres in Bluffview, was certainly large enough for two. But there wasn’t a spare room to house Dr. Lemmon’s considerable collection of rare books.
Dr. Lemmon, who retired from his plastic surgery practice in 1991, devotes his workday to a California wine business he established in 1975. He is the namesake son of the late Mark Lemmon (the prolific ecclesiastical architect whose work includes Highland Park Presbyterian and Highland Park United Methodist churches) and the grandson of textbook publisher William Lemmon (he published die first complete series of American history books for the state of Texas). Dr. Lemmon was raised with an eye for proportion and an appreciation for literature, As a boy, he spent summers cataloguing the names of books in his parents’ library. As an adult, he’s always had some sort of library in every home he’s owned.
“This is the smallest library I’ve had,” he says, “but it’s perfect for me.”
The Lemmons made the addition off the master bedroom where the limitations of the lot-the house sits on a hill-dictated the size of the study. The challenge: Limited space meant the room would be very small ( 13 -by-16 feet). Mrs. Lemmon called on Mary Anne Smiley, the interior designer who had aided in the design of the Lemmons’ suite at Texas Stadium and ranch house in East Texas.
Dr. Lemmon wanted an aesthetically pleasing place in the house where he and Mrs. Lemmon could retreat for a glass of wine, as well as one that could double as an office.
“Because it was such a small area there was only so much we could do,” Smiley says. “The challenge was working in everything he wanted.” Including, for starters, his choice of color. Smiley calls it “Lemmon red.” “Red is very energetic. In a study where you also want to be able to relax, that could be a downer.” When the project won two honorable mentions at this year’s Design Ovation Awards, the judges commended Smiley on her “aggressive use of color.” As it turns out, the color scheme played into Dr. Lemmon’s design scheme. The Lemmons had recently returned from Glasgow where they visited the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow. The museum houses the original home of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Britain’s leading Art Nouveau architect and designer. When Dr. Lemmon saw the Mackintosh library he knew he wanted to incorporate many of the same elements into his own. Specifically: the small, linear fireplace that occupies one corner.
The red stained-glass floral motif within the steel-panel window coverings, designed by Smiley, were also inspired by Mackintosh.
Even,’ remaining inch of available vertical space was used for library shelves. Two Mies van der Rohe black leather chairs, and a zebra rug and glass-top desk from Dr. Lemmon’s former library, complement the design.
“We use the room a lot more than I thought we would,” says Mrs. Lemmon. “Red rooms are not my favorite, but I just said, ’Whatever you want is fine. It’s yours.’ “
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