William Baldwin, Jr. (1903 – 25 November 1983), known as Billy Baldwin and nicknamed Billy B, was a New York
interior decorator
Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordina ...
, characterized in an obituary as the "dean of interior decorators".
[Albin Krebs, "Billy Baldwin is dead at 80; Dean of interior decorators", ''The New York Times'', November 26, 198]
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/ref> He was named to the International Best Dressed List
The International Best-Dressed Hall of Fame List was founded by fashionista Eleanor Lambert in 1940 as an attempt to boost the reputation of American fashion at the time. The American magazine '' Vanity Fair'' is currently in charge of the List af ...
Hall of Fame in 1974.
Personal life
Baldwin was born in Roland Park, Maryland and studied architecture at Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...
, dropping out after two years.Truman Capote
Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
's Black and White Ball The Black and White Ball was a masquerade ball held on November 28, 1966, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Hosted by author Truman Capote, the ball was in honor of ''The Washington Post'' publisher Katharine Graham.
Impulse
Truman Capote decide ...
at the Plaza
A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...
in 1966. Baldwin died in 1983 on Nantucket Island
Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...
, .
Professional life
Starting in 1935, Baldwin was employed by Ruby Ross Wood, and when she died in 1950, he took over the firm. In 1952, he formed his own firm, Baldwin and Martin, with Edward Martin. They decorated the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
of John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
, and designed the houses and apartments of many well-known people, such as Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film.
Born to ...
, Mary Wells Lawrence
Mary Wells Lawrence (born Mary Georgene Berg on May 25, 1928) is an American retired advertising executive. She was the founding president of Wells, Rich, Greene, an advertising agency known for its creative work. Lawrence was the first female ...
, Billy Rose
Billy Rose (born William Samuel Rosenberg; September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966) was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainment, with sh ...
, Rachel Lambert Mellon and Paul Mellon
Paul Mellon (June 11, 1907 – February 1, 1999) was an American philanthropist and an owner/breeder of thoroughbred racehorses. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Museum of Racing and Hall ...
, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A pop ...
, Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols (born Michael Igor Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was an American film and theater director, producer, actor, and comedian. He was noted for his ability to work across a range of genres and for his aptitude fo ...
, Harvey Ladew
Harvey Smith Ladew II (April 6, 1887 – July 28, 1976) was an American topiary enthusiast, and a fox hunting enthusiast, who created the Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton, Maryland.
Biography
Ladew was born in Manhattan, New York City on April 6, ...
, William S. Paley
William Samuel Paley (September 28, 1901 – October 26, 1990) was an American businessman, primarily involved in the media, and best known as the chief executive who built the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from a small radio network into o ...
, Pauline de Rothschild Pauline, Baroness de Rothschild (née Potter; December 31, 1908 – March 8, 1976) was an American fashion designer, writer and, with her second husband, a translator of both Elizabethan poetry and the plays of Christopher Fry.Philippe de Rothschild ...
, Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragedy, ...
, Barbara Hutton
Barbara Woolworth Hutton (November 14, 1912 – May 11, 1979) was an American debutante, socialite, heiress, and philanthropist. She was dubbed the "Poor Little Rich Girl"—first when she was given a lavish and expensive debutante ball in 1930 a ...
, and Diana Vreeland
Diana Vreeland (September 29, 1903 – August 22, 1989) was a French-American fashion columnist and editor. She worked for the fashion magazine ''Harper's Bazaar'' and as editor-in-chief at ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'', later becoming a special c ...
. Baldwin's commercial clients included the Round Hill Club in Greenwich, CT, the Kenneth
Kenneth is an English given name and surname. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a byna ...
hair salon in New York City, and La Florentina in the South of France. In 1972, Baldwin designed a line of furniture (including his famous Slipper Chair), which continues to be manufactured by the Billy Baldwin Studio.[''Princeton Alumni Weekly'', September 22, 1982]
p. 23
/ref>
Baldwin wrote several books over his career including ''Billy Baldwin Decorates'' (1972), ''Billy Baldwin Remembers'' (1974), and ''Billy Baldwin: An Autobiography'' (1985, posthumously). He was also featured in books by others, such as ''Legendary Decorators'' (1992), written by Mark Hampton
Mark Hampton (born Mark Iredell Hampton Jr., June 1, 1940 – July 23, 1998) was an American interior designer, writer, and illustrator, known primarily for his residential interior design work for clients such as Brooke Astor, Estee Lauder, Mike ...
, ''The New York Times Book of Interior Design and Decoration'', and ''Scavullo on Men'' (1977) written by Scavullo. In 2010, Adam Lewis published a biography of Baldwin entitled ''Billy Baldwin: The Great American Decorator''.
Notes
Bibliography
* Billy Baldwin, ''Billy Baldwin Decorates'', 1973.
* Adam Lewis, ''Billy Baldwin: The Great American Decorator'', Rizzoli 2010, .
* M.L. Aronson, "Billy Baldwin: A fresh approach to color and form reshapes the American aesthetic", ''Architectural Digest'', January 200
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American interior designers
1903 births
1983 deaths
{{US-artist-stub