The Man Who Launched A Thousand Floors

Perhaps not a thousand, but many floors have been inspired by David Adler. The late architect treated the ground with just as much care and attention as he did the walls, ceilings, and exteriors. Most of Adler's projects included floors adorned with a star motif, one of Adler's favorites, but harlequin patterns and metal inlay also figured prominently in his work. Seventy some odd years later and Adler's floors still capture our imagination.


Adler often incorporated five, six, and eight point stars into his floors. The living room of the Winslow house, Pebble Beach, CA, featured a pine floor with a walnut star inlay.


Most of Adler's stars were more stylized like this one in marble, which was inlaid into the terrazzo floor of the Clow residence, Lake Forest, IL.


Miles Redd painted an eight-point star on his kitchen floor, an homage to the late, great Adler. (Image courtesy of New York Social Diary)


A harlequin patterned marble floor in the gallery of the Clark house, Hillsborough, CA.


The master bathroom in the Atlanta home of Chad Holman and Keith Traxler features a harlequin patterned marble floor. Holman had been inspired by a similar floor that he saw in an Adler designed house in Chicago. (Photo courtesy of David Christensen photographer/Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, October 2008)


A metal inlaid, ebonized floor in the Adler designed home of Mrs. Kersey Coates Reed.


Mrs. Kersey Coates Reed's house was certainly not lacking in glamour. The women's dressing room featured yet another metal inlaid floor.


The floor in Miles Redd's living room is reminiscent of that in the Reed house. (Photo from New York Social Diary)

Image at top: The porch of the Furness house, Middleburg, VA, featured a stenciled floor. Someone should be daring enough and replicate this floor in their home.

(All Adler images from David Adler, Architect: The Elements of Style)

Biased about Floors

There are some people who believe that checkerboard tile floors should be laid on the diagonal. For others, straight up and down is perfectly fine. I suppose it's an aesthetic preference, though I'm sure one style is more classically and architecturally correct than the other.

If my memory serves me correctly, and lately it hasn't been, Dorothy Draper had a very definite opinion on the matter. I believe that she was an advocate of the diagonal method, though her projects show that she flirted with both styles. Nevertheless, after finding numerous images of black and white floors, I think I prefer tiles laid on the bias. Visually, diagonal tiles draw one's eye into the room. And there's something quite elegant about it too. The up and down fashion, like that seen above in this movie still, truly does look like a checkerboard, but to me it looks a little blocky. (The image at top also is a great example of why larger tiles look better than small ones.)

When I was trying to find images for this post, I mostly found floors with the tiles laid diagonally, which leads me to believe that most designers prefer this style. Which do you like?





Hampshire House was one of Draper's earlier projects, so perhaps she had not yet formulated her opinion about diagonal tiles.


Dorothy chose large scaled tiles laid on the diagonal for the floor at Quitandinha.


Mrs. Kersey Coates Reed House, David Adler architect


Remember this home decorated by Celerie Kemble? The tile is actually a painted wooden floor, but the faux tiles were painted on the bias.


Woodson Taulbee's home in Old San Juan, decorated by Billy Baldwin.

(Image at top: Movie still from 1929 movie "The Show of Shows"; from Screen Deco (Architecture and Film, 3.). Image 2 and 3 from In the Pink: Dorothy Draper--America's Most Fabulous Decorator. Photo 4, David Adler, Architect: The Elements of Style. Image 5 courtesy of Celerie Kemble: To Your Taste: Creating Modern Rooms with a Traditional Twist. #6, Billy Baldwin Decorates: A book of practical decorating ideas)

Separated at Birth?

The famous library at Reed House, designed by Frances Elkins and David Adler. The sofa and table are Jean-Michel Frank pieces. The walls are sheathed in panels of Hermès goatskin.


David Hicks designed this Swiss library in 1970. The walls are covered in padded caramel suede panels. The sofa is upholstered in the same suede.



This tablesetting was designed by J. Allen Murphy in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Rex Harrison back in the 1980s.



This room, designed by Mary McDonald, combines one of the decorator's favorite color schemes- blue and white- with another favorite color: pink.


The late decorator Renny Saltzman designed a groovy bedroom using strong reds and blues back in the 1960s.


Jonathan Adler is keeping this groovy spirit alive with this bedroom in his Manhattan apartment.


A living room at Waldorf Towers decorated by Parish-Hadley. The walls are a deep aubergine.


Though the walls are brown rather than aubergine, the glossy finish and the mirrors in this Miles Redd room are reminiscent of the room by Parish-Hadley.

(Image of Elkins interior courtesy of David Adler, Architect: The Elements of Style. David Hicks image from David Hicks: Designer. Murphy tablesetting from a 1980s Southern Accents; Mary McDonald image via House Beautiful. Saltzman image from House & Garden's Complete Guide to Interior Decoration; Jonathan Adler photo from Elle Decor So Chic: Glamorous Lives, Stylish Spaces. Parish-Hadley image courtesy Parish-Hadley: Sixty Years of American Design. Miles Redd room from House Beautiful, 1/02, Minh+Wass photographers.)

Mining the Middle Ages for Inspiration

I've never been one for the medieval look. And I never thought about crenellations until Frances Elkins: Interior Design came out a few years back. I fell head over heels for this bedroom above. Used by David Adler when he visited Elkins' Monterrey, CA home, the room had a crenellated bed canopy and window valance. How chic was that? And in Elkins' deft hands, the room did not look like King Arthur inhabited it!

Now obviously no one would want to go crazy with crenellations or your home might end up looking like a medieval castle. But, one crenellated object never hurt anyone. After all, Elkins and Adler gave it their seal of approval!


In case you're wondering what a crenellation is, Merriam Webster has this diagram on its site. The number "1" indicates a crenellation.


Crenellated mirror by The Squires Company, available through Decorati


Castellated Bracket Lantern by Charles Edwards. Seeing this fabulous lantern yesterday set me off on this whole crenellation tangent.


Crenellated nailshead design on these custom chairs by Ceylon et Cie


A modern twist on crenellations on this 1960s table at Ellen Ward Scarborough


Of course the classic Monteith bowl has crenellated edges. This one by Tiffany & Co.