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Frank Babb Randolph has graced two fine homes that will be featured on the upcoming Georgetown House Tour with his distinctive, casually elegant style. The first, built in 1960, and the second, constructed c. 1790, both project a breezy, open feeling.
The renowned interior designer transformed the drawing room in the 1960 house into a light-filled, airy space when he replaced the center windows that face the walled garden with dramatic French doors and lengthened the other windows along that wall. He also replaced and bleached the floors throughout the home, substituted a lovely staircase for an old elevator, and added skylights in the stairwell and owner’s bath in this brick Regency style rowhouse.
Adding beautiful billowing melon and lime striped silk draperies that puddle on the floor gives a sense of movement to the space. “The verticality of a stripe in color gives height to a room,” Randolph says. “In 18th and 19th century Europe, curtains always puddled on the floor,” he says. Upon seeing the draperies in this house, one visitor, struck by the voluptuous effect, told his host, “It’s like a Dior dress on the window.” Another quipped, “It’s Scarlett O’Hara in the reverse.”
The homeowner also appreciates the versatility provided by the 18th century French table Randolph recommended, rather than a standard low coffee table. “If there are four or five people, we’ll just clear the books off and eat there,” he says. “If there are eight or 10 people, we eat in the dining room.”
Designer Details
“I love rooms that don’t have mantels around the fireplace. It’s sort of different and elegant,” says Randolph, who prefers the simplicity of bolection molding. Randolph placed an églomisé mirror, which is painted on the reverse, above the drawing room fireplace. This treasure, which was originally commissioned by the famous interior designer William Pallman and made in Murano, Italy, has found its ideal home. Comfortable armchairs, designed and covered in exquisite silk velvet by Randolph, flank the fireplace.
Randolph, who worked on and off for five years with Billy Baldwin on his Washington projects, designed the Baldwin Console of distressed oak, and named it after the legendary designer. “I bought the table in Nantucket Island with Billy Baldwin. Billy said, ‘Frank, you should have that table,’ and I bought it right then and there; this was around 1978. Then I reinterpreted it for Niermann Weeks,” says Randolph, who has collaborated closely with Joe Niermann over the decades to produce designs. One of Randolph’s recurring gestures is to place a small chest or basket beneath an elegant console. “It breaks down a serious table to put a wicker basket filled with pinecones under it,” he says. “You want to make it relaxed. ... The most important thing is to make your friends comfortable,” Randolph says.
Let There Be Light
The most dramatic change Randolph recommended was to replace a clunky old elevator with a graceful staircase. Later, when the owner had to replace his roof, Randolph suggested adding skylights, which bring wonderful light in through the stairwell and owner’s bath. At the foot of the stairs, pictured above, an American 19th century terracotta statue and a wooden plinth that David Bell faux painted to resemble terracotta, provide a warm welcome.
Randolph also reconfigured the kitchen for the homeowner, who is a serious cook. The designer, who adores architecture, had one door that led into the original kitchen removed and another that connected the kitchen to the dining room moved from the middle of the wall closer to the exterior wall. The change created more counter space and opened a beautiful view for guests seated in the dining room. Now, they can gaze out the tall windows in the dining room as well as the two large windows in the adjacent kitchen. “When the door was here, it just broke up the kitchen,” Randolph says.
You Only Live Once
A Renovation Worth the Effort
When a couple of empty nesters found themselves wanting a low maintenance, smaller home, they sold their large Wesley Heights residence with a swimming pool, and bought a clapboard house c. 1790 in Georgetown. This gem, however, needed much more work than they’d bargained for. Fast forward a few years, past the stage when JF Baker Contractors had to take it down to the studs and after Frank Babb Randolph worked his magic, and the couple now has a home that’s so inviting, it will be featured on this spring’s Georgetown House Tour. Randolph dramatically raised the height of doors, centered, and expanded them, thus creating a wonderful uninterrupted view from the living room, through the dining room, through the new, expanded kitchen, through the courtyard, and all the way to the carriage house beyond. “There are few small houses where you get this feeling of space. There’s about 75 feet of space here,” Randolph says. In addition to a new sunken kitchen, the homeowners added an eco-friendly feature to enhance upper floor views – a sustainable green roof on their carriage house. Despite many challenges during this renovation, the lady of the house thinks it was well worth the effort. “You only live once – go for it!” she says.
Washington Spaces is sponsoring The Georgetown House Tour of 2008, which will be held on April 26 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ten homes, including the DC Design House (see page 192 for further details), will be featured on the tour, a benefit for St. John’s Episcopal Church. Tickets are $40 per person if purchased by April 19; $45 per person if purchased the day of the tour. Make checks payable to the Georgetown House Tour and send to St. John’s Church, 3240 O St., NW, Washington, DC 20007. All tickets include an afternoon tea from 2 to 5 p.m. at the church. For more information, call 202.338.2287 or visit georgetownhousetour.com. Frank Babb Randolph will introduce the illustrious interior designer Mario Buatta, who will give a slide presentation on design on April 28 at 6:30 p.m. at St. John’s Church. For tickets, call 202.342.6100. Visit washingtonspaces.com for expanded coverage of this story.
