How Californian designer Frances Elkins was wildly ahead of her time

When it comes to contemporary interior design, juxtaposing pieces from different periods and cultures has practically become the industry standard to prevent spaces from feeling one note. As early as the 1910s, however, Frances Elkins was charting new territory by combining historic styles with cutting-edge art and furnishings from across the globe. The art of the mix came effortlessly to the American designer, whose resulting spaces, frequently punctuated with furnishings of her own creation or by legendary European makers, such as Alberto Giacometti and Jean-Michel Frank, serve as timeless inspiration for leading designers today.

‘Elkins’s pieces have the remarkable ability to work anywhere. They carry their own presence,’ says interior designer Jill Horn Danly, who calls Elkins ‘a profound source of inspiration in [her] design journey.’ Horn Danly is currently working with a client on furnishing the Lester Armour House in Lake Bluff, Illinois, one of Elkins’s most celebrated projects and partnerships with her older brother, the prominent architect David Adler. Horn Danly continues, ‘As someone who studied and taught architecture, I have a deep appreciation for the spatial intelligence of her room layouts. There’s a flow and balance to her work that feels effortless, yet deliberate — something every designer aspires to master.’

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1887, Elkins made her foray into European avant-garde circles by visiting her brother while he was studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1918, Elkins established her practice in Monterey, California, though she regularly collaborated with her Chicago-based brother on projects across the country.

By the early 1930s, Elkins was one of America’s most in-demand designers, putting eclectic, colourful, pattern-filled interiors on the map. Dubbed ‘the first great California decorator’ by longtime House & Garden Magazine editor Dorothea Walker, Elkins counted many of San Francisco’s most influential families amongst her clientele, including Mr. and Mrs. James D. Zellerbach, president of the Crown Zellerbach Paper Company and later United States Ambassador to Italy. In 1936-37, the Zellerbachs invited Elkins to imagine the interiors for their exquisite 12,000-square-foot Beaux-Arts residence in the Pacific Heights district.

On 12 June, more than 30 striking designs from the principal rooms of this home will be offered at Christie’s New York in American Avant-Garde: The James D. Zellerbach Residence by Frances Elkins. As all the works on offer have remained in the residence since their original 1937 placement, the occasion also marks the first time the items, including unique pieces by Elkins and her impressive band of modernist collaborators, have come to auction. These range from two plaster Oiseaux bird sculptures by Giacometti — the only known curved examples of this iconic design — to Elkins’s Surrealist shell sconces and tree-form lamps. Idiosyncratic yet inviting, the Zellerbach residence showcases Elkins at her best, when her Californian sense of ease and Francophile spirit converge.

Frances Elkins had an eye for the unusual

While certain spaces, such as the Dining Room, in the Zellerbach residence capture the English-country-house aesthetic that often inspired Elkins’s interiors, others reflect her growing desire to assert her modern taste. The latter especially shines in the undeniably chic Card Room and Bar.

In the former, a games table and shepherd’s-crook armchairs meet leather banquettes — all designed by Elkins and executed with her team of Monterey-based artisans — face an eye-catching fireplace display. Minimalist pyramid-like andirons by Alberto Giacometti and a sculptural oak and wicker log holder by Frank complement the fireplace’s original bold black-and-white checkerboard tiling.

‘I love how Elkins combined very simple materials with sleek elements of design, whether it’s a gnarled tree-form or exposed brass-tacked upholstery,’ says Victoria Tudor, Head of Sale for Christie’s Design department in New York. ‘The Card Room and the Bar were so revolutionary. She was very much at the forefront of design in America in 1937.’

Both of these adjoining spaces featured floor-to-ceiling bleached-cerused-oak panelling, which added great warmth and depth to the rooms. The Bar was additionally inset with glass by the American art-glass manufacturer Steuben. While Elkins would often revisit the furnishings she designed to include in subsequent projects, the subtly curved bar stools are unique to the Zellerbach residence.

Elkins collaborated with the greatest names in 20th-century design

‘Frances Elkins was unmatched in her ability to collaborate and curate. Working with visionaries like her brother David Adler, Alberto Giacometti and Jean-Michel Frank, she infused her interiors with a global sensibility — each space feeling worldly, cultured and refined,’ says Horn Danly. ‘She was fearless with colour and never shied away from placing a bold, ornate vintage piece beside something sleek and contemporary. Her sense of scale was impeccable.’

By introducing many of Europe’s finest artists and designers to the American market, Elkins could give her clientele a fresh and novel look. Giacometti’s plaster Oiseaux, evoking an albatross mid-flight, are amongst his rarest, most coveted wall sculptures, having graced Man Ray’s elegant fashion photographs and the homes of extraordinary tastemakers, such as Hubert de Givenchy. In June 2022, Christie’s set the world record for the model when an example from the French couturier’s collection sold for $4.4 million. The Zellerbach’s commission for their entryway’s curved vestibule, however, represents the only known two Oiseaux of their kind.

Giacometti created many of his most recognisable designs for Frank, who also took inspiration from imagining how flora and fauna can form the basis of something architectural. The step-level legs of his ‘Aragon’ low table, which sat atop a zebra-hide rug in the Zellerbachs’ Bar, for example, were intended to conjure pineapples. Having long admired Frank’s work, which combined restrained silhouettes with sumptuous and unusual materials like sharkskin and straw marquetry, Elkins was one of the first people to commission him for the U.S. market, becoming his exclusive American importer. The two formed a deep kinship.

Another key figure in the early-20th-century avant-garde circle was Emilio Terry, a Cuban-born artist, designer and architect known for accenting classical, baroque interiors with more modern, whimsical touches. The rare mirror and console in the Zellerbach residence reflect his penchant for sculpted plaster forms. Now frequently imitated, these frond-like designs can be traced to Terry’s ingenuity.

Elkins wore many hats: decorator, furniture designer, architect, arbiter of taste

While like Frank, many of Elkins’s designs are derived from nature (as exemplified in the Zellerbach residence’s gallery halls, lined in elongated palm mouldings), one exception is a curious cabinet positioned beside the Card Room fireplace. Made of cerused oak, leather and bronze, the cabinet features a trompe-l’oeil set of drawers, labelled ‘1’ through ‘4’. Elkins also designed trompe-l’oeil window surrounds for the residence.

Distinctive wall treatments were another hallmark of Elkins’s projects, of which in the Zellerbach’s case, she even masterminded the blueprints. ‘She worked on everything down to the studs,’ says Tudor, noting how the designer possessed not only an eye for ornamentation, but also architectural prowess. In the Zellerbach residence, plaster decorations frame openings and entrances, while hand-painted Chinese export wallpaper, spaces sheathed in silver leaf, and fully mirrored bathrooms provide statement after statement.

Tudor adds that for Elkins, the work was never truly done. She’d constantly return to her commissions and was often tapped for lifestyle advice like a modern-day tastemaker. ‘She would help clients put together dinner parties, selecting suitable china, suggesting seating arrangements and more,’ says Tudor. ‘People in society respected her opinion and sought her creative input.’

Each piece in the Zellerbach residence — an exercise in making the disparate harmonious — offers a window into Elkins’s singular, all-encompassing vision. Visiting today’s buzziest design destinations from Manhattan to Milan, one is sure to find nods to Elkins’s artful approach, whether in a sultry bar-lounge or a layered hotel lobby. However, what could be better than adding an original, storied object, sourced by the designer herself, into your own abode?