How designer Brian McCarthy transformed an American home into the ultimate French hôtel particulier

There are positive client-designer relationships, and then there are life-changing ones. About two decades ago, interior designer Brian McCarthy embarked on what he describes as the ‘dream journey’ — one that began with designing a home in the American South and blossomed into a globe-trotting, lifelong friendship. The goal: for the clients to step into a Parisian hôtel particulier, chockful of objects brimming with history and craftsmanship.

‘I’d never designed what I would call a “period house.” The layering and level of detail was just about unlike anything I’d ever done,’ McCarthy tells Christie’s of the project. Beginning his career at Parish-Hadley, the legendary American firm celebrated for its seamless melding of historical and modern design, McCarthy was no stranger to quality French furniture and artisans. And yet, the New York-based designer continues, ‘the education for me was as great as it was for them.’

This fall, Christie’s will present Collections: Including a Southern Hôtel Particulier by Brian J. McCarthy, an online auction from 1-13 October. Part of Christie’s Collections sale series in Paris, London and New York, this particular auction will include more than 100 European treasures painstakingly and lovingly sourced by McCarthy alongside his clients over four years. ‘When most clients begin a project, you typically focus on the big things and then work down to the small ones,’ says McCarthy. ‘Not with these clients. We’d find the most amazing objects, and it didn’t matter where they were going to go. If they loved it, they got it.’

La vraie chose: creating an air of authenticity

The objects, ranging from a German giltwood commode and Flemish tapestry to an Italian pietra dura mantel clock and Louis XIV mother-of-pearl-inlaid box, were acquired over more than 20 joint trips to Europe. While they visited Amsterdam, Antwerp, Rome, Florence and the South of France, amongst other antique capitals, they’d always return to the City of Lights. ‘At this time, Paris had so many great dealers, and you had to search, but you could find the most amazing things if you were patient,’ McCarthy recalls. He believes that the market for such dealers has shrunk by more than half over the past two decades, due to retirement, death or simply going out of business. ‘It was a time when you could really put together a great house, but it would be quite hard to create something like this today.’

McCarthy also notes that his clients were not afraid of having to restore objects they loved. Perhaps, what most impressed McCarthy, however, is the collectors’ shared vision with him for making their interiors as authentic as possible. ‘You see so much design that is pastiche. More than anything, I wanted this home to feel real. From the bottom to the top floor of this house, the materials and objects were entirely true to the period,’ says McCarthy of the design, which was primarily 18th century with a touch of the 19th century. ‘To have a client embrace this degree of detail, to get it that right everywhere, is something I’ve never experienced.’

To ensure these storied objects felt right at home, McCarthy tapped renowned artisans, largely based in Paris, such as Féau Boiseries, which since 1875, has been a leading purveyor of historically inspired wood panelling. ‘The first time I took my clients to the company’s [20,000-square-foot] showroom, they just couldn’t believe it. It’s like a candy store of boiserie,’ says McCarthy. The designer and his clients worked with director Guillaume Féau on 14 panelled rooms, all of which were fabricated in Paris. McCarthy additionally worked with Parisian gilder Jacques Goujon and Atelier Mériguet-Carrère on all the house’s finishing. Collectively, these master craftsmen have been entrusted by revered institutions, such as the Louvre, Versailles and Palais Garnier, as well as the private residences of Pierre Bergé and Yves-Saint Laurent, Henry Frick and the Gettys.

A grand tour

In the living room, or salon, as McCarthy and his clients called it, Féau Boiseries’s white and gold panelling evoked a quintessentially Louis XV interior, accentuated by colourful upholstered furnishings and rare objects. Amongst them were a South German giltwood commode, circa 1730-40, in the style of François de Cuvilliès, a designer and architect known for introducing the rococo style to Germany. A Louis XV fruitwood, amaranth and marquetry table de chevet, circa 1750, is attributed to Adrien-Faizelot Delorme, who was celebrated for his sophisticated floral marquetry and richly contrasting veneers. Both this table and a pair of Louis XVI ormolu and pink and yellow-veined white marble three-light candelabra, circa 1780, hailed from the esteemed Wildenstein Collection (one of the most important sales of French furniture, which was offered at Christie’s in 2005).

Another spectacular interior is the Prussian-blue octagonal dining room, where McCarthy brought his ‘Régence fantasy’ to life with inset Chinese-style red lacquer panels, done by Anne Midavaine. When the clients struggled to grasp his vision, McCarthy took them to the German Consulate on the Seine to see a similar example. ‘From that moment forward, that was it,’ he says. Another artisanal triumph made possible by Atelier Mériguet-Carrère was the Tiepolo-inspired ceiling, painted on canvas in France and later fitted to the room. ‘By the grace of God, it came together perfectly,’ McCarthy says. Above an 18th-century mantle, the twinkle of a 17th-century rock-crystal chandelier glistened in a French giltwood and polychrome-painted mirror, which he says, ‘to this day, is one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful polychrome mirror I’ve ever seen.’

McCarthy also uses superlatives to describe the clients’ collection of fan projects (designs for folding fans), which he believes might be the largest of its kind in private hands. Beyond being sourced through the crème de la crème of French dealers, ‘what’s so extraordinary about these designs is their storytelling,’ says McCarthy. ‘They chronicle day-to-day life, whether it’s a convent or the home of a royal or aristocratic family.’

Ultimately McCarthy says that ‘there was no end to the kinds of objects that we collected,’ with chairs and terracotta sculptures being other categories favoured by the collectors whose passions continuously grew and evolved. ‘This home really was a love affair for clients being able to achieve something that they never could have dreamt they would be able to,’ he says. ‘I take great pride in knowing that I was able to exceed their wildest expectations.’