French Flair in Boston’s Back Bay
August 19, 2021
Designer Duncan Hughes spins Parisian nostalgia into an atelier-inspired Back Bay apartment.
Text by Jennifer Blaise Kramer   Photography by Michael J. Lee
Newport, Rhode Island, residents Linda Sawyer and John Harris craved a weekend pied-Ă -terre with Boston character and French flair. When they found a penthouse apartment on Back Bayâs Marlborough Street, they fell for the prime location, the private elevator, and the rooftop deck with 360-degree views of the city and room for the dogs to play. The second they closed on the residence, the couple called their designer. Duncan Hughes had thoughtfully reworked their Rhode Island house, and they needed his eye to rethink their dated 90s-era Boston interiors. Their one request? Give it a French spin, without going over the top.
âAs a child, I loved Paris apartments and wanted an atelier feel,â says Harris, who spent nine years of his childhood living with his family in the French capital. âWe wanted classic yet chic and modernâthat je ne sais quoi.â
To strike this tone the moment you step off the elevator, Hughes painted the foyer in a rich turquoise. Overhead, coordinating hand-painted wallpaper covers the ceiling. Vintage 1920s sconces and a custom gold mirror accent a chandelier, the only pre-redesign element that stayed. âIt feels like entering an old mansion,â Hughes says. âItâs the most Old World of all the rooms, and it just envelopes you at the beginning.â
Using a saturated palette throughout, Hughes went bold with blues in the living spaces and lit up the walk-in closet with a glowing Hermès orangeâa nod to the French brand the couple appreciates. Key materials such as nubby raw linen, mohair, and velvet further dial in that casual-yet-sophisticated feel, while black ironworkâa Parisian signatureâadorns the primary bathroomâs custom curving shower, one of many engineering feats the team tackled. Given the 1940s building was constructed after Bostonâs Cocoanut Grove fire, the deadliest nightclub fire in history, ten-inch-thick concrete walls offer a fireproof, soundproof shell that also made changing anything and everything très difficult.
âThe whole building is steel beams, concrete, and terra-cotta blocks,â says FBN Constructionâs Sejal Chander, who served as a project manager along with Aaron Paz. âWe couldnât drop the ceilings because they werenât terribly high, so even the lighting plan was a challenge.â
Yet the team found a way (with help via structural engineering and radar) to devise a plan that thoughtfully illuminates just the right corners while leaving others dusky. The salon-style living room sports blown-glass sconces flanking a custom marble fireplace, while the Prussian blue kitchenâs gold-inlay ceiling panels reflect light and add to the art deco detail around the apartment. âI call this the anti-kitchen,â Hughes says. âI do so many big, bright, white, airy kitchens. This is a late-night kitchen. Itâs sexy and dark for midnight Champagne, more like a comfortable club.â
True enough, many evenings end in the moody kitchen, where the couple cozies up in the caramel-colored banquettes for candlelit grilled-cheese sandwiches and cold Manhattans. Sawyer, a trained chef, loves the mosaic backsplash of dancing leopards and the dramatic underwater artwork above the table. Like everything in the apartment, the room is filled with interesting elements that Hughes says simply âmake you feel like youâre somewhere else.â
Project Team
Interior design: Duncan Hughes, Joanne Nhip, Duncan Hughes Interiors
Builder: FBN Construction
Landscape design: Pamela Rodgers, Verde Garden Design, and Edward MacLean, Tom Kroon, Potted UP
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