Pagodas. Designer Miles Redd likes them. Million Dollar Decorator Mary McDonald collects them. Tony Duquette, the late costume and set designer and decorator, created many of them. These multi-tiered structures with upward-tilting roofs are associated with chinoiserie (a fanciful European interpretation of Chinese styles that originated during the 17th- and 18th-centuries due to increased trade with East Asia), but this type of architecture was first introduced to China when Buddhism entered the country. Buddhism originated in India where the earliest pagodas were built to house religious relics. Pagodas now adorn tablesettings, wallcoverings, calling cards and beds - lending an air of whimsy and fantasy to a space . . .

"I set tables for fun — they're not too formal. That's how I live. I love to mix old and new, different cultures and multiple textures, and I like to play with color. I used contemporary Venetian glasses alongside dishes I designed with updated classical patterns . . . Instead of a single large flower arrangement, I grouped small containers of bouquets in the center of the table. And whenever I find great salt and pepper shakers, I buy them! Collect when you see things, not just when you need them." 
"Fiamma and Pagoda chargers, dinner plates, bowls, and canapé plates and faux-bamboo flatware: branca.com. Branca Stripe fabric, to the trade: fschumacher.com."
Photography by Kana Okada.
House Beautiful (April 2014).

 "A dining room tablesetting mixes simple colored stemware, patterned china and small silver vases with parrot tulips."
Interior design by Meg Braff.
Photography by Simon Upton.
"Living Color" by Mimi Read.
House Beautiful (June 2007).


"Chinese pagodas from Leigh Chiu Designs add a fanciful touch."
Interior design by Nicolette Horn.
Photography by Margrethe Myhrer.
House Beautiful (October 2013).

"Designer Celerie Kemble’s hutch . . . [features] open shelves for display plus closed storage to keep less attractive necessities hidden . . . . The pagoda-style top and lattice front doors make it whimsical and feminine, but it’s the blue finish juxtaposed against the deep red wall that makes this vignette come alive."
Photo credit: Celerie Kemble, Kemble Interiors, via Canadian House and Home.
"The Hutch is Back" by Suzanne Dimma.
Canadian House and Home (December 4, 2009).

"Originally one of Paris's thousands of hôtels particuliers, the building was transformed into a pagoda in the 1920s after being purchased by an Asian art and antiques dealer. Today, its preserved interiors are home to an event space and art gallery."
Photo credit: Savills via Canadian House and Home
"Pagoda View in Paris" by Kristen Koch.
Canadian House and Home (August 5, 2013).

"Pastel hues let architectural details stand out. 'The Pagoda curtain shape feels so 1930s to me,' notes New York designer Miles Redd. If you have a large-scale room, amazing curtains can add the perfect touch."
Interior design by Miles Redd.

"A delicately detailed wallpaper is perfect for a guest room. 'This is a Pagoda bed made by Century Furniture for the Oscar de la Renta Home collection I work with,' notes New York designer Miles Redd. 'I love the Chinese influence.' An intricate settee with fur throw at the foot of a bed adds a sense of luxury."
Interior design by Miles Redd.

"Curtains in Home Couture's Lorraine flank a bamboo tripod from Emerson Antiques in Blue Hill, Maine. The Aesthetic Movement chair is upholstered in the same batik pattern used on the walls. A bird print ('Our low-maintenance pet,' Knott says) perches in the 19th-century French cage."
Maine summer house of designers John Knott and John Fondas.
Photography by Bjorn Wallander.
House Beautiful (April 2013).

"The dining room's coconut-shell chandelier, Home Couture's paisley Taj wallpaper, and soapstone pagodas cast an exotic spell on a Yankee crew of antique Hitchcock chairs. The resin mirror is a 20th-century gem by decorators Zajac and Callahan."
Maine summer house of designers John Knott and John Fondas.
Photography by Bjorn Wallander.
House Beautiful (April 2013).

"A four-foot-high pagoda in the dining room of a Brookville, New York, house 'is just here to make people smile,' says designer Andrew Raquet. The silver tea-leaf wallpaper is from Gracie."
Interior design by Andrew Raquet.
Photography by Jose Picayo.
House Beautiful (September 2010).

"A traditional four-poster ivory-painted chinoiserie-style tester bed from Mary McDonald, Inc., is a visual feast with open fretwork, faux bamboo in bas relief, and pagoda-style finials. A casual canopy and back curtain take the high style down a degree. Solid blue cotton curtains behind the headboard, plus shapely ivory valances repeated in blue on the inner curtains, bring beach-house informality to the stately bed."
Interior design by Kim Alexandriuk.
"Dramatic Bed Canopies and Draperies" written by Candace Ord Manroe.

Pagoda Calling Cards.
etsy.com/shop/letterlovedesigns

"A pagoda-esque cedar birdfeeder lures birds to the yard."
East Hampton, New York, garden of landscape designer Craig Socia.
Photography by William P. Steele.
"Garden Getaway" by Elizabeth Roehrig.
Country Living (June 2006).

"[Tim] Street-Porter, who trained as an architect, modeled this garden pagoda after an English design. It serves as an idyllic location for outdoor dinners."
1740s Connecticut farmhouse owned by interior designer Annie Kelly and her husband, Tim Street-Porter.
Photography by Tim Street-Porter.
"Connecticut Farmhouse" by Liesl Schillinger.
Country Living (May 2009).

"Use fewer plants for a pared-down Japanese aesthetic. This entrance features a pagoda-inspired gate, built of reclaimed barn board and corrugated steel for the roof. A rustic twig lattice fence continues the Asian theme. Pea gravel and bonsai-type trees are reminiscent of an authentic zen garden and require minimal upkeep."
Photography by Donna Griffith.

"The library's sofa and bookcases are by Todd Hase Furniture."
Long Island, New York, home of Amy and Todd Hase.
Photography by Roger Davies.
Elle Decor (September 2010).

 " 'I often take one color and delve into it in different ways. A super-saturated color pops so vibrantly.' " For this festive table, [Heather] Christo used shades of red and pink. 'When you use an everyday item in mass quantities — like the gobs of red roses — it translates into luxury,' Christo says."
Interior design by Heather Christo.
Photography by John Granen.

 "An antique pagoda chair hits a quirky note."
Interior design by Christina Murphy.
Photography by Jonny Valiant.
"A Colorful Park Avenue Apartment" by Emily Evans Eerdmans.

"Lacquered walls and upholstered doors glamorize a stairwell nook. Antique lantern, John Rosselli. Vintage bench in Manuel Canovas velvet. Doors in Manuel Canovas toile. Floors, Ann Sacks."
Interior design by Ruthie Sommers.
Photography by Francesco Lagnese.
"Chic Chicago Townhouse" by Mimi Read.

"Pagoda-Print Powder Room: The wallpaper [Christopher Norman Collection, Telio] is a fun nod to designer Scott Yetman’s china collection. For the vanity, a fluted china sink was built into a chest, then topped with marble."
Interior design by Scott Yetman.
Photography by Monic Richard.
Canadian House and Home (November 2011).

"Mish’s Arden earrings, Chinoiserie pagoda brooch, Kate bracelet, and Ratu ring on display."
Jeweler Mish Tworkowski's boutique in downtown Manhattan.
Photography by Joshua McHugh.
Architectural Digest (December 2011).

"This is a 1960s mirror made by the late Tony Duquette, the marvelous costume and set designer and decorator. It's forged iron, painted in coral-colored paint, with iridescent mussel shells that Duquette glued on. Flanking it on the matching console are resin pagodas faux-painted to look like ivory — all by Duquette. Once I was touring Dawnridge, his house in L.A., and realized everything in it is like this mirror! It either looks like something that it's not, or else it's made of mundane objects that he somehow made whimsical and spectacular." - RICHARD MISHAAN, INTERIOR DESIGNER

 "A girl's room is the only pastel room, but acid green accents add a bold touch that connects it to the rest of the house. Walls are Benjamin's Moore's Peach Cooler."
Interior Design by Mary McDonald.
Photography by Tim Street-Porter.

 "There's something magical about pagodas that I can't resist, and I now have a good-sized collection. I love this particular lamp so much that I actually own four — two at home and two at the office. I bought the first pair when I worked for the antiques dealer Joel Chen. A few years later, I got the second pair because I wanted to see them in both places. I buy pairs of everything, so I guess the next logical step is to start buying pairs of pairs." - MARY MCDONALD
House Beautiful (June 2008).

"Gilded furniture contrasts elegantly with espresso walls. In her living room, Los Angeles-based designer Mary McDonald was inspired by China. The collection of vintage pagodas behind the sofa is particularly important to her: 'the original eighteenth-century versions were made of ivory, and many others are made of bone,' notes McDonald. 'I love how detailed they are, with little hanging bells and reticulated balconies with layers of faux millwork.' The clean-lined shape of the Chinese coffee table offsets the ornate formality of the room."
Interior design by Mary McDonald.
Photography by Miguel Flores-Vianna.
Source: Mary McDonald Interiors (2010 Rizzoli) by Mary McDonald.

"A pagoda lantern hung in a sitting area. 'Scavenging, [Tony Duquette] said of the objects he found and transformed, 'is my passion, instead of drinking or gambling.' ”
San Francisco house owned and decorated by Tony Duquette [1914 - 1999] and his wife Elizabeth.
Photography by Peter Vitale and Keith Morrison.
"Tony Duquette" text by Penelope Rowlands.
Architectural Digest (January 2000).

   "Michael and Dodo Cunningham-Reid, who bought 500 acres as a game sanctuary on the shores of Lake Naivasha, Kenya, erected a pagoda-like tower to live in. The eight-story structure is clad in cypress (April 1999)."
Photo credits: Simon Brown, Billy Cunningham, Herman How Man Wong, Massimo Listri, Jaime Ardiles-Arce, David O. Marlow, Derry Moore, Jonathan Pilkington, Peter Vitale, Terry Husebye, Matt Wargo, Jeff Goldberg/Esto Paul Warchol, Michele M. Penhall.
"Unconventional Homes"
Architectural Digest (October 2008).

" 'There's a lot going on in this room,' explains [designer David] Cafiero with a laugh. The lavishly patterned indigo wallpaper from Brunschwig and Fils commands the attention, cleverly disguising the room's architectural quirks like slapdash crown molding and a sloped ceiling. The owners haven't shied away from adding paintings and other patterns into the mix."
Wainscott, New York, weekend house of writers Tom Dolby and Drew Frist.
Interior design by David Cafiero.
Photography by Patrick Cline.
Art direction by Michelle Adams.
"A Storied Locale" written by Rumaan Alam.
Lonny (June - July 2010).   

"Blue and white porcelain was purely a Chinese export until 1712, when the French missionary Francois Xavier d’Entrecolles smuggled the formula out of the country. Artisans worldwide began making their own versions of the iconic pieces, like the pagoda-inspired tulip vases the Dutch designed or the Blue Onion china pattern that Germany company Meissen has been selling for more than 300 years."
From Stuff, a book by New York City interior designer Carey Maloney, published by Pointed Leaf Press.
Image copyright Aronson Antiquairs Amersterdam via Veranda website.
"Well-Read: Carey Maloney's Stuff" by Candace Braun Davison.

"Golden Pagoda Chinoiserie Table Lamp" offered by Shades of Light.
Photo via Shades of Light website.

"Peacock House's interior has as much personality as its architecture. It's a chic mix of grand and humble. In the foyer, a 19th-century Dutch brass chandelier hangs above a 17th-century Italian table. In the living room, 1950s American slipper chairs fraternize with a Louis XIII sofa. It's old school yet completely freewheeling. There are no curtains to obscure the light. Cushions are made from fabric scraps [Furlow] Gatewood finds and gives to a woman a few miles down the road to sew up for him. Architectural fretwork, Michael Trapp. Pagoda and 19th-c. Swedish table, John Rosselli. Chairs, Treillage."
Peacock House, the Americus, Georgia, home of antiques dealer Furlow Gatewood.
Photography by Max Kim-Bee.

"Garden pagodas and 28-foot Phoenix sculpture, all made by [Tony] Duquette. Indian umbrellas. Fabric for tablecloths, Jim Thompson’s Tony Duquette Collection. Vintage plates, Fornasetti. Tole pagoda centerpieces, ginger jars and garden pots, all antiques."
Dawnridge, the former home of the late Tony Duquette and his wife Elizabeth, which Duquette's friend and protege Hutton Wilkinson bought.
Photography by Max Kim-Bee.

Pagoda made by the late Tony Duquette.
Dawnridge, the former home of the late Tony Duquette and his wife Elizabeth, which Duquette's friend and protege Hutton Wilkinson bought.
Photography by Max Kim-Bee.

"Michael Taylor Designs chaise longues are placed by the pool; the beach-ball pillows were custom designed by [Mario] Buatta."
Southampton home of Wilbur L. Ross Jr. and Hilary Geary Ross.
Interior design by Mario Buatta.
Photography by Eric Piasecki.
Text by Christopher Mason.
"Master of Ceremonies" produced by Howard Christian.
Architectural Digest (July 2013). 

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