I love the high-rise in which I live. It's located on the most prominent street in Atlanta. All kinds of interesting people live here. And, important to me, it's been around since the late Sixties, meaning it reminds me of the old Atlanta in which I grew up. But the building's one annoying deficiency is that it lacks a restaurant to provide room-service dining. Thirty-plus years ago, there was a high-style restaurant in the lobby called "Tango", but sadly, those days are long gone. If it were still around, I would likely never cook for guests again. Instead, I'd simply call down and order dinner. How great- and easy- would that be?
My fixation on having a downstairs restaurant might be why I was so taken with this 1990s House Beautiful article about designer William Hodgins' three-room apartment, which was located in the residential tower at Boston's Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Without a doubt, Hodgins' great taste and beautiful possessions are really the reason why I clipped this article, but the photo of a waiter pushing the room-service dining table into Hodgins' apartment hooked me, too.
You might remember Hodgins'earlier home, which I featured on my blog a few months ago. That apartment was located in an 1887 building. So, why would a traditionalist like Hodgins choose to live in a modern building? For its conveniences, of course, which included room service provided by the hotel's dining room. Rather than create an old-world backdrop for his "old things," Hodgins wisely chose instead to play up the modern aspects of his apartment, eschewing curtains on some windows, painting walls bright white, and laying faux-concrete tile on the floor. Said Hodgins, "Trying to make a new apartment look old never works." So true. And Hodgins' preferred neutral color-palette meant that his antiques adapted quite nicely to their modern surroundings, making the age discrepancies between possessions and architecture seem minimal.
But back to room service. Despite the fact that Hodgins claimed to rarely order it, he certainly knew how to personalize a room-service meal: with place settings of antique creamware. Now I want a restaurant in my building even more.
All photos from House Beautiful, Oberto Gili photographer