AD100 Designer Alexa Hampton Rediscovers the Timeless Designs of her Father Mark Hampton

Old-school but in a timeless way” is AD100 interior designer Alexa Hampton’s take on an elegant Manhattan dining room decorated by her father, the late Mark Hampton, another AD100 honoree. Commissioned by a woman from a family rooted in diplomacy, politics, banking, and wine making, it was featured in the November 1989 Architectural Digest, one of the New York City–theme issues that ran from 1987 through 1992—and the article’s author was one of the city’s leading lights, philanthropist Pat Buckley. “What I find fresh about the space is the repeating geometries,” Hampton continues of the room, which exemplifies the Anglo-American fantasias that held sway in Upper East Side circles at the time. “If you think about it concentrically, it’s a series of rings: an envelope of green, the brown of the chairs, and the white elements at the center, including the chandelier. Everything radiates off that.” While the designer concedes that the wallpaper—a Brunschwig & Fils trelliswork classic—might seem busy to some observers today, she notes that “it’s a tight pattern, so it looks very tidy and orderly. For a room that has so much activity on the walls, it feels peaceful. The paper, which acts like paneling, just falls away. All the action is in the middle.” The only alteration that she would make? Chopping the damask ball-gown tablecloth down to a less troublesome miniskirt with a drop of about 12 inches or so, as in the dining room of her own family’s New York City apartment (AD, April 2015). “A full-length tablecloth is heavy and drags; it’s like a bulwark that doesn’t want you to be there,” Hampton explains. After a moment, she adds, “Of course, it requires you to have nice legs—meaning the table, not the people.” —Mitchell Owens

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest