House Beautiful: Legends

Written by Hadley Keller | Original Article

Albert Hadley (by Kevin Isbell) 

Founder, with Kennedy White House decorator Sister Parish, of the legendary design firm Parish Hadley (where some of today's best designers trained), Hadley devised interiors for the likes of Babe Paley, Oscar de la Renta, Brooke Astor, and Al Gore. Despite his star-studded client list, Isbell notes, Hadley "was passionate that style didn't have a price point. He would take something that was the equivalent of Costco and put it with a valuable antique."

Isbell decided to pay homage both to Hadley and the design process in his window at Gracie. "I had an Albert Hadley sketch I bought at Gerald Bland and I made 650 copies and crumpled them," Isbell says. Meanwhile, the scenic wallpaper on the back wall starts out as a sketch on the left and then becomes more complete as the eye moves right. 

Images of Kevin’s Legends Window Below | Photography by Read McKendree