Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Some of us get inspired by swatches and showrooms. For Mark Pitliangas, the man behind Antique Architectural Decor (1112 Olive, 314-621-3737, antiquearchitecturaldecor.com), it’s the Sun King, Batman…
“I was a mechanical engineer for 10 years, going into food-processing plants and chemical plants. I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to get out of this.’”
“We try to be like top-of-the-line set directors. When we build something, we want somebody to walk in and go, ‘Holy cow!’”
“When we bought 1108 Olive, it was in dire need of repair, but I walked in and pictured the palace of Versailles… Now everybody says, ‘This doesn’t feel like a workplace.’”
“Restaurants, I’ve done Balaban’s, Blondie’s Coffee and Wine Bar, Jimmy’s on the Park… Hamburger Mary’s had a lot of gay overtones; what I thought was the Moulin Rouge in Paris.”
“Now I’m working on Tripel, to make it look like a Belgian bar at the turn of the last century. We’ve got trompe l’oeuil paintings and a black granite bar, and we carved and glue-chipped the glass to make it look like Lalique, from the transoms down to the sneeze guards.”
“Everything I see inspires me—I’m the world’s worst driver—but what really inspires me is the movies. When I saw that first Batman movie, I bought it and watched it over and over. There’s a scene, old-world Windsor Castle, and that’s what I did with my loft.”
“People might walk in and say, ‘My God, this is extravagant.’ But you only live once. You might as well love where you work and where you live.”
