Photography by Alise O’Brien
After spending 12 years working in marketing, public relations and television production in Southern California, Bill Donius returned to his native St. Louis in 1992 and in 1997 became president and CEO of his family’s business, Pulaski Bank. But a stodgy banker? Hardly. This is a man about town who’s well-known for his parties.
Granted, the gatherings are more beneficent than bacchanalian (the 2006 Halloween party raised $41,000 for Food Outreach and Doorways, two organizations serving St. Louisans living with AIDS and cancer). Over time, his parties have grown to mythical proportions, which is one reason he outgrew his University City home and in 2000 replaced it with a 5,400-square-foot Colonial mix in Ladue.
Built in 1986 by St. Louis architect Carl Safe, it appears similar to many of the other homes tucked amid the ivy off Clayton Road. But once you’re inside the front door, a shallow foyer forces you to go to the right or left of a facing wall, behind which lies a large, sophisticated room of buttery parquet floors, neutral wall space and recessed lighting—all more reminiscent of an art gallery than your average abode.
A more traditional homeowner might have torn down the foyer wall to open up the space, but Mr. Donius doesn’t fall into that genre. He liked that abrupt entry, noting that it funnels guests to the right of the wall and into the open space that encompasses his bar, living room and dining room.
“People gather in kitchens at parties because that’s where the eye is drawn naturally when you enter someone’s home, to the informal spaces,” he says. “And I didn’t want that.” What he did want was an art-filled space for entertaining.
So he turned to Christy George of Christine George Interiors to complete the overhaul. Mr. Donius was impressed with her 10 years spent working for architecture firm Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum and the interiors she designed for mutual friend and gallery owner Elliot Smith.
Banished was the idea of furnishing that foyer with a catchall table and fern. Instead, she had the wall painted a slate gray and hung a large abstract painting of Prussian blues and carbon grays rimmed with soft fleshy pinks and yellows, colors perfectly paired with the parquet floors and the masculine charcoal-tones that continue through the rest of the house.
To the right of the foyer is a small room that serves as a library and home office. The previous owners preferred lemony walls and botanical prints, but Ms. George made the room more masculine and meditative. She designed a corner desk and matching shelves. Orchids add an Asian softness to the room. The bookcase was stained and lacquered; the accent walls were painted rich shades of crimson and gray.
For those more interested in martinis than de Maupassant, a custom-built bar welcomes their approach into the living room.
“The previous owners were satisfied with a standard wet bar in the corner, but the visual approach was just not attractive,” Mr. Donius explains. Ms. George designed an additional mobile bar to roll on casters to enclose the space. Chic in its gray-lacquered wood construction, it hides the plumbing and storage and can be rolled around the room to accommodate multiple bartenders.
With drinks in hand, revelers flow next toward the sectional seating in the living room, where a low-profile series of Nest linen sofas from Cassina and custom-designed dark-lacquered coffee tables complement and do not detract from the surrounding art. “Instead of heavier leather sofas, these coffee tables and sectionals are easy to pull out of the room entirely,” Mr. Donius says, describing the last time 800 people filled his living room. The large “Wanders” Cappellini floor lamp adds a work of functional sculpture to the room and is aptly named for its ability to be easily moved.
Just a glance beyond the living room lies the dining room, where meals for 10 can be served at the custom-built table. And although the travertine-topped credenza was original to the home, Ms. George had the once whitewashed piece refinished in a dark ash-brown. The dark, rich horizontal lines made by the credenza and table create a virtual wall easel upon which the surrounding gray and pastel paintings—including one by Arthur Osver and another by Philip Slein—are well displayed.
“What Christy brings is a sense of proportion and scale that I didn’t have,” Mr. Donius says. “My other dining room table would have been dwarfed in here, and we couldn’t buy one that was appropriate—so she designed this one.” It’s no wonder that the table lines up easily with the patio doors, to be moved out “just in case we need the space.”
The smaller but sophisticated galley-style kitchen off the dining room is “enough” for Mr. Donius. Ms. George added granite countertops above the refinished and custom-stained cabinets and had the millwork refinished to match the credenza in the dining room—but it is the patio beyond that draws guests. Its grayish-slate stone pavers add another 9,000 square feet of terraced entertaining space, expanding down through the driveway, which now has room for 22 cars.
Off the beaten path but visible from the kitchen is an enclosed porch full of whimsical tables and chairs in bright orange or squeaky white that look as if they just fell from a giant’s dollhouse. The “toy” furniture adds whimsy to the cool, sophisticated gray of the room.
Just beyond the kitchen is the master suite. Painted in neutral tones of gray and blue, the room is designed for relaxation. A Cappellini suede headboard and Flos lamps add architectural details, while the blond lacquered wood bookcase and gold patina of the faux-finished wall behind the headboard add warmth.
The wall above the custom-designed bookcase displays a series of paintings created by Mr. Donius. “I loved working with Bill because he already appreciated beauty and art,” Ms. George says. “The rest was just a learning process for him, a matter of teaching him scale and color pairs and designing furniture that he could use to entertain and display the art that reflects him.” She considers him an artist as well as an executive, and he calls her a godsend.
She bashfully admits that she has not yet been to any of his parties, preferring the company of her beloved Westie, Lola, to gregarious crowds. So, always a gentleman, Mr. Donius waits for his demure friend to leave the room again before asking, “Has she told you she is designing one of the penthouses in the first of the new Frank Gehry towers in Manhattan?”
No, but it is a muse’s nature to inspire and quietly move on. And with all of the potential clients that will pass through this gallery-home, this one is screening her calls.
brilliant.steal it.
- Visit Ivey-Selkirk’s biannual Twentieth Century Design Auctions for furnishings and original pieces of art, which can be better-made (and sometimes cheaper) than upscale furniture-store replicas.
- Make pillows yourself using opulent fabrics. Check upholstery fabric sale bins for bargains and treat them with stain repellent.
- Make sure you buy bookcases with adjustable shelves. The differing heights make them great places to display your changing sculpture collection. The shelves should always be horizontally symmetrical to draw attention to what is on display and not to the bookcase itself.
- Make floral arrangements of richly colored dried twigs and vines. They are longer-lasting and cheaper to replace than fresh blooms, and add a strong vertical architectural detail when pastels are too soft.
- Have drapes for a porch or sunroom made by tent and awning fabricators. The patterns may be limited, but the outdoor fabrics will resist fading and aging better than upholstery fabrics will.
- Try your own hand at a canvas. Your art will be a budget-friendly placeholder for the valuable pieces you want to collect.
- Reface millwork rather than replace it, but remember—as with hair color, it’s less damaging to go darker.
