Frank Di Piazza
It happened on a Monday when Circa was officially closed. William Shearburn, co-partner of the store and owner of the William Shearburn Gallery next door, was there awaiting a pickup when Page McConnell, the keyboard player in the band Phish, meandered in.
“He walked in with, I am assuming, his wife, and immediately said, ‘I love these Hans Wegner chairs. How much are they? And how much is this Albers? And is that a George Nakashima table? How much is it?’” Mr. Shearburn recalls. “He certainly knew exactly what he was looking at, and he had very good taste.” The musician left only after buying an entire vignette of two Hans Wegner chairs, a set of Hans Wegner nesting tables, and an Albers concentric-square print.
David Deatherage, Circa’s 41-year-old co- proprietor, grins with delight: “[William] just happened to be at the right place at the right time.” But he adds—with a soupçon of incredulity in his voice—business at his brand-new shop in the Central West End has been fairly brisk. The weekend prior, he’d sold two dining room tables—one for $1,200, the other for $3,500.
Three years ago, Mr. Deatherage had a hard time believing that would happen in his hometown. At the time, he was selling through the website Century Design Ltd. (centurydesignltd.com) to pretty much anywhere but here. When AT HOME interviewed him in 2006 and asked why he declined to sell his pieces locally, he simply said St. Louisans “don’t get it.”
Times change. And so do places.
“I didn’t have a space to properly show things,” Mr. Deatherage says now. “When William presented me with the opportunity of using this space, it was quite exciting to me. I think a lot of people here do ‘get it’ when they see it properly displayed. I think people appreciate the quality of what I am offering.”
What he’s selling is vintage modern, circa 1940 through the 1970s, with an emphasis on architectural pieces such as a dining table by Eero Saarinen or an early Eames chair. The furniture is carefully paired with artwork from Mr. Shearburn’s gallery.
“Originally, conceptually, I thought all of the art should be of the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, but I don’t think that has to be the case,” Mr. Shearburn says. “I think it is more of a visual thing. How does this Bill Kohn 1980s painting relate to these Rom Weber daybeds? I think in that instance, it works beautifully.”
The furniture tags come with two on-or-about dates—as in circa, a.k.a. “about: used before an approximate date or figure” (Webster’s New World College Dictionary). The first date is when the product was designed; the second notes when it was actually produced. For example, that classic Saarinen white plastic table with five matching chairs ($3,500) was designed in 1957, but this model was produced circa the 1970s. In one corner stands a pair of midcentury bergère chairs with faux-bamboo frames ($2,750). Not far away lies a Marcel Breuer chaise for Knoll ($2,500), a 9-foot-long cantilever sofa from the 1950s ($2,000), and a pair of Dunbar club chairs upholstered in gray silk, circa 1970 ($4,000). The prices may give pause to some—but not the store’s owners.
“I know from being in the art business here for 20 years, there are very sophisticated people in this city with plenty of money to participate in what we are doing [at Circa],” Mr. Shearburn says. “I am very encouraged by the response.”
Designers shown—and sold—in addition to those aforementioned include such iconic names as McCobb, Nilsson, and Wormley. Mr. Deatherage buys items from estates both in St. Louis and out of town. “Wherever there is good design, I am there with my checkbook,” he says. “Over the last 10 years, I have spent quite a lot of time traveling and buying things. I have a really good inventory of things to offer. A lot of people think that this was just put together overnight. They are so surprised that there is a new store and there is so much here.”
Not only that, he says, all the items on the sales floor—as well as those already sold—have just “made a small dent in my warehouse.” There’s plenty more for rock-star collectors.
4733 McPherson · 314-367-8020 · circamodern.com · Hours: Wed–Sat 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Sun 11 a.m.–2 p.m.
