“What a dump…” deadpans a visitor upon entering the exquisite home of designer Marshall Watson and husband Paul Sparks. Peals of laughter erupt as said visitor knows that the pair, with their theater and film backgrounds (Watson was a regular character on As the World Turns in the early 1980s; Sparks built a career as a documentary and corporate producer), will ken the phrase first uttered by Bette Davis’s disgruntled housewife in Beyond the Forest and later seared into film history by Elizabeth Taylor in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Sparks and Watson’s impeccable and stylish flat is anything but: It is a study in traditional elegance and sophistication, informed by history and wrapped in the ambience of sanctuary. “I love the New York energy,” Watson says, “but it’s go-go-go and sometimes fierce. We need a gentler, more civilized life in our homes. We need them to be havens.”
Designer Marshall Watson
In a 1912 building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, the classic “Edwardian five” apartment appealed for its ceiling height and light. “You can fix everything but those,” says the designer, accustomed to the constraints of the city’s living spaces. Their apartment’s most recent renovation is but the second since they bought it in the ’90s, so Watson has had a good, long think on how to go about it.
To enhance the sense of space and light, Watson hearkens to his innate love for Scandinavian design. An exemplary Swedish palette of cream and blue is set off by wide-plank oak floors, graceful antiques, and the deft placement of mirrors. Doorways have been enlarged and aligned in some cases, sleekly ebonized in others, and elsewhere cleverly concealed by paneling or jib closures. A pair of elaborately carved, 19th-century French doors left unpainted makes a rustic counterpoint at the bedroom entrance, while the symmetrical arch facing remains open to the study, allowing light to stream in from three exposures.
Antique carved doorslead from living area to bedroom
The silk velvet–lined vestibule makes a jewel box of an entry, with hall and kitchen doors upholstered in leather with nailhead trim, the latter punctuated by a portal window salvaged from an old submarine. The kitchen’s burnished-gold papered ceiling complements the deep, glossy sheen of the cabinetry.
Counterintuitively, the designer notes, dark colors recede rather than close in, particularly at night when the shadows diminish, making the space appear larger. “And at night it’s so glamorous,” Watson says. “I love the darkness of it.” In daylight, reflections in the living area’s lacquered ceilings create the illusion of double-height rooms.
Other considerations included what to do with the squirreled-away-since-the-’80s Gracie wallpaper that had cost the young designer weeks’ worth of paychecks. (It’s gorgeous in the study with that peerless Regency desk.) And what of the lugged-home-in-a-yellow-cab enormous solid iron pediment rescued from a torn-down bank building? (Again, gorgeous in the study atop an artfully built-in closet creating precious storage.) And then there were the bath tiles piled on the floor for decades, now finally in the floor. “Poor Paul,” Watson laughs, noting that Sparks had long endured stepping around and tripping over such items.
A collection of porcelain dessert cups (circa 1885, Dresden)
Worked into the mix as well are furnishings acquired over time at various auctions and sales, most notably a pair of Billy Baldwin–designed étagères bought from Mario Buatta’s estate that almost certainly came from Cole Porter’s apartment. Elsewhere, provenance is more personal; family heirlooms include Watson’s mother’s bouillotte table, a grandfather’s violin, and a bronze clock belonging to his great-great-grandfather, who was the first medical doctor in Kansas City.
Connecting with his forebears’ legacy of preservation and healing, Watson believes in home above all as a place to nurture, and that nurtures you in return. “I never thought of it as an investment,” he says. “There is meaning and comfort here.”
Study
The study’s Gracie wallpaper was a prize scrimped and saved for by the designer, who acquired it in the ’80s, when its low-key colorway was out of fashion but still nevertheless dear. The wallpaper’s floral motifs echo the carvings of the Regency desk, crowned by a 19th-century clock once belonging to Watson’s great-great-grandfather. The iron reappears in the closet door pediment Watson rescued from an old bank building demolition site.
Pedestal Table
“Proportions are everything,” Watson says. “That’s why this pedestal table is so beautiful to me, and it’s always been our dining table.” The burnished-gold ceramic bowl was a gift from the designer to his mother, now passed to him. Glimpsed in the background are the velvet-lined entryway and the leather-upholstered door to the “butler’s pantry” kitchen. The portal is the real thing, originally made for an Indian submarine.
Kitchen
“The kitchen is designed like a butler’s pantry,” Watson says, and it is all drawers, although some of them are faux (pssst, the dishwasher panel). A late-19th-century lantern ties to William Morris wallpaper from the same period. The mirror-finish glossy paint is a modern element that also brings light into the dark space and lends glamorous drama.
Bedroom
In shades of Watson’s favored periwinkle blue, bedroom walls and exquisitely swagged and trimmed curtains are in a Suzanne Tucker print the designer has long loved. “And I’ve come to know and love Suzanne, too,” he says.
A pair of Persian temple doors once belonging to Watson’s mother adorns one wall. Like a proud parent, Watson boasts about the craftsmanship of the artisans and tradesmen with whom he has long collaborated. “The sunburst canopy has 92 pleats,” he says—but precise and sharp, “not fussy.”
Bathroom
Watson inherited his grandfather’s violin and gave it a place of honor—once by mounting it on his bedroom wall, and twice by repeating its silhouette in the bathroom’s marble backsplash. “I’m never not experimenting,” he says, pointing out the shallow built-in cabinet above the bath. Not only does it not protrude into the room, but the items within are easily seen and reached.
Find more of Marshall Watson’s work in his new book, Defining Elegance (Rizzoli), releasing in March.
Defining Elegance
Join VERANDA’s Design Society
Featured in our March/April 2025 issue. Interior Design by Marshall Watson; Photography by Luke White; Styling by Helen Crowther; Written by Frances Schultz.
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