Marc Jacobs on Living in (and Artfully Restoring) a Frank Lloyd Wright House

Katherine McLaughlin
·4 min read

Photo: John Lamparski/Getty Images

Marc Jacobs, legendary fashion designer and native New Yorker, never planned on leaving the city he’d called home for 56 years. In fact, as he wrote in the latest issue of Vogue, he’d “all but given up on the idea.” But that was before a real estate agent who specializes in unique and off-market properties called him with a rare proposition: the opportunity to purchase a Frank Lloyd Wright home about an hour outside of Manhattan. “Wright’s name stirred something in me. And with curiosity outweighing hesitation, I agreed to see it,” Jacobs wrote.

The residence was the Max Hoffman House, a five-bedroom Usonian that Wright designed for its namesake, an Austrian European car dealer, in 1955. Located on the coast of North Manursing Island, the roughly 6,000-square-foot L-shaped structure overlooks the Long Island Sound and is defined by copper-trimmed fascia and overhanging eaves. Wright and Hoffman seemingly had a successful working relationship, as the home was their second project. (Hoffman had previously commissioned Wright to design an automobile showroom on Park Avenue in Manhattan, which was demolished in 2013.)

Pulling into the driveway, the designer was immediately moved by the property, and despite the extensive renovations that would be required, he decided to buy it. “I hadn’t even stepped inside, but I could feel it—this place was different, and genuinely one of the coolest houses I had ever seen,” he wrote. This was March 2019; a month later, Jacobs and his husband, Charly Defrancesco, wed in the historic home. That fall, the couple began the restoration work, which included disassembling the home to its original studs and foundation in order to replace the roof, restore the stone floor, and rehabilitate the original mechanical systems.

Jacobs and Defrancesco are only the home’s fourth stewards and worked closely with the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy to ensure all work was completed as faithfully to Wright’s vision as possible. Nonetheless, as is the case with many renovations, the scope of project regularly ballooned. “With each passing month, it became clear that the work and craftsmanship necessary was far beyond what anyone had anticipated,” Jacobs explained, admitting that his visits to the home during this time were infrequent as it was often overwhelming. But finally after four years, it was ready for the couple’s return.

For Vogue’s December issue, which Jacobs guest-edited, he commissioned a single portrait of his house, taken by photographer Gregory Crewdson. In it, the fashion designer sits in the home’s great room, a muscular stone pillar contrasting against delicate art glass windows behind him. Outside, fog marches from the river across the manicured lawn, on which Defrancesco stands wrapped in a blanket.

Anna Wintour and Marc Jacobs together at the premier of Hamilton in 2015

"Hamilton" Broadway Opening Night - Arrivals And Curtain Call

Anna Wintour and Marc Jacobs together at the premier of Hamilton in 2015
Photo: Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Though Jacobs helmed the edition, Anna Wintour, Vogue’s editor, shared with The New York Times that she championed the home’s inclusion in the glossy pages. “I kept saying, ‘Let’s do the house, let’s do the house,’” she recalled, later adding that the portrait “was amazing. It did make me think we could take more risks.”

In a behind-the-scenes video, Jacobs said that he didn’t want the feature to be about decoration, but rather his “comfort at home.” And though the fashion designer kept the majority of the residence private, the single image offers subtle clues about his reverence for the architect and period appreciation. The Japanese screen recalls Wright’s admiration for the handicraft of the country (Taliesin, Wright’s midwestern estate, is decorated with a number of Japanese prints); while the Alberto Giacometti lamp firmly roots the home in 20th-century minimalism and functionalism.

However, this doesn’t mean the couple didn’t also make it theirs. According to the Vogue essay, they expanded the kitchen to make it more user-friendly and added smart technology, like phone-controlled lights. The basement, which Jacobs describes as “slightly over the top” perhaps exemplifies the couple’s vibrant interests and personalities best. The “lower level,” as Wright called it, is “now a full-time laundromat, infrared spa, part-time pharmacy, hair salon equipped with a barber chair and rinse sink, nail salon (for my current fixation), gift-​wrapping station, office supply center, and the room with the only properly proportioned wooden closets in the entire house for a fashion-obsessed couple.”

Though Jacobs said that the home isn’t done yet, it has been a source of peace for the designer since moving in. “Nothing could take away from my new early mornings with the most beautiful, enigmatic sunrises and a stillness I had never experienced in my life,” he wrote.

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

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