VINCE MULFORD
By Susanna Salk for 1stdibs
"It was dubbed the ugliest building in town but I saw clues," says dealer Vince Mulford of t he 10,000 square foot ‘Sleeping Beauty’ he now calls home and shop. When he first saw the 1780's structure it had been downsized to five apartments and fifteen offices.  Carpeting covered plywood floors and dropped ceilings were tracked with florescent lighting.  "We filled twenty dumpsters when we started to transform it," remembers Mulford.  Natural wood floors and eleven foot high ceilings were eventually revealed along with an enormous second floor of ballroom-size proportions that Mulford outfitted with large gilt mirrors as he unveiled original black patinated tin walls and installed 40 custom designed mercury sconces.  The area adjacent to the new entertaining space became a cozy nook for Mulford's own abode with dining and living rooms.  "A friend told me I had created an Italian Palazzo with my shop on the ground floor, my public rooms – for receiving – on the second, and my private rooms on the third floor," says Mulford. "I really didn't know what he meant until I went to Venice and saw how true it was."

Since 1990, Mulford had a retail space up the street along with other Hudson dealers who had made the leap to this river valley town. Due to its easy weekend access for Manhattan dwellers and antiques hunters from many points beyond, Mulford was the twelfth dealer to arrive and is now one of sixty-five. "I had originally been doing just shows with my pieces but it was exhausting,” says Mulford. “Then some dealers already here convinced me to give Hudson a try.  I rented a shared space and within a few weeks sold everything I had."  It wasn't long before he had a shop of his own.  Eleven years later he moved a few blocks down to his current Warren Street location.  It used to be “the scary end of town” but now Mulford is surrounded by charming cafes, shops, and other dealers who help him make this ever-expanding neighborhood feel like home.

Mulford grew up not far from Hudson and was schooled locally there as well.  His love for collecting began via his grandmother, who had a gingerbread clock on her mantle, which entranced a very young Mulford.  When he expressed interest in, it she told him to get its twin up in her attic for his very own.  "My parents thought it meant I was going to be an electronics genius but I wasn't into the mechanics of it,” remembers Mulford.  “I loved its style and that it ran without plugging it in." It became part of his first collection and went on to comprise anything that caught his eye with unique scale or design.  "I've never cared much if anything is signed or not," says Mulford, whose inventory now ranges from Eng lish commodes to a faux library set piece John Belushi once used in a "Saturday Night Live" skit – and everything in between.  "People have accused me of coming from a background in theater design but actually I have a BA in Zoology and Botany,” says Mulford. “I'm just naturally drawn to things that have proportion, patina, and scale.  I love to put large objects in small rooms, it gives a feeling of simple grandeur and I find clutter quite disturbing."  His current space is a testament to his love of the bold and the beautiful.  At his shop entrance is pavilion of columns rescued from "The Catskill Mountain House."
When Mulford found, them they were the last four of the building and 20 feet tall. He cut them in half and they now shelter a museum plaster of Michelangelo's ‘Lorenzo de Medici’ within their new graceful proportions.  "Every room should have one case piece that you can build around," says Mulford.  Throughout the expansive floor he has created just such vignettes that are both fanciful and functional, like the enormous fiberglass bear from an amusement park that "pulls" an 1830's “One Horse Shay” in front of his glass office in the back of the shop.

Mulford still travels throughout Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine in search of inventory but it is getting harder and harder to find those unique treasures that he brings back to New York. "Whether it's formal, country, funky or modern I am open to it, I just don't like fussy,"  Mulford explains. “And I particularly love the thirties: 1830's and 1930's.”

While Mulford’s original goal was to have a self-sufficient farm and tavern styled of the 18th century, he has ultimately taken to the urban environment he now unexpectedly inhabits. “I love the ebb and flow of the every day here, especially when people drop by to shop or just say hello,” says Mulford. “There's been a lot of change in my life and I've always tried to be good about accepting and going with it." The constant that's always anchored him has been the excitement of finding that certain piece and being able to give it a unique forum and context. Sometimes it leaves with another admirer and sometimes it goes into his collection.  Regardless, it is always special. As both seen and unseen clocks continually chime throughout the day, one never feels that it is quite time to leave Vince Mulford's American Palazzo.  Says its host, "This setting is a great backdrop for my taste and20enables me to mix it with my personal lifestyle."