Rooms to Remember
Reviewed by Marcia Sherrill

Suzanne Tucker is a precious jewel in the San Francisco interior design crown. Not surprising considering she and partner, Timothy Marks, have inherited the royal mantle of legendary California designer, Michael Taylor. Tucker’s recent work from Monacelli Press, Rooms To Remember: The Classic Interiors of Suzanne Tucker (ITALICS) is a gem in its own right with stunning visuals and Tucker’s heartfelt and informative tale of her personal odyssey. It is indeed a book that is hard to put down. And while it’s not automatic to decode in Tucker’s classically inspired interiors a whiff of her guru, Michael Taylor, his is an essence that endures.
Taylor, an international legend at the time of his death in 1986, had created a style in his 30-year-career that spread internationally and was dubbed the “California Look.” Homes from the Bay Area to Brooklyn sought to approximate his look with over-sized, almost Flintstone-scaled neutral pieces and natural elements such as stone, concrete, and granite. Often mistakenly thought of as minimalist, Taylor’s interiors boasted glamorous antiques alongside humble geodes and rocks. Tucker, like Taylor, encodes much of her work with elements drawn from Syrie Maugham in her 1920’s work. But Tucker is not afraid to put Syrie-style upholstered pieces cheek to jowl with the daring art of A. Jim Dine and Ed Rusha or that of her own custom designs.
Suzanne Tucker came to interior design by a circuitous route. She admits to a privileged childhood and remembers her father’s assurance that she need not worry about a career because “You will keep house.” Having made her first purchase when just a tween of a twelve-arm crystal-laden chandelier for the family home, Tucker was not going to be side tracked into a life of mere domesticity. She had, after all, been decorating the family Christmas tree since she was a toddler and brooked no interference.
After earning a degree in Interior Architecture, Tucker honed her style while working in couture at San Francisco’s I. Magnin before spreading her wings as a glorified secretary at Michael Taylor. She admits that she could barely type so while she hardly was a candidate for queen of the steno pool she came equipped with an innate sense of style and a serious reverence for architecture and design. Her own career since she and Marks purchased Michael Taylor Designs has landed her in the AD100 pantheon of greats.
With chapter titles such as Bones & Architecture; Balance; Contrast; Harmony and Charm and Sensuality,(ITALICS) the book could be a new-age spiritual guide for the home. Tucker admits “ My goal is to make(her clients’) homes enriching, elegant, approachable, inviting, comfortable, deeply sensual, harmonious, serene, resonant with quality and beauty, full of personality, and highly individual. Cliches?” Hardly, and certainly not mere palaver coming from Tucker who delivers this and so much more in each of the painstakingly detailed residences. Tucker has a treasure trove of novel ideas and an encyclopedic knowledge to make each client’s dreams a reality. Every home bears not just her hallmark antiques, sumptuous fabrics, and architectural details but calls to mind the great estates of Europe with a fastidiousness that demands “bespoke” details. Walls alone can be stried, faux bois-ed, venetian-glazed, muraled, gold-leafed, hand-stenciled, paneled, lacquered, detailed in Chinoiserie, or even upholstered. Her training in fashion couture is manifest in extravagant floors that are inlaid with cabochon stones and bleached or restored with wide, weathered rough-sawn planks laid with reclaimed Jerusalem stone – and/or clad in hand-tufted carpets upon marbled mosaics “rugs.” Ceilings are coffered, French molding is added, paneling is hung, and giant cranes lift solarium glass-ceilings into place.
Tucker works with many of the country’s renowned architects and admits a love of floor plans and all things architectural. Custom-designed upholstery is as comfy as are original Taylor pieces but each is submitted to Tuckers “Sit Test” where clients must make sure that each piece is perfect for their proportions. No too-deep sofas or too-low dining room chairs because Tucker wants her clients to be cozy sitting on pieces with their stocking-feet perfectly positioned beneath them. She promises what seems impossible…and delivers. From a Beaux-Arts Nob Hill apartment – to a Provence-inspired villa – to an Arts and Crafts mountain home, and a decidedly mod Marin County pied-a-terre – all bear the Tucker touch. Much owed to Taylor but more Tucker-centric are custom wrought iron flourishes, canopied beds, antique lighting and rugs strewn effortlessly. She has been an adept disciple of the great California master, saying “I remember being fascinated by the way Michael melded art, antiques, and bold furnishings to create what appeared to be effortlessly perfect rooms.” Suzanne Tucker has stepped outside Taylor’s vocabulary with her own refined style. A style that sparkles.