Adorable Story #44: Albert Hadley

The Dean of American Decorators

“No matter what you do in life, it should always have a red thread running through it.”

–Albert Hadley

The famously publicity-averse designer sat for Fernando Bengoechea in 2004 — Portrait by © Fernando Bengoechea, courtesy of Beateworks/Corbis

Albert Hadley, a titan in the world of interior design, reshaped our understanding of modern American aesthetics.

His sharp eye for detail, balanced with a touch of whimsy, earned him the nickname “The Dean of American Decorators.” In this Adorable Story, we celebrate Albert Hadley’s life— un tableau painted with bold strokes and vibrant colors — and his legacy that redefined the industry.

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Albert Hadley was born in Springfield, Tennessee, in 1920.

As a child, Hadley studied fashion and design magazines and was enthralled by the movies, and by the time he was 13 he had already determined that his future was in New York.

He attended Peabody College in Nashville for two years, after which he worked as an assistant to one of the South’s best-known decorators, A. Herbert Rodgers.

He was drafted into the Army in 1942 and served as a company payroll clerk. With the help of the GI Bill, he moved to New York in 1947, to attend the Parsons School of Design and, after graduating in 1949, joined the school’s faculty.

A sketch from Hadley’s student days at Parsons School of Design — Image courtesy of Albert Hadley © Albert Hadley, by Adam Lewis, Rizzoli New York, 2005

At the time, interior decorators were a rare breed and one of the reigning doyennes was Mrs. Henry Parish II, known as Sister.

“It was basically a very ladylike business”

After working at McMillen from 1956 to 1962, then the most prestigious decorating firm in the country, Hadley was summoned to the grande dame’s Fifth Avenue apartment: she opened the door, and “those spiteful little Pekinese dogs Sis had came flying at me,” he would later recall. “I think she was amused by that.”

In 1962, they started Parish-Hadley, Associates which would last until Sister Parish death in 1994.

“The most wonderful thing in the world was watching Albert and Sister work together; they both leaned on each other like a happily married couple. I never saw fracture and I never saw unhappiness between them. I think probably Albert put up with a lot, but whatever it was, it was a wonderful relationship. On Saturdays, we’d often get into the car — Albert driving, Mrs. Parish in the front passenger seat, me in the back — and as we headed off to Locust Valley or New Jersey they’d start chit-chatting about the clients we were going to visit — Mrs. Engelhard was so charming, etc., etc.

The two of them made marvelous music bringing together the home.”
— David Easton, interior designer (worked at Parish-Hadley from 1967 to 1969)

Albert Hadley’s first assignment with Parish was the White House breakfast room of Jacqueline and President John F. Kennedy, though he was modest about his contribution.

“I only did the curtains,’’ he said in 1999.

Beginnings

One of the first projects they collaborated on was a vast apartment at 740 Park Avenue, for Edgar Bronfman, the chairman of Seagram, and his wife, Ann Loeb.

Sister Parish had envisaged a traditional scheme involving yards of chintz that seemed to meet with the clients’ approval, but then the firm received an urgent telegram from the Bronfmans, who were vacationing in Mexico:

“Stop all work. We want a floating apartment.”