Room of the Day: Warhol Rocks a 19th-Century Dining Room

Interior designer John K. Anderson can say with almost certainty that before he came along, Andy Warhol’s work had never graced the once-rarified dining room of this 1896 San Francisco mansion built by James Irvine II, founder of the James Irvine Foundation. Irvine decamped for Southern California shortly after the infamous earthquake of 1906, and the house sat mostly empty until his death in 1947. The next owners kept things on the traditional side. Then along came a couple who loved the house but wanted to shake things up a bit and make a home for their modern art collection.

You could say the couple wanted to de–Downton Abbey the house, which included servants’ quarters, a scullery and back stairs for the maids. Thanks to Anderson and architect Stephen Sutro, those features are gone, and what could have been a stuffy formal dining room is now more fun than fusty.

The dramatic dining room can be seen from the grand entry of the home.


“The house is a backdrop for the art,” says Anderson. “The furnishings are designed to take a backseat to it.” The designer placed four Andy Warhol lithographs around the dining room, which has its original dark stained paneling.

“If you had hung these photos on a light-colored wall, it wouldn’t have been the same,” says Anderson. “They come alive on a black wall.”


“What brings it all together is the Paul Smith rug,” says Anderson. “The stripe is the same scale as the original fretwork in the ceiling, and it draws from the colors of the art.” Low B&B Italia chairs are comfortable and noncompetitive.

The white ceramic antler chandeliers are likely hanging where crystal pieces once glowed. “The owners chose them,” says Anderson. “I think they add a lot of cool to the room.”

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