Gold Standard

Connecticut-based John Canning is a nationally known and celebrated conservation specialist who, among other high-profile projects, restored the sky mural on the ceiling of Grand Central Station and brought the sparkle back to the dome of San Francisco’s City Hall. But when he talks about the Brookline, Massachusetts, estate known as English Rose, his Glasgow brogue softens and grows warm. “The house is something very special,” he says with a smile.

Canning is one of a roster of talented people who worked on the house, and each of them becomes enthusiastic, even sentimental, when remembering the project. “It’s a beautiful, romantic house that’s elegant, grand and European,” says Eugene Lawrence, the Newbury Street–based interior designer responsible for the stunning collection of antique and reproduction furniture, chandeliers and fireplace mantels, as well as for the dramatic and suitable window treatments. “It’s rare for a house’s design to be so well integrated, so all of a piece. But here everything reflects a feminine, ethereal aesthetic.”

Canning and Lawrence joined Boston architects Meyer and Meyer and Woodmeister Master Builders of Holden, Nantucket and Newport to bring about this renovation. Together, they took their cues from the refined, balanced proportions favored in the Georgian era, as well as from the best of American Gilded Age design.

ARCHITECTURE
John Meyer, Meyer and Meyer Architects
INTERIOR DESIGN
Eugene Lawrence; Decorative Painting: John Canning
CONSTRUCTION
Millwork: Woodmeister Master Builders