View Masters

You’d expect a Back Bay apartment with a skybox view of the Christian Science Center to be upstaged. Let’s face it, when you’re eye-level with the hulking dome, on axis with the 670-foot long reflecting pool, and practically bumping up against the I.M. Pei–designed tower, you’re living with a monumental view that may not be reconciled with just any old easy chair.

In the hands of a gifted architect and interior designer, however—in this case The Erector Set, Architects and Lucien Allaire—the vastness is tamed into an elegantly cozy loft where the scale of the furnishings and artwork complements the buildings outside. “The architect set the bones of it and established a mood,” says the homeowner, a former jewelry designer whose love of art, which includes a David Hockney and a work by Christo and Jeanne-Claude enhances the boldness of the rooms. “It’s strong, simple, self-assured. The outside is heroic and I wanted the space to be part of the surroundings.”

The exterior view spoke directly to the homeowner as she inspected the raw space within the Belvedere as it was being built. She was, in fact, the first buyer to sign on, selecting this particular unit because it was on axis with the Christian Science Center plaza. From all but one room of the apartment, the complex spreads into full view, throwing up concrete, arching fountains and a constant stream of tourists and city dwellers. Inside, modern lines run unencumbered by crown moldings or baseboards, and a seamless white-on-white kitchen and a black-on-black master bath provide quiet voids, in keeping with the overall theme of minimalist elegance.

Among the architectural statements, interior designer Allaire injected warmth with luxurious fabric, wall and floor coverings. While both architect and designer brought their own approach, they agree that this particular project is an homage to the homeowner. “She has an artistic raison d’être for her space and knows how to add art and accents to take it to the next level,” says the architect of his client. “I tried to give things sort of a gallery feel to let art and furniture make the statement.”

“She’s a great editor,” adds Allaire. “I think when she met me she knew I wasn’t going to impose my point of view on her. I’m a good listener. The first thing she said to me was, ‘I’m doing an apartment at the Belvedere, you wanna help?’ She was such an influence.”

The interior colors came from an existing antique rug in the entryway. Allaire threaded ruby reds, soft celadon and camel colors into the restful rooms. “The tones are warm. They’re earthy and have a weightiness to them without being heavy,” he says.

Custom touches such as the walnut coffee table that Allaire edged with a band of burnished brass, chairs reworked from previous residences, and hand-finished glazes such as the crackled lacquer one on a klismos chair in the master bedroom all add to the artistry of the space. In the living room, striped coconut-fiber pillows go toe to toe with the exoticism of a human chair carved in the Philippines and purchased in New York. “I wanted something interesting and something you really wouldn’t see anywhere else,” says Allaire of the pillows. “They seem tribal and they worked with the character of the human chair. I worked to have it not look too fussy or too spare. Subtlety was the key word.”

As the homeowner settled in, she moved things around until it all felt right to her. “She brought an enormous amount of style to the project,” says Allaire. The whole place is a reflection of her.”
“I move everything around,” the homeowner says with a laugh before dragging a rough wooden piece by Vermont sculptor Paul Bowen over the 1890s Tabriz rug she found in New York. “Nothing ever stays the same.”

One piece that isn’t going anywhere, though, is the dining table, which consists of a round, glazed concrete top placed over a steel and wood base. The sculptural piece sits framed in the view, settled between the living room and den and placed just close enough to the kitchen. Like many of the homeowner’s pieces it stands easily on its own, but as a whole quietly coexists with the other furnishings while recalling the gray concrete outside and drawing on Pei’s modernist approach to the plaza.

“It is not an individual act, architecture,” Pei has said. “You have to consider your client. Only out of that can you produce great architecture.”

Beginning with a homeowner with superior tastes made it all the easier for this architect and designer.

Interior design: Lucien Allaire
Architecture: The Erector Set, Architects