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August 22- August 29,2004 |
A Tremendous Life In The Spotlight
Frank Sinatra's hippest years live on in Summit restaurant's quintessential design in New York
By Mark Curtis
Originally Published: 2004-07-11
The musical legend that is Frank Sinatra is well-documented, but less known is the iconic singer's contribution to mid-20th century modernist architecture and the recent revival of this style.
On May 1, 1947, rising Hollywood star Sinatra walked into the Palm Springs, California office of architect Stewart Williams. As Williams recalls their first meeting, the popular crooner appeared typically casual - he was wearing a white sailor's cap and eating an ice cream cone. "I want a house," Sinatra said to the architect, and Williams accepted the challenge of designing and building a new Palm Springs home for the singer by that Christmas.
In late 1940s Palm Springs, Williams was one of a handful of practitioners of the California Modernist style, so Sinatra and his young family were soon residing in the very latest concept of open plan living. In his 2001 book, Palm Springs Weekend, Alan Hess writes that the Williams design, his first-ever house, "defined the essence of the casual lifestyle and glamour Modernism of popular culture's celebrities in the desert." (Other Hollywood stars with Palm Springs homes at the time included Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.)
The Sinatra home was an instant classic. Pink ashlar stone walls and vertical wood board siding defined the interior and exterior. An upswept roof offered a breathtaking living room view of the nearby San Jacinto mountain range. The swimming pool - true to mid-century fashion - was amoeba-shaped. "It is a house at ease, with right angles tempered by oblique angles and curves," says Hess. "It is a masterful design for the architect's first house, and it captures the smooth craft and the informality of the client. It is the pinnacle of hip. The design set the tone for postwar glamour as Hollywood stars continued to move to Palm Springs." Sinatra eventually moved to a larger desert home, but not before helping to establish domestic modernist architecture in the California desert.
Fast forward to present day New York, where restaurateur Vincent Sgarlato has turned his Sinatra obsession into a unique dining experience. Visitors to Sgarlato's Summit restaurant and lounge in the Midtown East neighbourhood of the city are surrounded by the surroundings of the singer's larger than life story. With the help of New York architect Glen Coben, Sgarlato has re-created quintessential Sinatra scenes at the Summit. The dining room features an impressive vista of the desert mountains seen from Sinatra's Palm Springs living room but, this being New York of course, the stunning view is naturally a wallpaper facsimile. Three overhead organic lamp designs by American master George Nelson and a circular table recall Sinatra's favourite spot at Puccini's restaurant, his Hollywood hangout. The Summit's East 49th Street marquee evokes the signage at the legendary Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, where the singer and his "Rat Pack" buddies entertained and, word has it, caroused occasionally as well. (The Summit is named for a lesser-used but reportedly Sinatra-preferred appellation for the singer's showbiz friends, which included Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Junior, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop.)
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