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LEFT With a compact floor plan of 1,200 square feet,Leverone designed the rooms to serve multiple functions.The living and dining areas are open to each other with

areas for entertaining as well as reflection.

ABOVE The designer Matthew Leverone relaxes in the completed apartment.

Designer Matthew

Leverone Has Created This Nob Hill Pied-a-TerreFor A Man Who Lives Both

In France And San Francisco

TexT By Kendra BouTeLL

PhoTograPhy By Lisa roMerein

Ataleoftwo

Cities

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an Francisco and France have had a long love affair beginning when

merchant Felix Verdier sailed throughthe Golden Gate in 1850. His ship

bore the flag Ville de Paris and was laden withFrench wines and brandy for Gold Rush menand fine silks and lace for their women.

Verdier and his descendants enjoyed acharmed life traveling between San Franciscoand France while operating their departmentstore The City of Paris. Today the chic empo-rium is gone but there are still people who livedual lives between France and the Paris of theWest. San Francisco interior designer MatthewLeverone’s client is one of these lucky few.

During spring and summer this two nationresident lives in a country house in Burgandywhile the other half of the year he resides in amid century pied-à-terre on Nob Hill. The SanFrancisco home, which Leverone designed, fea-tures tones of ash gray and limestone with boldpunches of steel blue and international orange.For the living room Leverone selected an indigoabstract by Tom Lieber that recalls the work ofGerman-French painter Hans Hartung. Heflanked this with custom club chairs upholsteredin a slate blue linen velvet from Rose Tarlow.Centering these is a vintage Paul Laszlo tablethat is accented by a contemporary sculpturefrom Peter Boiger.

S

LEFT For the guestroom Leverone chose a textured rug fromTaiping to anchor theroom. To complete theroom he combinedcustom furniture andshowroom pieces.

OPPOSITE A detail ofthe living room showsone of Leverone’scustom club chairs. The rich wood of thetapered legs is echoedby the mahogany of thevintage Paul Laslo sidetable and bronze Peter

Bolger sculpture.

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OPPOSITE On the diningtable a collection of

antique telescope lensesmounted on graduatingbronze stands creates

visual interest.

LEFT The kitchen wasoriginally a cold whitewhich the designer

warmed by facing theexisting cabinets in riftcut Spessart Oak. Forthe extensive renova-tion Leverone utilizedMatarozzi/Pelsinger

Builders.

To separate the living room from thedining area Leverone floated a sleek one-armed sofa covered in a silver blue linen fromRomo. He companioned this with a Jean-Michel Frank styled waterfall coffee table.Surveying the dining area is a watery dream-scape painted by Bay Area native GaryRuddell. Art Deco styled mahogany diningchairs from Troscan surround an updated ver-sion of the classic harvest table. Illuminatingthe space is a chandelier from RomanThomas. Its elliptical shape is echoed by a col-lection of telescope lenses mounted on bronzestands. The designer introduced rift cutSpessart Oak paneling as a backdrop that wascontinued into the kitchen.

Leverone created a sanctuary from citylife in the master bedroom with walls uphol-stered in ivory wool. A luminescent paintingby Gregg Renfrow can be viewed from the tai-lored bed with a headboard covered in HollyHunt leather. The sensuous coral cashmerethrow blanket from Loro Piana provideswarmth on the cool autumn and wintermonths when the client lives here. Tucked intoa corner window with views of GraceCathedral, the designer staged a reading areausing a diminutive A. Rudin club chair and anover scaled tripod floor lamp. Because theapartment is only 1,200 square feet, Leveronethoughtfully added a functional but elegantdesk fabricated by Custom Furniture Designs.

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Leverone created a sanctuary from city life in the master bedroom.

LEFT Above the bed in the master bedroomLeverone featured

two minimalist prints by Japanese artist Seiko Tachibana.

OPPOSITE A whimsicaltouch is provided by a tripod primitive stool from M.S.

Antiques in New York.

Equally well thought out is the guest roomfor visiting friends. And again Leverone choseart as the inspiration for his design—one ofPatrick Dintino’s brightly hued spectrum paint-ings. Its vivid amber yellow and tiger lily colorsare balanced by the room’s shell of winter white.A divan covered in a Clarence House textile canbe used as a bed or for casual seating. The Loopand Hook floor lamp designed by David Weeksreferences the 1950s architecture of the apart-ment. Steel and stone tables become a venue for

sculptor Adam P. Gale’a organic shapes.Just as the family that owned The City of

Paris enjoyed living in the Paris of the West sodoes Leverone’s client. Today all that remains ofthe Beaux Arts style department store is thestained glass dome from the original rotundanow installed in San Francisco’s NeimanMarcus store. It depicts the Ville de Paris shipcarrying French goods to San Francisco.Fortunately the relationship between the twocities has also endured. CH

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