It’s no big secret that there are Australian roots at LZF through co founder Sandro Tothill. You may ask then, what has this antipodean background got to do with this week’s Blog about a home in Inner Richmond, San Francisco? Only that the area was named by a fellow Aussie, George Turner Marsh, an immigrant from Down-Under and an art dealer who called his sprawling mansion ‘The Richmond House’ after his home suburb of Richmond in Melbourne. Both Melbourne and San Francisco became ‘instant cities’ when gold rushes in California and Victoria during the mid nineteenth century poured in hundreds of thousands of fortune seekers from around the world!

At the time when Marsh built his home in Inner Richmond the area was called the Outside Lands (just as similar places in Australia were called the Outside Country). How ‘outside’ were they? Well, enough that Marsh used carrier pigeons to let his wife know to put the kettle on when he was about to ride home from work.

This renovation of an Inner Richmond house is a case in point. Architect W. David Seigal, assisted by owner/designer Lucy McLintic, completely transformed a cramped and dated kitchen, utilising custom cabinetry, silver travertine backsplashes, quartz waterfall bench-tops, and ceramic flooring laid out in an arresting herringbone pattern.

Seigal also lay siege to the a wall to give access to the dining room (formerly a kid’s playroom), powder room and backyard.
We are pleased to see one of our homemade Link Suspension Lamps (designed by Ireland’s ‘king of bling’ Ray Power) used over the Saarinen dining room table to great effect.

The Link (this one in natural cherry wood veneer) is becoming a very popular choice as a dining room delight. This owes in part to the lamp’s dimmable function, which allows it to be used for task or mood. The lamp’s popularity results also from the timeless sculptural element that it adds to any space, even when it is switched off.

Send out the pigeons …  LZF are coming to a house near you!