Book 'em Dano: the wonderful world of bookcases

An architectural consultant to my firm for many years, Holmes Easley, lived in an apartment on the Upper West Side that was the envy of many. Comfortably furnished with antiques and oriental rugs, its signature motif was its bookcases.

Though he has since passed on, room after room belonging to Holmes was once lined with attractively built bookcases and handsome étagères. Novels, art books, encyclopedias, poetry collections, leather-bound tomes, cloth-bound novels and paperbacks populated the walls creating an erudite, comforting environment of such enveloping coziness that even when the steam radiators ceased to heat, Holmes’s rooms could not help but warm the spirit.

On chilly winter days, the glow of reflected lamplight off the cases of books was both reassuring and relaxing. My friend Erika call Holmes’s rooms, “The sexiest apartment I’ve ever been in.”

Designers, architects and most great aesthetic minds have weighed in on the comforting feel of a room filled with bookcases. Billy Baldwin designed Cole Porter’s flat with his famous brass and leather étagères filled with leather-bound books. Mr. Porter’s apartment is still considered one of the chicest abodes ever.

Socialite Brooke Astor’s red lacquer- and brass-framed library was the choice room that the real estate agents chose to exhibit when the apartment went up for sale.

Bill Blass’s dining room—with flanking bookcases dressed in caramel-colored leather-bound books and oval Biedermeier chairs upholstered in a brown linen toile—practically brought the decorating world to its knees. This room is to

be challenged only by Rex Harrison’s elegant dining library with the room-surrounding bookcases, a lush to-the-floor draped table and leopard spotted carpet.

Madame Castaing, of Parisian fame, created regency style étagères with black lacquered columns and gilded finial crowns that were all the rage. David Hicks pared his étagères down to square tubular steel skyscrapers of elegance.

And almost every current designer’s collection worth its salt has an étagère or bookcase that reflects his or her distinct point of view.

No matter how large or small a client’s home, I have more often than not found that the space they choose to spend most of their time in is their library or den filled with books. And despite the age of the Kindle, I don’t think bookcases are disappearing anytime soon. And now, with the market flooded with a number of beautiful étagères and bookcases, the selecting has been made easier.

The most basic of these pieces of furniture may not always look beautiful in the nude, but once clothed in books, they develop their full potential. Luckily for us East Enders, there are lots of great places to shop for these finds.

English Country Antiques in Southampton has a stately pine bookcase sporting twisted columns, while Old Town Crossing, also in Southampton, showcases a very usable pair of walnut “whatnots” perfect for placing books below a windowsill.

On a more exotic note, Hampton Briggs Antiques in Bridgehampton carries several pairs of open Chinese bookcases ideal for flanking a doorway or fireplace. Country Gear Ltd. in Bridgehampton supplies a sturdy, white lacquered bookcase with cherry interior suitable for any roughhousing 
family room.

Over at Mecox Garden in Southampton, the metal frame and reclaimed oak bookcases from France are ubiquitous with decorators as they can cross over elegantly between kitchen, bedroom and casual living room. Bridgehampton-based Comerford Hennessey provides stylish, modern, handmade-in-the-Hamptons bookcases perfect for your Richard Neutra designed glass house.

Surprisingly, bookcases take up far less space than you imagine, especially if you are not housing large art/coffee table books. When you actually measure the depth and height of your books, you will find they are certainly not as deep as the 12 to 14 inches normally provided by builder bookcases. And in terms of height, you certainly can lower the distance between bookshelves.

There is nothing lonelier than a row of books with another 12 inches of headroom and nothing skimpier looking than books pushed into an overly deep bookcase allowing 5 inches of exposed shelf. To solve this unattractive problem, lower your adjustable shelves and pull your books out within an inch of the edge of the shelf.

When you go to the great libraries of Pierpont Morgan and Henry Clay Frick, you will notice how beautiful the closely-stacked books appear.

I also appreciate thicker shelves—1½ inches thick at least—to prevent sagging and lend an air of substance. There is nothing sadder than a truly groaning bookcase.

For my taste, I find an attractive beading or reeded moulding faces the shelf effectively and cuts down on its bulky bones. To decorate their thick bookshelves, the Edwardians applied hand-tooled and scalloped leather edging, fortunately revived today by Manhattan-based Falotico Studios.

Back in dustier times, bookshelves were upholstered with a thick brush fringe that literally brushed off the dust from atop the books when one removed them. And lest we forget our 17th century history, rats were so prevalent in even chateaus, manor houses and palaces that chicken wire was stretched on doors covering the bookcases in order to keep the vermin from chewing up the book bindings.

Lighting, of course, is important when attempting to read titles for selection. Rope lighting that is vertically behind the facing and hidden underneath the shelves is pretty for accent, glowing warmly over the bindings. But I prefer an articulated armed sconce that faces down, flooding light over the front of the books, or a bright picture light mounted on the facing or header above the top bookshelf.

Since not all of us are flush enough to own the complete leather-bound volumes of multiple classic authors, we are often stuck with the hodgepodge collection of books we have actually read. To calm the hodgepodge cacophony, I have found that painting or wallpapering the inside of the bookcase a rich color unifies the many screaming book jackets. As book jackets are often designed to stand out, I simply remove them and enjoy the simpler clothbound color and texture.

To break up the row upon row of books, designers will slip in here and there a beautiful porcelain vase, a model ship, an architectural finial or a framed photograph. When bookcases are stuffed to the gills and every inch of storage is essential, I will hang a small print or framed painting on the front of the shelf to break up the stacks. Lit with a picture light, this arrangement is quite sensual.

Some books are too tall, so I stack them horizontally. If in a contemporary environment, I’ll repeat horizontal piles of books, evenly separated, sometimes in pyramidal stacks.

Water Mill designer Tom Britt removes his book jackets and painstakingly covers them in creamy parchment, whereupon a calligrapher pens the book’s title. As you can imagine, it’s quite stunning to behold, especially when arranged upon his bleached pagoda-style bamboo étagères.

Books have been said to be the most sure-fire approach to successful decoration. Much has been written (and will continue to be written) about the reassuring beauty and splendid comfort that a room lined in books creates. With less space and square footage occupied than you can imagine, installing a bookcase is a bet wagered that you’re guaranteed to win.

Marshall Watson is a nationally recognized interior and furniture designer who lives and works in the Hamptons and New York City. Reach him at 105 West 72nd Street, Suite 9B, New York, NY 10023.