Along with the Noailles family, Charles Templeton Crocker is Jean-Michel Frank’s most important early client. As his first US commission, it opened doors to numerous major projects for the likes of Frances Elkins (pioneering interior designer), Mr. and Mrs. Resor, and of course Nelson Rockefeller. In 1928, the philanthropist, art collector and French Riviera regular, Mr. Crocker hired Jen-Michel Frank to decorate his lavish duplex penthouse perched on top of the highest tower in San Francisco. Parchment paneling on the walls and ceiling, straw marquetry and leather on the furniture, nothing was too extravagant for this swanky interior. Even Jean Dunand, Art Deco’s preeminent lacquer master, participated in this project, designing furniture for the master suite, which today is conserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, as well as a spectacular set of koi fish lacquer wall panels for the breakfast room. In 1929, Vogue magazine dubbed it “the most beautiful apartment in the world.”

For Mr. Crocker’s private office, paneled entirely in straw marquetry, Frank chose to place our Havana colored, Hermès leather chairs around the desk. To this day, our pair is the only one known to have retained its original leather upholstery, making them a very rare find with a fabulous pedigree.