“Four Fountains”, house, Southampton, New York

Artist/Designer: McMillen McMillen Inc., Eleanor Brown

Project Location: New York, United States

Figure 1: A 40-foot-square living room at "Four Fountains", the Southampton, NY, home of Eleanor McMillen Brown of the firm McMillen, became a multi-purpose room. ( Photographer: Richard Champion, photographer, page 52, Sixty Years of Interior Design: The World of McMillen )

Figure 2: "The addition of a fireplace makes possible the coziness of a hearthside conversation grouping within the grand scale; added windows increase the flow of light and ocean air. On the marble mantel is Wheeler Wiliams's Figure of Summer. Behind the sofa is a French Provincial Directoire table."--from page 105, Architectural Digest, March/April 1976 ( Photographer: Richard Champion, photographer, page 105, Architectural Digest, March/April 1976 )

Figure 3: "Prominent in the living room is a round Louis XVI Italian table, a set of Louis XV French armchairs and an Italian Empire console."--from page 102 of Architectural Digest, March/April 1976 issue ( Photographer: Richard Champion, photographer, page 103, Architectural Digest, March/April 1976 )

Figure 4: "The large printed silk toile 'Le Cirque' is by Raoul Dufy. The sofas were covered in linen, the Italian rococo chairs in moire taffeta."--from page 52, Sixty Years of Interior Design: The World of McMillen. ( Photographer: Richard Champion, page 52 of Sixty Years of Interior Design: The World of McMillent )

Figure 5: "Across the living room from the entrance hall, a low partition hid stairs leading to bedrooms built on the former stage" of the theater that was turned into the house at "Four Fountains."--from page 53, Sixty Years of Interior Design: The World of McMillen ( Photographer: Richard Champion, page 53, Sixty Years of Interior Design: The World of McMillen )

Figure 6: "A long Italian Empire fruitwood table both displays collectibles and functions as part of a freestanding partition."--from page 105, Architectural Digest, March/April 1976 ( Photographer: Richard Champion, page 104, Architectural Digest, March/April 1976 )

Figure 7: "The huge living room also contains a dining area that overlooks the verdant landscape." The table is set with Queensware china.--From page 107, Architectural Digest, March/April 1976 ( Photographer: Richard Champion, page 107, Architectural Digest, March/April 1976 )

Figure 8: "One bedroom had an old painted Spanish bed and gracefully ethereal window treatment." --from page 53, Sixty Years of Interior Design: The World of McMillen ( Photographer: Richard Champion, page 53 of Sixty Years of Interior Design: The World of McMillen )

Style/Period(s):
Revival Styles

Primary Material(s):
Fabric, Wood

Function(s):
Residential Structure

Related Website(s):

Eleanor McMillen Brown's obituary; The New York Times | Accessed : October 17, 2017

"McMillen, Inc. at the New York School of Interior Design" | Accessed : October 17, 2017

McMillen, Inc. website | Accessed : October 17, 2017

Significant Date(s):
20th Century, 1950-1959, 1940-1949

Additional Information:
Brown, Erica. Sixty Years of Interior Design: The World of McMillen (New York: The Viking Press, 1982).

Lewis, Adam. The Great Lady Decorators: The Women Who Defined Interior Design, 1870-1955 (New York: Rizzoli, 2009).

Lawford, Valentine. "The House of Four Fountains" in Architectural Digest, March/April 1976.

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