Time-Honored Style: At Home With John Dransfield and Geoffrey Ross
Written by Robert Leleux | Photographed by Patrick Cline | Produced and Art Directed by Michelle Adams
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In Somerset County, New Jersey, the designers John Dransfield and Geoffrey Ross make their home in a Georgian Revival with a storied past.
Ten years ago, when designers John Dransfield and Geoffrey Ross, owners of the celebrated home furnishings and accessories company that bears their names, purchased a small 19th-century farmhouse in Somerset County, New Jersey, it was merely intended as a weekend retreat. But as they settled into the Garden State's Hunt Country, a nearby house captured their imaginations: Cherryfields, a stately Georgian Revival with a storied past, built by famed New York architect A. Musgrave Hyde in 1929.
At the time the couple first became enamored by it, Cherryfields was still owned by Nancy "Princess" Pyne, who'd lived there for half a century, and who, along with her friends Sister Parish and Albert Hadley, had transformed it into a residence of renowned style and grace.
A couple of years later, when Dransfield and Ross heard that Cherryfields was up for sale, they quickly arranged a tour. On the morning they arrived at the house and were greeted at the door by the silver-haired, Chanel-suited Pyne, they became certain of two things: that Cherryfields would be theirs, and that its patrician proprietor would become a permanent fixture in their lives. Within a year, the couple had traded houses with Pyne, who still freely roams her old home and grounds, supplying spry counsel and choice anecdotes about her old compatriots Malcolm Forbes and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (who used to weekend next door).
"It's a special, beautiful place," says Dransfield. "We feel so lucky to live here."
A cleverly placed hand-beaded zebra faux hide transforms an English sofa and a pair of Regency-style armchairs into a unified seating area. Through the open doors, Octavius, the couple's white peacock, promenades along the stone-paved patio.
As avid gardeners, Dransfield and Ross take special pride in their radiant peonies.
Dransfield and Ross created multiple informal seating areas in the large living room by boldly placing a round table at the center of the space. The mirror above the mantel is by Zajac and Callahan. The room's gracious architectural details include pilasters salvaged from a 19th-century home in Trenton, New Jersey.
In a corner of the living room, a geometric grouping of 19th-century French military maps (commissioned by Napoleon III) provides dynamic contrast to the flowing lines of an Empire-style daybed.
The study's autumnal palette is extended even to the leaves of the angel-wing begonias. Above a distressed leather settee, a piece by artist Richard Giglio glistens in the room's abundant natural light.
Designed in 1929 by prominent New York architect A. Musgrave Hyde as a shared residence for two sisters, Cherryfields boasts two grand foyers. In this entry, an 18th-century Russian crystal chandelier, a gift from the couple's close friend Jeremiah Goodman, contributes a touch of old-world glamour.
The library's whimsical furnishings add a sense of wit and playfulness to the room's classic lines. The resin tables and upholstered screens are by Zajac and Callahan. The starburst mirror above the mantel was fashioned from sharpened pencils.
An abstract collage by Richard Giglio provides stimulating contrast to the library's well-ordered symmetry. The sunflower-yellow wall paint is a vestige of Albert Hadley's original design.
Klismos chairs are cleverly juxtaposed with a Saarinen tulip table. The Moroccan rug was a gift from Malcolm Forbes to Nancy "Princess" Pyne on the occasion of his 70th birthday. The standing lamp was purchased from the estate of tobacco heiress Doris Duke.
Porcelain candlesticks by Simon Paul Scott rest atop a white marble Victorian mantelpiece that once resided in the Hartford, Connecticut, home of author Harriet Beecher Stowe.
A glimmering dining table is set with the couple's antique staghorn cutlery and mulberry transferware.
To provide their dining room with a sense of casual comfort, Dransfield and Ross opted to furnish the space with two round tables rather than a more traditional rectangular table. Cheery, hand-painted gray stripes further underscore the room's informal charm.
An Italian campaign canopy bed provides an air of romance to a serene guest bedroom. Vintage Jeremiah Goodman gouaches and watercolors can be seen in the distance.
An antique Victorian table is paired with a rustic candle lantern.
The primary bathroom possesses the air of a gentlemen's club, complete with antlers and dark, lustrous wood. A faux Persian rug, produced by Dransfield & Ross, is made from water resistant canvas.
This antique velvet upholstered Italian settee was a gift from artist Jeremiah Goodman. Eighteenth-century papiermâché camels flank a tranquil reading nook overlooking Cherryfields' swimming pool.
In the primary bedroom, grasscloth wallpaper provides warmth, sophistication, and texture. Two roll-arm chairs anchor the foot of the bed, creating a makeshift sitting room. Nineteenth-century lithographs of paintings and sketches from David Roberts' Egypt Portfolio adorn the bedroom's walls.
The walls of the conservatory, leading to the formal living room, are painted a deep shade of brown, also a remnant of Hadley's design. Shelves display urns from Dransfield and Ross' extensive collection of Chinese pottery.
In a guest room, a brass canopy bed dressed in colorful floral linens gleams against dark walls.
John and Geoffrey's Top Spots for Vintage Finds
1. “Golden Nugget Antique Market, in Lambertville, New Jersey, has amazing finds!”
2. “Broken Arrow Nursery, in Hamden, Connecticut, is truly in a class by itself.”
3. “Hoffman Woodward, in historic East Berlin, Pennsylvania, offers custom cabinetry, textiles, and objects from the 18th and 19th centuries.”
The breakfast room's deep, masculine palette is counterbalanced by crisp white linen and painted molding. A salvaged Queen Anne Victorian window frame graces an Egyptian Revival chest of drawers.
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