A 1940s John F. Staub House in Houston Gets a Boldly Eclectic Makeover

4 min read

Above: In the living room of a 1940s house in Houston, designer Markham Roberts installed a 19th-century French chandelier above custom sofas, Milo Baughman lounge chairs, a Louis XVI bergère, and a Karl Springer cocktail table. An antique Baule mask is over the fireplace. Artworks by Anthony Prud’homme (landscape) and Ethan Cook; carpet designed by Roberts.

“I always think it’s interesting when a classicist does something modern,” says Elle Decor A-List designer Markham Roberts. He’s describing a midcentury Houston house by architect John F. Staub that he recently renovated, but he could easily be referring to himself.

The homeowner, a longtime client, moved from New York City to Houston with her husband and preteen daughters during the pandemic. She had grown up there, in one of the many traditionally styled homes Staub designed in the River Oaks neighborhood (Ima Hogg’s Bayou Bend being the most famous), and a friend encouraged her to look at a late-’40s Staub house that was for sale. The two-story brick residence, atypically modern for a Staub design, has an unassuming street presence that appealed to Roberts’s client, who was captivated by the graceful walled garden in back.

“The house only reveals itself up close and after you get inside,” Roberts says. “Most people who visit are like, ‘Wow, this doesn’t look like anybody else’s house here.’ My client enjoys that. And so do I.”

Chris Mottalini

In the bar, a Tyler Shields photograph pairs playfully with a custom Napoleon III–style sofa in Scalamandré fabrics. Lamps by Pamela Sunday; Japanese burl root table, circa 1890, from James Sansum; rug by Beauvais Carpets.

The project wasn’t an obvious fit for Roberts, who is known foremost as a traditionalist, one who is decidedly unafraid of bold chromatic schemes and unconventional pattern pairings. The Indianapolis native learned his craft in the office of designer Mark Hampton, one of the late 20th century’s most celebrated mavens of classically attuned interiors. Working at Hampton’s side for six years before starting his own firm in 1997, Roberts absorbed numerous lessons, including embracing unexpected choices with confidence. While rooted in the past, Roberts’s rooms never veer into the stodgy or precious—or, worse, showroom-like.

“Wow, this doesn’t look like anybody else’s house here,” say visitors.

Notably, when the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art honored Roberts with the Arthur Ross Award for Interior Design in 2024, the jury—which included Hampton’s daughter, designer Alexa Hampton—cited his timeless American style while also noting his “creativity and his ability to work in a wide variety of styles.”

For this project Roberts channeled his fascination with another storied River Oaks residence from the same era, the house that Philip Johnson created for Dominique and John de Menil. The legendary art patrons consulted with fashion designer Charles James to craft an interior that married contemporary art with antique furniture, African and Oceanic sculpture, and medieval treasures. “It was not what you’d expect in a midcentury house,” Roberts says.

Step InsideOpen Gallery

Adopting a similar mindset, the designer interspersed furniture and art from his clients’ New York apartment—which he had decorated years earlier—with bespoke pieces and vintage finds. In the texture-rich living room, custom sofas clad in jewel-tone velvets are joined by an elegant Karl Springer parchment cocktail table, a Louis XVI bergère, Milo Baughman velvet lounge chairs, and a quirky wool-wrapped floor lamp that rises sculpture-like in one corner. A 19th–century French chandelier peacocks above it all, suspended from the lustrous blue-gray lacquered ceiling.

By Roberts’s standards, the room’s colors and patterns are fairly muted, deferring to the artworks, which range from an eye-catching Baule ceremonial mask over the fireplace to a swampy, bayouesque landscape by Roberts favorite Anthony Prud’homme. There are also works by Alexander Calder and Alex Katz that had been inherited from the client’s grandmother. “Her grandmother was a Texas oil heiress and a great philanthropist who owned Rothkos and Redons and Bertoias,” Roberts says. “She took [her granddaughter] to Katz’s studio when she was a little girl, and he asked if he could paint her.”

“They didn’t want some ridiculous,
check-the-boxes rich person’s house.”
—Markham Roberts

Another Roberts hallmark is deftly tailoring spaces to a homeowner’s priorities and passions. In the living room he installed an antique filing cabinet in which the client can store supplies for her needlework. (“She stays up till three in the morning doing it,” he says.) He also designed multiple games tables where the couple can play mah-jongg and backgammon; the one in the paneled bar is wrapped in a rich lilac shagreen, complementing the room’s palette of blues and purples and its cheekily louche vibe. “They entertain a lot, and people in Texas drink, so the bar is happily used,” Roberts says. “We put all sorts of funny stuff on the walls and the bar, like New Yorker cartoons and strange art with references to nightlife, drunkenness, and rabbit holes—even a rabbit ear disco ball. Things that make her happy.”

Rabbits—and animals in general—are an unexpected theme that runs throughout. Take the dining room, which Roberts wrapped in a whimsical woodland scenic wallpaper populated with bunnies and birds and ermines. He was delighted to discover the pattern was named Rabbit Hole.

Chris Mottalini

In a corner of the living room, a custom mah-jongg table sits among a collection of artworks, including a portrait by Alex Katz and a mobile by Julia Condon.

The clients have a pet bunny, which is house-trained and can often be found roaming free. The household also includes two dogs, two turtles, and four chickens that are kept out back in the lush gardens, which the client planned with designer Leslie Cooper of Cosmos Garden Design. Turns out raising chickens is a subject Roberts knows well, as he and his partner, art and antiques dealer James Sansum, have 20 at their 19th-century country house in New York’s Hudson Valley.

The overall effect Roberts achieved here is sophisticated and luxurious, but also laid-back, charmingly idiosyncratic, and personal. “They didn’t want some ridiculous, check-the-boxes rich person’s house,” says Roberts. He adds, with understated satisfaction, “It looks different from other things I’ve done. I like that.”

Sourcebook: Bring This Eclectic Array of Treasures HomeGusto Turkish Tulip ChestCredit: Casa GustoLoewe Watering Can BagCredit: Courtesy of LoeweElizabeth Sofa by Barrie Benson for Highland HouseCredit: Courtesy of Highland House FurnitureBoheme Autumn Rug by Ward and GrayCredit: Courtesy of BohemeAbask Fioravola Tulips Majolica Ceramic Lidded Serving DishCredit: Courtesy of AbaskPerlée Toi & Moi Secret WatchCredit: Courtesy of Van Cleef & ArpelsLindsey Adelman Branching Disc ChandelierCredit: Courtesy of Lindsey Adelman StudioCorston Malvern SconceCredit: Corston Architectural DetailRule of Three Studio Stone Plume WallpaperCredit: Rule of Three StudioHibiscus Chair by Jamie Young Co.Credit: Courtesy of LumensMarina Large CrabCredit: Courtesy of Buccellati1900s Moroccan BenchCredit: Courtesy of 1st DibsKravet Panel Designs WallcoveringCredit: Courtesy of KravetTable Lamp by Carlos OteroCredit: Joe KrammTigre PillowCredit: JEREMY FRECHETTE

This story originally appeared in the Summer 2026 issue of Elle Decor. SUBSCRIBE

ELLE Decor features director Stephen Wallis has spent three decades covering art, design, and culture. He was previously the consulting features editor for Galerie and held top positions at Architectural Digest and Departures. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, T magazine, WSJ magazine, Esquire, Town & Country, Veranda, and Cultured. He is the author of Fontainebleau, a history of the iconic Miami Beach hotel, and Jim Thompson: Beyond Silk, Beyond Thailand.