A Sense of Grandeur – Hagefstration by Betsy Brown Inc and Shepard & Davis

Marked by lofty volumes, Hagefstration sees Betsy Brown Inc and Shepard & Davis reimagine a French-inspired residence into the ideal vessel for a client’s collected treasures.

Despite its stunning location in the verdant Redmond neighbourhood in Birmingham, Alabama – home to some of the southern city’s finest homes – this expansive French-inspired residence, built in 2007 and acquired by the current owner in 2021, felt closed-off and lacked cohesion. Enter interior designer Betsy Brown of Betsy Brown Inc, working with architect Shepard & Davis, who was charged with creating not just a more streamlined layout but introducing a contemporary ease that would showcase the client’s extensive collection of art and furniture.

Throughout, extensive openings – both internally and outward – allow and encourage light to fill the interior and enhance the sense of scale.

Spread over multiple levels and with 15 rooms in its 418-square-metre floor plan, crafted and artisanal touches were crucial in ensuring the space felt anchored and not in competition with the collection. Throughout, extensive openings – both internally and outward – encourage light to fill the interior and enhance the sense of scale. In a generous entry room that connects and funnels movement into other areas of the home, a custom oak dining table features a changing display, while a dark green marble fireplace in the adjacent sitting room adds both drama and warmth.

The colour palette was largely influenced by the Sloss Furnaces, a relic of Birmingham’s industrial past and now a National Historic Landmark, whose rust-coloured smokestacks are in the home’s direct sightlines. Its rusty reds and the greens of the treed neighbourhood coalesced to form the base of the palette, which imbues the home with a sense of earthiness and groundedness despite its dimensions. Enduring, high-end materials in primarily monochromatic tones add a sense of timelessness, and modern designer furniture blends beautifully with vintage pieces from the client’s collection, including work by Axel Einar Hjorth, Noguchi, Jindřich Halabala and Milo Baughman.

Most essentially, the interiors needed to form a neutral backdrop to the owner’s greatest passion: modern photography. Almost every space hosts a stunning work – Yasuhiro Ishimoto’s “Katsura Temple” over the marble fireplace, a 2003 piece by Abelardo Morrell in the study, a series of vintage photos in the kitchen, and a Man Ray in the dedicated art/photography room. “I wanted the house to be a joy for the owner,” says Betsy, “with spaces he could continue to fill as his collections grow.”

The bringing together of old and new is all-encompassing in Hagefstration, where so many pieces have their own background and narrative. Betsy Brown Inc and Shepard & Davis find a balance between time and place that feels embracing, yet special and inspired.