Syrie Maugham

Syrie Maugham
Syrie Maugham, photo by Cecil Beaton
Born	Gwendoline Maud Syrie Barnardo (1879-07-10)10 July 1879 England
Died	25 July 1955(1955-07-25) (aged 76)
Occupation	Interior designer
Parent(s)	Thomas John Barnardo Sarah Louise Elmslie

Syrie Maugham (née Barnardo; 10 July 1879 – 25 July 1955) was a leading British interior decorator of the 1920s and 1930s and best known for popularizing rooms decorated entirely in shades of white.

Gwendoline Maud Syrie Barnardo was born in England on July 10, 1879. She was the daughter of Thomas John Barnardo, the founder of the Barnardo's charity for destitute children, and his wife, the former Sarah Louise "Syrie" Elmslie. Maugham was the eldest girl in a family of six and as an adult she always went by Syrie.

The Barnardos were members of an American religious sect, the Open Plymouth Brethren. Thomas John Barnardo believed in daily Bible reading, obedience, strict punctuality, the forgoing of worldly pleasures such as drinking, smoking and visiting the theater.

In the 1910s, Maugham began her career by apprenticing under Ernest Thornton-Smith in a London decorating firm to learn about furniture restoration, trompe-l'oeil, curtain design, and the mechanics of traditional upholstery. In 1922 at the age of 42, Maugham borrowed £400 and opened her own interior decorating business at 85 Baker Street, London in 1922. As the shop flourished, Maugham began decorating, taking on projects in Palm Beach and California. By 1930, she had shops in London, Chicago, and New York.

Maugham is best-remembered for the all white music room at her house at 213 King's Road in London. For the grand unveiling of her all white room, Maugham went to the extreme of dipping her white canvas draperies in cement. The room was filled with massive white floral arrangements and the overall effect was stunning. Although she was known for white rooms, her own drawing room was the only all-white room she ever did.

Also well-known was Maugham's salon in her villa at Le Touquet, a society resort in France. The salon was decorated entirely in shades of beige, relieved only by pale pink satin curtains.

Although she made her fortune and fame with her white decors, by the mid-1930s she had largely given up the white decors to create interiors with baroque accessories and color schemes punctuated by bright green, shocking pink, and bold reds. Cecil Beaton remembered leaf-emerald wallpaper, magenta cushions, and Schiaparelli pink.