THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1975.
Shown
mining
Detailed Costs of MSC Student Lounge
(Photo by Chris Svalel 1
“The living room is the heart of the home. The proof of a successful living room is the way people settle down and relax when they come in and the genuine regret they express when they have to leave.” — William Pahlmann
After 3 1 / 2 years
Pahlmann’s contract expires
By JIM PETERS
Staff Writer
After three-and-a-half years in
the employ of Texas A&M, the con
tract of William Pahlmann and As
sociates expires today. It will not be
extended.
“I have no directions to renew his
contract from anyone,” said Gen. A.
R. Luedecke, executive vice-
president of Physical Plants and
Grounds. He pointed out that such
directions would have to come from
President Jack K. Williams or the
Board of Directors.
Gen. Luedecke said Pahlmann
will continue his work, without pay,
on the remainder of the $28 million
University Center, with completion
slated for May.
Pahlmann was first hired by the
Texas A&M Systems Board of Di
rectors in June, 1971 to do “pre
liminary design of interior furnish
ings for the Memorial Student
Center and Auditorium complex.
His preliminary plans were sub
sequently approved by the Board in
November of that year, and since
then the New York-based design
firm has received $402,000 (includ
ing $46,000 for expenses) for its
labors. (The firm also was paid
$15-20,000 by the Former Students
Association for decoration of its new
wing, and an undetermined amount
for work in the president s home.)
Their fee will amount to 11 per
cent of the cost of the furnishings,
and comes out of the Permanent
University Fund and Interest on
Local Funds, records indicate.
At the time of Pahlmann s hiring,
the Board’s Building Committee
projected an estimated cost of $1.1
million for the University Center’s
furnishings. Now, nearly four years
later, that figure will total $3.3 mill-
★ An excerpt from Who’s Who in America ★
PAHLMANN, WILLIAM CAR-
ROLL; interior and industrial de
signer; b. Pleasant Mound, 111., son
of Benjamin Otto and Iva Florence
(Perkins); graduate Parsons School
of Design, New York, , and Paris,
1927-30. Member theater cast of
Good News, also Follow Through,
New York, 1927-30; with B. Altman
and Co., 1933; head interior de
signer, buyer antiques Lord and
Taylor, New York, 1936-42; Pres.,
William Pahlmann and Associates,
1946-; interior designer Bonwit Tel
ler stores, Rice University, Texas
A&M University, also restaurants,
hotels, clubs, and numerous
houses, U.S., Venezuela, Bahamas,
Dominican Republic, Canada,
Switzerland, Hong Kong; lecturer
in field. Past President, chairman of
the board Resources Council.
Served to It. col. camouflage sect.,
USAAF, 1942-46. Recipient
Cavalier Merchants award, 1942,
Elsie DeWolfe Award, 1964. Fel
low American Institute Interior De
signers (past chmn., past president
N. Y. chapter) Author; The Pahl
mann Book oflnterior Design, 3rd
ed., 1968; A Matter of Taste, syndi
cated column. Home: 40 Central
Park St., New York, New York
10023, also Pound Ridge Rd., Be-
ford Village, New York 10506. Of
fice: 244 E. 84th St., New York,
New York, 10024.
ion, the administration says.
Part of the increase is due to the
scope of the project itself. Drawn up
nine years ago, the original plans
called for construction of a Theatre
Arts Center and expansion of the
existing MSC building.
Since that time, however, the
Board has approved the renovation
of the old MSC and its housing wing
and the construction of a separate
$1.4 million annex for themselves,
which contains at least an additional
$765,000 in furnishings.
There will be no breakdown of
the costs of furnishings for other
areas of the complex (MSC, Theatre
Arts) until work is completed, Gen.
Luedecke says.
Work underway now in the old
MSC includes an art gallery, bal
lroom and lounge area, and an
entrance-way and lobby.
A noted interior designer of
long-standing, Pahlmann has been
said to be one of the ten best in the
nation, a point repeated by some
university administrators and board
members. Such a top ten list, if one
did exist, would be largely one of
personal taste, several interior de
signers, The Battalion has talked
with, say.
Pahlmann s work in the past has
largely been in the New York City
area, but of late the firm has estab
lished another office in San Antonio.
A native of Texas, Pahlmann
plans to retire in Guadalajara, Mex
ico. (See related biographical
sketch.)
Pahlmann explained his design
motif for the complex in his syndi
cated column, “A Matter of Taste,
August 18, 1973:
“Our whole approach to this pro
ject,” Pahlmann said, “has been to
engender respect and pride in those
young people in their university and
to expose them to excellence in sur
roundings in both contemporary
and traditional media, in an atmos
phere of graciousness and comfort.
“This college is symbolic of the
Southwest . . . (and) I have been
seeking art works in Southwestern
motifs — fine animal bronzes,
19th-century landscape paintings,
Westem art and regional artifacts,
Americana which reflects the herit
age of this remarkable school and
the young people who are
privileged to attend it.”
Many of the furnishings are im
ported from Mexico, such as the
pigskjn furniture in the Brown Bag
area and the brass lanterns in the
MSC Lounge. Other plaques and
murals in the complex are also of
Mexican origin.
“Specially designed carpets, fab
rics and furnishings in these areas
will also take inspiration from the
Southwest,” Pahlmann explained.
“We haven’t done much on the
American Indian, but I got every
thing I could on Texas history.
We’ve bent over backwards to get
the unusual.
Other objects employed
throughout the complex vary in
their origination, spanning numer
ous cultures; Chinese, Japanese,
Roman, Egyptian, Buddhist and
South American, to name a few.
“Flair in decoration, like flair in
anything else, can be the priceless
ingredient in an interior — the note
that sets it apart from all others,”
Pahlmann wrote in a 1955 book (1st
edition) entitled “The Pahlmann
Book oflnterior Design.”
“But don’t mistake the bizarre or
the fancy for flair,” he continued.
“Keep it simple. Keep it sensible.
Make it sing!”
The use of antiques also figures in
the Pahlmann design scheme, from
the carousel camels in the Brown
Bag area, to the Louis XIII arm
chairs in the Lounge, to the expen
sive vases, furniture and rugs in the
Board of Directors’ Annex.
“It gives a look of quality — no
sense having a look of a cow col
lege,” Pahlmann told a reporter.
“I have undying respect for good
antiques,” Pahlmann says. “The fact
that antiques, when properly
selected, can mix with great facility
with the most modem of furniture
makes their use interesting.
Picture Key
1) Custom-designed triangular end table
2) Round backed armchair
3) Custom-designed rug with liner
4) 19th century English Oak center table ($1500) and eight rectangular
stools ($135). More cost for leather top.
5) Custom-designed banquette
6) Coffee table with Rosalit marble
7) Valencia pierced hexagonal lamp with antique mirror panels
8) Convex mirror with 18 rays (at $25 each)
Other lounge furnishings not shown include: eight rope window
treatments ($9,200), five bronze and glass vitrines (display cases) ranging |
in price from $1,230 to $1,900 each, and three pairs of Louis XIII,
William and Mary, and English Country armchairs (between $850 and
$1,100 a pair). A collection of eleven animal heads costing $4,105 was
removed last February.
'Mil
The two $1,500 wood globes in the lounge are surrounded by
a variety of flags representing the United States, Texas and the
outfits in the Corps of Cadets. The guidons (outfit flags) cost $60
each, the flagpoles $11 each, the streamers $10, and the gold
army spears on top of each pole are $10.80 each. The fringed
Texas and U.S. flags were $21 each while the ash veneer plat
forms on which the ensemble sits was $2,388. (Photo by sieve mcCot»)
The wrought iron wall brackets from which the brass lanterns
($136) hang were $324 apiece. There are 16 of the wall fixtures in
the lounge. (Photo by David Kimmel)
Hanging from the lounge’s wrought iron ceiling fixtures ($1,866
per) are eight brass lanterns costing $136 each. The French tole
and garlands crowning the chandeliers were $100.