Pacific Heights mansion to host Decorator Showcase

Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

Marysia Rybock of Scavullo Design updates the dining room, above, with a blue Venetian plaster ceiling, resin-and-iron tables and Jonathan Browning's Sputnik-style chandelier. Speech bubbles left add playfulness to the frieze, left.

In this year's San Francisco Decorator Showcase, a chalkboard speech bubble beside one of the many toga-adorned figures in the frieze that wraps around the dining room reads: "If these walls could talk." Indeed, the Classic Revival mansion at 2020 Jackson St. has quite a storied past.

Designed by Julius Krafft, it was built in 1902 by Isaias Hellman, president of Wells Fargo. In the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake and fire, it served as the bank's temporary headquarters. Hellman later gave the 11,500-square-foot residence to his daughter, Clara, upon her marriage to prominent attorney Emanuel Heller. In the decades that followed, it hosted myriad high-profile functions - including the 1945 international conference that led to the creation of the Charter of the United Nations.

In 1991, the Pacific Heights abode took its first turn as a Decorator Showcase, the spring ritual benefiting San Francisco University High School's financial aid program. This weekend, it opened its doors to the public again. Many of the 30 or so participating designers sought to infuse a modern sensibility into the historic dwelling.

With no actual client to design for, Heather Hilliard devised an imaginary one for the master bedroom: "A young couple in their 30s and 40s. ... They want a grand home without the heavy fussiness of their parent's generation."

Citing a quote by French designer Christian Liaigre as her inspiration - "Sometimes the beauty of a space is the empty space" - Hilliard designed a serene environment with a neutral palette: white and cream 16-inch stripes on the wall; a headboard that, by matching the alternating stripes, is almost camouflaged; simple white bed linens; a cream boiled wool felt carpet; and white glass table lamps.

Hilliard also incorporated blue accents - a kidney-shaped royal blue sueded leather sofa; an ivory bench with a navy wave hand-appliqued on the seat; blue wool curtains with a triple-pleated edge - and contemporary art from Dolby Chadwick Gallery. A sculptural white bronze fire screen by John Lile adds a bit of sparkle.

In the dining room, Scavullo Design, led by Marysia Rybock, may have inherited one of the bigger challenges: the aforementioned frieze that depicts a bacchanalia. "While we didn't create clients, we were totally inspired by the characters in the frieze - taking their jovial, hedonistic spirit and creating our interior from that concept," she says.

According to Rybock, a single massive table is no longer compatible with the way most people entertain and dine. So within the existing formal space - which includes paneled walls, Gothic-style built-ins and a coffered ceiling - she and her team introduced a whimsical scheme with five resin-and-iron tables that can be arranged in countless configurations.

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Pacific Heights mansion to host Decorator Showcase