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Sister: The Life of Legendary Interior Decorator Mrs. Henry Parish II
This intimate portrait of Mrs. Henry Parish II-known to friends as Sister-chronicles one woman's remarkable life and groundbreaking career, painting a unique portrait of American high society and recounting the transformation of an art form.
Dorothy May Kinnicutt was born into a patrician New York family in 1910 and her privileged early life was one of the right schools, yacht clubs, coming out parties, and the Social Register. Compelled to work because of the lean years of the Depression, Sister combined her innate design ability and her high echelon social connections to create an extraordinarily successful interior decorating business. Her firm, Parish-Hadley, served a list of clients that comprised the crème de la crème of American aristocracy, among them Rockefellers, Astors, and Whitneys. To them, she was in indispensable presence, both in their salons and in designing them. Her style, influenced by her family's country house in Maine, came to be known as "American country" and was a reflection of Sister's deeply felt Yankee roots. It influenced an entire generation of American decorators. To the pubic at large, she was the visionary who helped transform Jacqueline Kennedy's White House from a fusty relic of the fifties into the international symbol of American elegance-Camelot.
To Apple Parish Bartlett and Susan Bartlett Crater, she was a mother and grandmother. Drawing upon Sister Parish's own unpublished memoirs, as well as hundreds of interviews with world-famous interior decorators and socialites, Bartlett and Crater take readers into the houses-and the lives-of the most famous and powerful people of Parish's time, telling the story of the enormously charismatic woman who redefined American design.
Dorothy May Kinnicutt was born into a patrician New York family in 1910 and her privileged early life was one of the right schools, yacht clubs, coming out parties, and the Social Register. Compelled to work because of the lean years of the Depression, Sister combined her innate design ability and her high echelon social connections to create an extraordinarily successful interior decorating business. Her firm, Parish-Hadley, served a list of clients that comprised the crème de la crème of American aristocracy, among them Rockefellers, Astors, and Whitneys. To them, she was in indispensable presence, both in their salons and in designing them. Her style, influenced by her family's country house in Maine, came to be known as "American country" and was a reflection of Sister's deeply felt Yankee roots. It influenced an entire generation of American decorators. To the pubic at large, she was the visionary who helped transform Jacqueline Kennedy's White House from a fusty relic of the fifties into the international symbol of American elegance-Camelot.
To Apple Parish Bartlett and Susan Bartlett Crater, she was a mother and grandmother. Drawing upon Sister Parish's own unpublished memoirs, as well as hundreds of interviews with world-famous interior decorators and socialites, Bartlett and Crater take readers into the houses-and the lives-of the most famous and powerful people of Parish's time, telling the story of the enormously charismatic woman who redefined American design.
- GenresBiographyInterior Design
384 pages, Hardcover
First published September 2, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 15, 2026
A biography-memoir of Mrs. Henry (Sister) Parish II written by her daughter and granddaughter with many fond memories (and photographs) of renowned decorator, Sister Parish. How nice to remembered with such love since lately it seems that everyone who writes about their familial past is focused on the dyfunction.
Sister is best known perhaps for being "the" decorator to the ultra wealthy from the 1930's through 1960's. She is also known to be a huge influence in helping Jacqueline Kennedy in redoing the White House (so much of which Donald Trump has destroyed--the Rose Garden, the East Wing, and the interior of the House itself.)
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart.[d] Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
— Percy Shelley, "Ozymandias"
Sister built for the long haul. She didn't make it. I suppose it's the nature of the industry: the next owner wanting to rid themselves of any praise the previous had acquired. In this case it's more like watching a caged chimp fling it's feces on the walls.
With THAT said, an excellent read about a women with very defined tastes, strong opinions and a loving family life, especially when she could escape to her beloved Maine. I think Mrs. Parish would like this review. She had a strong tongue in voicing her beliefs, and she loved to laugh. I knew women like this of that generation. Movers and shakers. I miss them.
Sister is best known perhaps for being "the" decorator to the ultra wealthy from the 1930's through 1960's. She is also known to be a huge influence in helping Jacqueline Kennedy in redoing the White House (so much of which Donald Trump has destroyed--the Rose Garden, the East Wing, and the interior of the House itself.)
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart.[d] Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
— Percy Shelley, "Ozymandias"
Sister built for the long haul. She didn't make it. I suppose it's the nature of the industry: the next owner wanting to rid themselves of any praise the previous had acquired. In this case it's more like watching a caged chimp fling it's feces on the walls.
With THAT said, an excellent read about a women with very defined tastes, strong opinions and a loving family life, especially when she could escape to her beloved Maine. I think Mrs. Parish would like this review. She had a strong tongue in voicing her beliefs, and she loved to laugh. I knew women like this of that generation. Movers and shakers. I miss them.
October 30, 2012
Really almost gave it five stars. I loved the format because I could pick it up any time and get a little glimpse of Sister's life. She was quite the character--hilarious, inspiring, and sometimes downright cruel! This book was so real--it's honesty spoke to me. Sister lived in a world that I will never know (although I thought of my grandmother at times). I will say that her devotion to the home and family was inspiring. It made me want to create a haven where family and friends could gather and make memories.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews