Leon Marcotte

Leon Alexandre Marcotte (born May 15, 1824 in Valognes , † January 25, 1887 in Paris ) was an architect and interior designer.

Life

Leon Marcotte was originally from France. He attended the École des Beaux Arts and received training from the architect Henri Labrouste . He probably got to know Detlef Lienau at this time . Like him, he moved to New York in 1848. With his brother-in-law Auguste-Emile Ringuet-Leprince , who married Marie-Felicité Marcotte in 1835, he founded a furniture business. His younger brother Charles was also involved, as was Augustus Fredin. The company soon became fashionable among the nouveau riche American entrepreneurs. Ringuet-Leprince, who came from an old cabinetmaker family, had won a medal at the World Exhibition in London in 1844 and had already built up an American customer base from Europe. These included Mathew Morgan , Mrs. Samuel Jaudon and Delancy Kane, and James Colles .

Upon arriving in New York in late 1848, Marcotte and his brother-in-law opened their shop on Lower Broadway . The company later moved several times. Marcotte took over customer service in the USA, while Ringuet-Leprince maintained contact with France, from where a large part of the furniture was initially obtained. As in Europe, the company was called Maison Ringuet-Leprince until 1849 , from 1848 to 1860 it was called Ringuet-Leprince & L. Marcotte , then until 1918 L. Marcotte & Co.

Lienau was also successful in the USA and did business with Marcotte from 1851 to 1854; it later also gave shape to Marcotte's headquarters. Marcotte was involved in furnishing Lockwood-Mathews Mansion , among other things .

In 1859 Marcotte married the daughter of a Parisian painter, Louise-Marie de Rudder. The company flourished particularly in the 1860s, and in 1867–1868 the new factory was built according to Lienau's plans at 158–164 West 32nd Street. Lienau also designed the shop and the exhibition building, which were built two years later. In 1868, Adrian Herzog was added to the expanding business. In 1879 Ringuet-Leprince sold his share. Marcotte has now moved his main residence to Paris. His shop there moved from 15 avenue de Villars to 11 avenue de l'Opéra. A little later, in 1882, the New York headquarters were relocated to a prestigious address, namely 298 Fifth Avenue / 31st Street. At the height of his success, Leon Marcotte died in Paris at the age of 62.

The company was continued by Adrian Herzog and his relatives as well as Edmond Leprince-Ringuet. The Paris part was extinguished in 1911, the New York part in 1922, after moving to Long Island City in 1918 .

Customers and Products

The firm's clients included John Taylor Johnston , the first director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the son-in-law of James Colles . Johnston had his place on Fifth Avenue / 8th Street furnished by Marcotte. The Baker William Shepard Wetmore had Seth Bradford build his "Chateau-sur-Mer" in Newport around 1850 , which was partly furnished by Marcotte in the Louis XV style ; Wetmore's son George and his daughter-in-law Edith later bought furniture from Marcotte that was far less attached to its European roots. Samuel Colt from Hartford had Marcotte fit out his “Armsmear” house and drove to France to see various pieces of equipment in the Paris branch. Another customer was Henry Marquand , who was probably made aware of Marcotte by Johnston. In addition to pieces that were made to customer specifications, Marcotte also sold furniture that could be put together from given elements. There was also furniture "off the shelf", such as Ogden Codman from Lincoln bought for his house "The Grange".

In 1853 Marcotte made a sideboard for the exhibition at the Crystal Palace , which was a reaction to a similar piece of furniture that Alexandre Georges Fourdinois had exhibited in London in 1851. Another important exhibition was the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, which featured a library and dining room, and the Paris World's Fair, where he won a gold medal.

Soon after the exhibition in Philadelphia, Marcotte received his largest private contract, the furnishing of the house of Cyrus Hall McCormick in Chicago . Competitors for this order were Herter Brothers and Pottier & Stymus .

In the 1870s and 1880s, Asian and other exotic style elements came into fashion, which Marcotte soon adopted.

In 1886 Marcotte was commissioned to furnish the houses of the Vanderbilt daughters Margaret Vanderbildt Shepherd and Emily Vanderbilt Sloane on Fifth Avenue. These works have not survived, but Marcotte's last documented works are. The Vanderbilts' house at 660 Fifth Avenue, built by Richard Morris Hunt , was also furnished by Marcotte, among others: he was responsible for the exotic-looking billiard room.

After the death of Leon Marcotte, the business declined and eventually fell out of the family. Between 1900 and 1903 the company was hired to add additions to the library at the Robert W. Patterson House in Washington, DC and work on the Blue Room in the White House , but the company's capital never exceeded $ 150,000 after Marcotte's death when it was about $ 250,000 in his lifetime.

Marcotte's works are now in the Brooklyn Museum and the Lockwood Mathews Mansion.

Web links

• biography
• Short biography on the Brooklyn Museum website