The historic Helen Mar Apartment Hotel at 2421 Lake Pancoast Drive was designed by Robert E. Collins in 1936. Situated on Lake Pancoast in Miami Beach, the Art Deco building housed eighty-six apartments overlooking the lush, Helen-Mar Gardens and boasted “luxurious living” with “complete hotel service”. The following decades brought major changes to the area, and the once splendid building fell into neglect and disrepair. In 1987, following a resurgence of interest in local preservation, the building was purchased by Broadway producer and Miami native, Michael Harvey. Using a combination of his own funds and grants from the city, Harvey began a complete restoration of the building, stripping decades of paint and remedying bad repairs, rousing the Helen Mar back to her brilliant glory.
It is fitting that Mark McDonald—champion of all things vintage and beautiful—would choose the Helen Mar as his Miami home. Outfitted in an array of Mid-century and Art Deco designs, the stylish apartment featured thoughtfully preserved molding and finishes, meticulous tilework and cabinetry, all brought to life by a flood of South-Florida sunlight. Graphic works by Cuban and South American artists adorned the walls and inviting furniture designs by Modern masters like Charles and Ray Eames, Edward Wormley and Alvar Aalto furnished each room. True to his curating roots, McDonald effortlessly incorporated early Art Deco works by the likes of Jules Buoy, Walter Dorwin Teague and Warren McArthur into the brilliant interior, crafting a glamourous and exciting space, reflective of the Magic City itself.
Mark McDonald has always been at the epicenter of the world that is mid-century design, to a large extent, it is a world he created. For over forty years, Mark has pioneered whole fields of collecting, providing the scholarship and creating the market for mid-century furniture, studio jewelry, ceramics and Italian glass.
In 1983, Mark opened Fifty/50 with partners Mark Isaacson and Ralph Cutler. This groundbreaking gallery defined collectors’ taste. At the time, modern works were still largely overlooked; Mark and his partners collected and presented the rarest and most interesting pieces, often working with the makers themselves, to create compelling exhibitions accompanied by catalogs documenting the work.
In the 1990s, Mark opened Gansevoort Gallery, where he continued to curate collections and exhibitions of lasting impact. Over the years, he established relationships with artists and their estates becoming the go to authority on the designs of Art Smith, Ilonka Karasz and Leza McVey, among others. His enthusiasm for the material extended beyond the gallery floor to the back room where lucky visitors got to flip through Mark’s impressive design reference library and discuss the importance of works with him.
A connoisseur and wealth of knowledge, Mark became a resource for prominent collections across the globe—private and public alike. He inspired a generation of collectors and dealers introducing designers and their production to an audience that continues to grow. In 2002, Mark closed Gansevoort and established 330 gallery in Hudson, New York. Now, semi-retired, Marks splits his time between New York and Florida. He still collects, curates, supports, and shepherds the scholarship of mid-century design.
Frank Lloyd Wright 1867–1959
During his seventy year career as an architect, Frank Lloyd Wright created more than 1,100 designs, half of which were realized and a large portion of which came about later in his life. Wright was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin in 1867. He enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in 1885 to study civil engineering, completing only two years of the program. After working for Joseph Silsbee on the construction of the Unity Chapel in Oak Park, Illinois Wright decided to pursue a career in architecture and he moved to Chicago where he began an apprenticeship at the famed architectural firm Adler and Sullivan, working directly with Louis Sullivan until 1893.
After parting ways, Wright moved to Oak Park. Working from his home studio, he developed a system of design developed from grid units and rooted in an appreciation of natural materials that would come to be known as the Prairie School of Architecture and would change the landscape of American design forever. Wright devoted himself to teaching and writing during the 1920s and 1930s. 1935 marked the beginning of an immense surge of creativity and productivity as he began work on his most celebrated residential design, Fallingwater. In the 1940s and 1950s Wright focused on his Usonian designs that reflected his belief in democratic architecture, offering middle-class residential options. In 1943, Wright took on his most demanding commission, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. The museum, which would open its doors six months after his death in 1959, would be called his most significant work.
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