Hampton, Mark Iredell, Jr.

▪ 1999

      American interior designer (b. June 1, 1940, Plainfield, Ind.—d. July 23, 1998, New York, N.Y.), decorated the homes of such luminaries as George and Barbara Bush, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Estée Lauder, using 18th- and 19th-century American and English antiques and furniture upholstered in flowery chintz. In the 1980s Hampton became a household name, putting his imprint on interior design with his comfortable English country style. His popularity was further fueled by books, personal appearances and lectures, and the addition of his name to a collection of furniture. Born and raised on a farm in rural Indiana, Hampton displayed an early affinity for design, but after graduating (1962) from DePauw University, Greencastle, Ind., he entered law school at the University of Michigan. By 1964 he had changed his major to art history, eventually earning (1967) a master's degree from the New York Institute of Fine Arts. Hampton then began working for British designer David Hicks in 1967. Priding himself on giving the public whatever it wanted at the moment, under Hicks, Hampton adopted a modern Pop-art style that would greatly contrast with his later traditionalism. After leaving Hicks, Hampton worked for New York City society decorators McMillen Inc. for six years before starting his own company in 1975. He assisted in the restoration of Gracie Mansion, the mayor's residence in New York City; the governor's mansion in Albany, N.Y.; and the Treaty Room of the White House, although Hampton regretted having turned that room, at President Bush's request, from high Victorian style into a lacklustre private office. In 1989 Hampton wrote and illustrated Mark Hampton on Decorating, a collection of conversational, opinionated essays on interior design.

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