The Scorched Legacy of Legendary Hollywood Designer Tony Duquette
A 1974 blaze was the first of four fires that plagued legendary Hollywood designer Tony Duquette over his 85-year life, destroying not just properties but also much-treasured art.
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That call in 1974 must have been devastating. The voice on the other end of the line saying things about a fire, a home destroyed, and to cap it off, a body found in the rubble.
For decades, Tony Duquette had been one of the premier interior designers to the Hollywood set. He was known for his impeccable taste, his singular imagination, and his ability to create worlds of fantasy and magic—whether that was in a home, on a movie set, or at one of his always black-tie affairs. (“Tonight we’re dressing,” he often told friends when inviting them to dinner.)
He may have spent his life creating the sets for other people’s lives, but his quintessential canvases were his own properties. Now, he was being told that one of them had burned to the ground. It wouldn’t be the last time, nor the most devastating. The 1974 blaze was the first of four fires that plagued Duquette over his 85-year life, sending not only his property but much of his vast collection of artistic treasures up in flames.