Remembering Ann Getty
Ann Getty 1941-2020
San Francisco has lost its grand patron of the arts and culture; on September 14th, Ann Getty passed away at 79 from a heart attack. Mrs. Getty, a striking coutured figure attending the Symphony, Opera, and San Francisco Fall Show galas, generously opened up the Broadway mansion she shared with her husband, Gordon, to help raise funds for charities. The classic 1906 Willis Polk designed estate in Pacific Heights showcases a world-class collection of antiques, art, and objets d'art. After moving into the house in 1973, Mrs. Getty collaborated with many designers, including Albert Hadley, Sister Parish, John Stefanidis, Eleanor Ford, and LeavittWeaver, to create the magnificent interiors.
Badminton Chair - Ann Getty House
Born Ann Gilbert in California's Central Valley and growing up on a walnut and peach farm, it might have seemed easy for her to live a socialites' life married to a classical music composer, son of billionaire petrol-industrialist J. Paul Getty. Instead, Mrs. Getty chose to work. In 1995 she founded her design firm, Ann Getty & Associates. Ann Getty House Collection followed this, featuring furniture designs based on Mrs. Getty's extensive world travels and global design studies, and the Ann and Gordon Getty Collection of period antiques. Just as she had once collaborated with designers, she now worked with artisans and craftspeople to create magnificent furnishings.
Nob Hill apartment of Scott and Terry Gross photo: David Duncan Livingston
Nob Hill apartment of Scott and Terry Gross photo: David Duncan Livingston
Among the impressive projects that Ann Getty & Associates worked on were the homes of Trevor and Alexis Traina, Todd and Katie Traina, and antiquarian Terry Gross. Mrs. Getty's clients appreciated her expertise in antiques and art honed from exposure to her late father-in-law and antiquities connoisseur, J. Paul, the Getty Museum, and access to private collections worldwide. While the Getty mansion reflected her opulent and eclectic penchant for Chinoiserie, gilded Georgian furniture, ormolu-mounted porcelain figures, and jeweled toned brocades and silks, she collaborated with her clients to give them interiors that matched their taste and lifestyles.
Ann Getty: Interior Style by Diane Dorrans Saeks
For all of her accomplishments and her glamorous life, Mrs. Getty remained humble and unpretentious. When not wearing couture gowns, she favored jeans and a crisp white shirt as she approached her designing hands-on working alongside artisans and craftspeople painting decorative finishes, stitching trim on pillows, and repairing antique embroideries. Perhaps it was her youth on a Wheatland farm in Yuba County that kept her grounded. The late Eleanor Ford, who also originated from the rural Central Valley, said of Mrs. Getty, "Madame grew up picking peaches, and I grew up picking apricots, you do not forget that."
To enjoy Mrs. Getty's luxurious design sense, pick up a copy of Ann Getty: Interior Style by Diane Dorrans Saeks, best-selling California- based author, editor, blogger, design lecturer, and feature writer. Or visit Shears & Window either by appointment or virtually to see Ann Getty House Collection.
