Women's History Month: Design Influencer Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton

To celebrate Women's History Month this March, when we reflect on women's contributions to American history, society, and culture, COUPAR looks at the life of Edith Wharton. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and short-story writer accurately depicted the lives of New York's upper class during the Gilded Age. Wharton also influenced how they lived in their homes. Her book The Decoration of Houses, co-authored with renowned architect Ogden Codman and published in 1897, remains the pioneering guide to interior design.

The Decoration of Houses by Edith Wharton & Ogden Codman Jr., 1897

Wharton and Codman met while the architect renovated Land's End, the Newport, Rhode Island summer "cottage" she shared unhappily with her husband, Edward Robbins Wharton. At the time, she was a wealthy thirty-something Manhattan matron with a keen interest in interior design and architecture; she published her first novel at 40. Already an observer of human nature, Wharton also studied the excesses of money. She and Codman were appalled by the opulent gilded interiors of the day. The Decoration of Houses stressed simple, classical design principles such as symmetry, proportion, and architectural balance.

Italian Villas and Their Gardens by Edith Wharton, Illustrated by Maxfield Parrish, 1904

An avid traveler and gardener, Wharton published Italian Villas and Their Gardens in 1904. Illustrated by Maxfield Parrish, it explores the formal gardens of seventy-five villas and how their architecture and ornamentation relate to the house and surrounding countryside. It is considered a seminal work on garden design. The Decoration of Houses was the first American book devoted to decoration instead of architecture, helping to establish the interior design profession. Wharton died in 1937 while in France, working on its revised edition with Codman.