Alexander Wilson has always had a thing for good bones. Growing up, he would often visit his aunt in the bucolic enclave of Millbrook, New York, where stately Greek Revival homes dot the verdant landscape; in college, while studying historic preservation, he worked for the Preservation Society of Charleston, researching and writing about the organization’s storied homes. Eventually, he landed at the firm of Ashley Whittaker, known for her lovingly lived-in, traditional-with-a-twist interiors. Now, after eight years, he’s embarking on a new adventure with the launch of his own studio, bringing his passion for historic design with him. Nowhere is that more evident than in his own Upper East Side apartment, which Wilson bought in 2019 after renting nearby. We paid him a visit to see how he elevated its prewar charm to iconic proportions.

Entryway

“I definitely have my roots in neoclassical design,” Wilson says, and nowhere is that more evident than in the show-stopping foyer with its bold Greek key motif. He used a longtime favorite fabric—Claire Louise Frost’s Meander—to envelop the walls, breaking up its linearity (and adding a youthful jolt of energy) with an irregularly shaped mirror designed by Sarah Sherman Samuel for Lulu & Georgia. “There is also a touch of aubergine in the stripe which gave me the opportunity to incorporate more of a favorite color,” says Wilson, who painted the front door and trim in glossy Brinjal by Farrow & Ball.

Living Room

With its gracious proportions—there’s enough space for a large, comfortable seating area anchored around a wood-burning fireplace as well as a dining area—the living room is the heart of Wilson’s uptown home, and feels simultaneously sophisticated and cozy. He covered the walls with grasscloth—in a color he and Whittaker call “Millbrook green”—and wrapped the beams to highlight the space’s architecture. The furnishings are a mix of old and new: “I’d always wanted an olive-green velvet sofa but didn’t want to break the bank, so I found a very comfortable one from CB2 and had it reupholstered in a Kerry Joyce fabric—it also doubles as a twin bed if I have guests in town,” he explains. Another favorite hue, aubergine, accents the space, appearing on a Billy Baldwin slipper chair and an art piece (found at a vintage store in Miami) that hangs above a neoclassical console (“Ashley found it sitting on the curb on East 72nd Street and brought it back to the office!”).

Kitchen

“The kitchen definitely needed the most work of anything in the apartment,” says Wilson, who worked with architectural firm Structure NYC to give the oddly shaped space a top-to-toe makeover, including new cabinets, floating shelves, and appliances. As for the graphic black-and-white Alan Campbell printed wallpaper and fabric that fills the space, “That was a pattern that I had been obsessed with when I worked at Quadrille, so figured I would go with it!” explains Wilson.

Bedroom

With a custom pediment-shaped headboard by Luther Quintana as his jumping-off point, Wilson leaned into the neoclassical theme in his bedroom, covering the walls in architectural trompe-l’oeil masonry wallpaper from Casa Branca. The finished result is anything but one-note, though, thanks to an era-spanning mix of furniture (including a 1940s French Louis XVI–style writing desk and Georgian mahogany chest inherited from his grandmother), lighting (an oversize Noguchi paper lantern and plaster lamps topped in custom shades in unexpected lilac Cecil Cotton Chintz by Schumacher) and art (like Luther Seligman’s Orange Turban, which he found at Gerald Bland). But Wilson’s favorite element might be the leopard-print Stark carpet he installed underfoot: “There’s just something so Upper East Side prewar apartment about wall-to-wall carpet in a bedroom!”

THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN VOLUME 12 OF FREDERIC MAGAZINE. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE!