Frances Adler Elkins

[2] According to The New York Times, Elkins "pioneered vibrant interiors, in which solid historical references met effervescent modernist fantasy.

[9] In 1918, they bought a 19th-century adobe house in Monterey, California, which they restored with the help of David Adler, and named Casa Amesti.

[11] Frances Elkins filed for divorce in February 1923 on grounds of desertion, after which she continued to live in the Monterey house.

[1] Among her earliest projects was Hester Griffin's Colonial Revival house in Monterey, designed by architect George Washington Smith.

In the living room, Elkins combined traditional elements such as Chippendale furniture, Queen Anne mirrors, and Ming screens with modern-day lamps by Jean-Michel Frank and Salvador Dalí.

[5] Elkins collaborated with David Adler on about 15 houses in California, Illinois, and elsewhere, including Castle Hill (Ipswich, Massachusetts).

Examples include steel inlaid into an ebonized oak floor or Steuben glass moldings around a mantle piece.

[2] She favored Steuben moldings around fireplaces, lacquered tables by Jean-Michel Frank, and sconces that Alberto Giacometti modeled after human hands.

[6] Elkins often mixed whites, yellows, and blues in the rooms she designed,[9] but the only flowers she allowed were pink and red carnations.

[8] Adler juxtaposed a newly added classical features such as dentil cornices and fluted door casings against the house's rustic adobe walls and wide-planked ceilings.

[9] Her eclectic taste included 18th century Spanish portraits, Italian landscapes, a Matisse drawing, and a Parisian interior by Walter Gay.

"[8] Elkins lived in Casa Amesti for the next thirty-five years and she continued to add antique and Moderne pieces.

[24] In 2010, Thomas Jayne included Casa Amesti in his book The Finest Rooms In America: 50 Influential Interiors from the 18th Century to the Present.