Kirk White, 90, Interior Designer
Kirk White, an interior designer who had a long and illustrious career, initiating the “Room of the Month” window of the W & J Sloane rug and furniture store in Manhattan and designing a complete house inside the store, died at home at Bayberry Close in East Hampton Village on Saturday at the age of 90.
Born Austin Newkirk White II on April 2, 1926, in Pasadena, Calif., to Genevieve Margaret White and Wells Newkirk White, he spent his youth in Manhattan Beach, Calif., where the family lived in a beachfront house. His father shortened the family name in the early 1930s.
Mr. White had enlisted as an aviation cadet in the Air Corps upon graduating from Redondo (Calif.) Union High School, and was recalled in 1950, serving as a statistical specialist with the 452nd Bomber Group in Japan and then Korea.
In between, he studied architecture at the University of California at Berkeley. He also studied interior design in Los Angeles at the Chouinard Art Institute before going abroad in 1948 to continue architecture study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts of Fontainebleau. Then came a grand tour of France, Italy, England, and Scotland.
Returning to the states, he settled in Beverly Hills, where he went to work for Robert Hanley Associates and John Woolf Architects. He then worked in San Francisco for the contemporary design firm of Robert M. Kasper as well as Neel D. Parker and Company.
After opening his own studio in San Francisco, his work was noticed by W & J Sloane, which hired him first to oversee its main downtown store and Northern California branches as director of display and design. After a year, he was promoted to head the firm’s New York City studio, which included 25 designers, a four-man drafting room, and others. Mr. White also designed model apartments for the Tishman Construction Company in New York, which were covered in national magazines and books.
It was in New York City during this period that he met and married Barbara D’Arcy, who was, according to this newspaper, “a powerhouse in the decorating field.” They married on April 30, 1966, at the Church of Our Savior on Park Avenue, with a reception at the St. Regis Hotel. After a trip to Bermuda, they lived in Manhattan and found a weekend retreat on Terbell Lane in East Hampton. They remodeled the house and enjoyed it for 40 years, after which they sold it and moved to Bayberry Close. Mrs. White died in 2012.
Besides design, cars were a great interest. His father, who was in the car business in Los Angeles, had given him a Ford Model A convertible for his 16th birthday and, every year after that, he gave him a newer convertible. For getting his first job in Beverly Hills, his father gave him a Cadillac Fleetwood sedan. One of his favorite cars to drive in East Hampton was the couple’s 1960 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. He also liked motorcycles, starting with a Triumph Bonneville and progressing to “full-dress” Harley-Davidsons, and finally to custom-built choppers. For his 70th birthday, he gave himself a Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200 that he customized.
In Manhattan, after leaving W & J Sloane, Mr. White became director of design for Medallion Ltd. and Richard Carleton Ltd. In 1972, he was hired as director of design by Directional Industries, a position followed by heading design for the Sperry and Hutchinson Company’s furniture divisions.
Continuing in the path Mr. White had taken in his youth, the Whites traveled for business and pleasure, counting 94 countries, including Syria and Libya, among their destinations. Their design work often took them to cities such as Mumbai and Rome, which they could enjoy apart from work. Mr. White retired in 2005 after having worked in private practice here for Norman Mercer, Lee Eastman, and Leonard Ackerman.
Mrs. White was buried in the Memorial Garden of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton, where Mr. White also will be buried. Friends and family were invited to visit at the Frank Campbell Funeral Chapel on Madison Avenue and 81st Street in New York City yesterday. A funeral service is to be held at St. Luke’s today at 11 a.m., followed by a reception in its Great Hall. Donations have been suggested to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 18 James Lane, East Hampton 11937.
Mr. White is survived by a sister, Winifred Helen Lindsay of Fallbrook, Calif., a cousin, and many nieces and nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews, as well as one great-great-nephew.