Sitting Comfortably With the Past

While developer Jerry Snyder is busy constructing the commercial buildings of the ‘90s, his own office remains solidly in the ‘70s.

Visitors who walk into Snyder’s penthouse office on Wilshire Boulevard will feel themselves sink into a thick, sculpted carpet colored in shades of tan, brown and rust. In the corner, a huge, circular coffee table that glows in brass and amber-colored glass is surrounded by lounge-like chairs upholstered in a material that resembles brown corduroy. Overhead, rough-hewn Douglas fir siding forms a pyramid-shaped ceiling.

If the surroundings resemble a comfy family room in a retro-ranch house, it’s because the office was designed to make visitors feel at home, said Snyder, president of Los Angeles-based J.H. Snyder Co. In fact, the office motif was created by the late interior designer Steve Chase, who worked primarily on houses--including Snyder’s--and helped popularize the use of warm natural colors and materials in California homes during the 1960s and early 1970s.

“Office buildings tend to be very gray and stiff,” said Snyder, tucked comfortably into one of the catcher’s-mitt-like club chairs. “I find that [visitors] are much more comfortable here than they would be if I was sitting behind my desk.”

Despite the preponderance of ‘70s-style earth tones, the interior of Snyder’s corner office, which overlooks the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, was created by Chase in 1984. Still, Chase, at Snyder’s request, designed the office with a “1970s pop-modern art palette,” said Randy Patton, who had worked on the project and is now a partner at Steve Chase Associates in Rancho Mirage.

Even in 1984, the warm colors and textured surfaces of Snyder’s office had fallen out of favor with corporate America, which had moved toward cleaner lines and lighter colors, said Patton. That’s even more true today, when most corporate interiors are sheathed in cool, neutral colors and executives often have very little say in decorating their own workplace. Executives usually pick from a company-approved list of furniture and art that must blend into a corporate design scheme.

Although the ‘70s are enjoying a revival in popular culture, Patton said he doesn’t expect to see executives rushing over to Snyder’s office for design ideas. “Most corporate environments don’t choose to be so personal,” he said.

Snyder says he has no plans to redecorate even if styles have changed. In fact, the office looks pretty much the same way it did when Snyder first moved in 13 years ago. “I asked for every element that was in here. I wanted it for me,” Snyder said. “I like it the way it is.”