How Julia Buckingham Transformed a 1930s Tudor into a Design Wonderland
Interior designer Julia Buckingham blends vintage with modern in her new Willo neighborhood gem.
By Nora Burba Trulsson | Photography by Austin Larue Baker
When it comes to her digs, it’s highly unlikely that Julia Buckingham would ever live in a subdivision house, a modern farmhouse or a minimalist, white-box-new-build. Instead, the Phoenix Home & Garden Masters of the Southwest award-winning interior designer—known for her colorful mixing of high and low objects, modern and antique pieces—has an uncanny knack for finding interesting homes for herself.
“My home needs to speak to me,” Buckingham explains. “I’ve renovated or restored about 12 of my homes, in Chicago, Cincinnati and here in the Valley. I hate tearing down and building new. Instead, I like to resurrect hidden gems.”
Last year, Buckingham sold her Scottsdale midcentury modern home lock, stock and furniture—“except for the art,” she notes, “because it has too much personal meaning”—and began seeking a distinctive place to live. She found her new home in the heart of the Willo Historic Neighborhood of downtown Phoenix—a 1,700-square-foot Tudor Revival abode, with a soaring living room ceiling and original leaded glass windows.
“I love this neighborhood,” explains Buckingham, “and I knew this house would be an exquisite backdrop for my life.” The cottage-like dwelling was built in the early 1930s for Louisiana-born attorney Clifton Mathews, who served as the U.S. attorney for Arizona and went on to be a judge for The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Over the decades, through different owners, the home’s kitchen and two bathrooms were updated, but most of the interior remained intact, including the living room’s dramatic 18-foot-high ceiling with exposed beams and rustic stone fireplace, and hardwood floors throughout. Buckingham was smitten.
To furnish her Tudor, Buckingham added a few new pieces but mostly dug deep in her storage units containing design treasures she’s collected over the years—from antiques and vintage, to contemporary items—that would give the setting a unique appeal. “I’m known for what I call my ‘Modernique’ style that mixes old with new,” she explains. “Even if you live in a historic home, I don’t think the interior has to match the architectural style. It’s OK to bring in modern touches—I always love a surprise in a house.”
“Even if you live in a historic home, I don’t think the interior has to match the architectural style. It’s OK to bring in modern touches.”
—JULIA BUCKINGHAM, interior designer and homeowner
Indeed, Buckingham, a modern-day mix master, offers plenty of surprises throughout her interior—and many of the pieces have a story and a bit of wit attached. Just inside the entry to the living room, architectural classics—an Eames lounge and ottoman—get a Buckingham update with what she calls “irreverent” Barbie-pink upholstery. Nearby, the designer paired a sinuous vintage sectional with a Milo Baughman coffee table, creating the perfect spot to enjoy the fireplace on a cool night. The living room’s piéce de résistance is the image of a massive Greek god that anchors a tall wall—an architectural element salvaged from a building in New York. “It’s painted zinc and served as a decorative column,” Buckingham notes. “I’ve had it for years, and it hung in my Chicago home. It’s like a piece of my heart and works perfectly as a key element here.”
Throughout the house, other pieces have histories, some newer than others. The dining room’s 1970s Karl Springer grass cloth table is topped by a vitrine from a defunct Tommy Bahama store that holds a collection of cigarette holders and evening purses belonging to Buckingham’s grandmother. In the kitchen, a massive Bruce Weber-style photograph of 1990s club-goers that was a Bloomingdale’s display poster provides the background for morning coffee at a small round table flanked by a pair of vintage smoked Lucite chairs. The master bedroom’s exuberant Marimekko bedding is balanced with a slim, chrome-backed 1970s Roger Lecal lipstick-shaped mirror.
Earlier this year, Buckingham opened her house for the annual Willo Home Tour and noted that visitors mostly commented on three items in the interior. “Number one was the architectural element in the living room. Number two was a woman’s party skirt I wrapped around my bathroom vanity to hide cabinetry that I don’t like, and number three was the framed popsicle art in the kitchen that I got from an artist in Miami.”
Though she has settled into her new abode and leafy neighborhood, Buckingham is still moving a few pieces around, shifting art from one wall to another, fine-tuning the accessories, all of which give her joy. “This is where I live,” she says. “It’s an extension of who I am.”
SOURCES
Interior designer: Julia Buckingham, Julia Buckingham Interiors, Phoenix, juliabuckinghaminteriors.com.
LIVING ROOM—Sectional and round table: Underwater Disco, Phoenix, Instagram: @underwaterdisco. Bench fabric: jimthompsonfabrics.com. Armchair fabric: hollyhunt.com. Painting: Red Modern Furniture, Phoenix, redmodernfurniture.com.
KITCHEN—Popsicle art: popartprince.com. Table: jonathanadler.com.
SITTING ROOM—Coffee table: fornasetti.com. Area rug: jonathanadler.com.
MASTER BEDROOM—Chests: Everything Goes, Phoenix, everythinggoesaz.com. Bed: bernhardt.com. Bed upholstery (by Donghia): kravet.com. Bedding fabric: marimekko.com. Bed accessory pillows: jungalow.com. Settee: thayercoggin.com.
