Jubilant UES Traditionalism

Elizabeth Pyne Singer carries on a three-generation interior-design legacy in her Carnegie Hill home

- WENDY GOODMAN

INTERIOR DESIGN RUNS IN Elizabeth Pyne Singer’s family. In 2009, after seven years at Sotheby’s, she joined McMillen, Inc., the venerable decorating firm. The company was founded in 1924 by Eleanor Brown when she was known as “Mrs. Drury McMillen” (though she later divorced McMillen and remarried, her firm retained his name). Designers Mark Hampton and Albert

Hadley worked at McMillen before setting out on their own. But more to the point, Singer’s late grandmother Betty Sherrill had reigned for 40 years as McMillen’s chairman, until 2002, and Singer’s mother, Ann Pyne, is currently its president. So there’s a lot of history to live up to. Not to mention that working with your mother might not be an ideal situation for many. It does, however, provide the occasion for a lively give-and-take.