Stripper's Guide

“One develops the agility of the mountain goat,” said Lovrien Gregory sedately.

She was speaking as a mural painter to whom lofts, ladders and canvases eight feet in height are all a part of the day’s work. Comparatively few women do murals, perhaps because they are not painted from the household type of stepladder mother uses when she hangs the curtains.

Mrs. Gregory has Just completed three panels for the new Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church, University avenue, New York, of which her husband, Julius Gregory, is the architect. It is to be dedicated early this spring. Two of her paintings measure eight feet in width, the other twelve. The drawing and color, welded with a spirituality that is rather remarkable in its appeal for even the untrained eye, are attracting much favorable attention. …

It may be that the [illegible] of this particular artist’s success is most clearly revealed in the word “Teamwork.” It is altogether inspiring the way she and her husband work together, he designing the lovely edifies; she decorating it. It is to this spiritual and artistic unity, to this sympathy and encouragement, fostered by the similarity of their artistic tastes and aims, that Mrs. Gregory attributes much of the sheer pleasure she finds in her work. Certainly Mr. Gregory is as proud of the mural decorations she did for the Church of All Nations in this city as she is of his work.

She keeps house—not an apartment—but a hospitable home with the rare city luxuries of a garden and a linen closet. When she plays she plays joyously; and when she works she is at it from 9 o’clock till dark, scaling ladders in a loft in Grand Central Palace, where she has found the studio space she requires.

For the rest, she is young and eager and vivid—compellingly radiant, with bobbed ha!r that is red in the right light and clear eyes that mirror a sweet and sunny spirit. You’ve noticed—who hasn’t?—the discontented mouths of the women of to-day. Lovrien Gregory’s mouth is that lovely feature, the smiling mouth of a happy woman. The strength, reverence and serenity she puts on canvas are not found ready mixed on any palette.

Old fashioned? H’m—not exactly!

She, uses her name without the prefix, and when asked, admitted that while she believes in the tenets of the Lucy Stone League she has not joined as a member.

“But,” she remarked, contemplatively, “I suppose I ought to!”

undated painting

Julius Gregory, architect of homes, died Sunday night in the Amity Nursing Home, Ringoes, N.J., after an illness of several months. His age was 80.

Mr. Gregory, whose designs for home magazines caused some of his houses to be reproduced widely across the country, was essentially a transactional architect. His work, often adapting newer concepts to traditional types, was a budge to the designs of later, modern architecture.

His New York practice, first at 2 Park Avenue and later at 66- Madison Avenue, spanned forty-two years, up to his retirement two years ago. At that time he moved to New Hope, Bucks County, Pa.

Born in Sacramento, Calif., he attended the University of California and studied abroad before establishing his practice in New York.

He served as architectural consultant for House and Garden magazine, for whom he designed the Ideal House, and for Home Beautiful, whose Pacesetter House he developed. Over the years his plans frequently won awards from professional societies.

During his career he designed many church structures. Among these were three Methodist edifices in New York: the Church of All Nations, 9 Second Avenue; Calvary Church, 1885 University Avenue, the Bronx an the Methodist Home, an institution for the aged on Spuyten Duyvil Parkway in the Bronx.

Surviving are his widow, Lovrien, and two sons, Jules of Lambertville, N.J.; and Alfred Lawrence.

Labels: Ink-Slinger Profiles

# posted by Alex Jay @ 8:00 AM