The Grande Dame of Palm Beach Decorators:
Polly Jessup (1899 to 1988)
A year before her death in 1987, Polly Jessup was profiled by the New York Times who declared her to be the “Grande Dame of Palm Beach Decorators.” The article by Anne-Marie Shiro highlights Jessup’s sixty years of design among the elite of Palm Beach. Polly created graceful and sophisticated interior décor for society’s biggest names – Dupont, Ford, Whitney, Mellon, Reed, and countless other socialites. A native New Yorker, Polly Jessup (née Pauline Daniel) moved to Hobe Sound in the 1920s with her husband John Jessup. Despite a lack of formal training, Polly’s eye for color, style, and form made her a nationally renowned interior designer whose designs were integral to the gracious lifestyle for which Palm Beach is known.
As her reputation for understanding great quality and design grew in popularity, Polly remained a private person, avoiding publicity when possible. Many of her clients were personal friends with whom she cultivated lasting relationships, so much so that some of her clients were “the third generation in their families to be ‘Jessuped ’.”1 Polly Jessup remained active in interior design for over sixty years, until her death in her Palm Beach home at the age of 89. Polly’s quiet, modest demeanor belied her extraordinary talent and success; her influence among the upper echelons of society was wide-reaching. 1. Schiro, Anne-Marie. “Grande Dame of Palm Beach Decorators.” The New York Times. March 5, 1987. 2. Billy Baldwin and Michael Gardine, Billy Baldwin: An Autobiography (Boston: Little, Brown and Company), 191.
Formal Living Room of the Abegg’s Apartment. Circa 1950s. Image courtesy of the Daniel family collection.
Dining Room of Abegg’s Apartment. Focal point is the map of Venice. Circa 1950s. Image courtesy of the Daniel family collection.
“Polly Jessup’s taste is simply beautiful… her extravagant insistence upon quality, and quality only, has not been equaled, and her success has been 2 without limit, and every bit of it is deserved.” -Billy Baldwin, 1985
Polly Jessup (right) volunteering for WWII efforts in Palm Beach during the 1940s. Image courtesy of the Daniel family collection.
Painted entryway into Margaret Abegg, Polly’s sister, NYC apartment at One Sutton Place South. Margaret and her husband Werner were avid textile collectors who started the Abegg-Stiftung Foundation in Switzerland. Circa 1950s. Image courtesy of the Daniel family collection.
This exhibition is generously underwritten by the Daniel Family. The Jessup Collection is on loan from The Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL
Bedroom overlooking the NYC skyline. Circa 1950s. Image courtesy of the Daniel family collection.
