by Holly Johnstone
WHEN ROBERT NOAKES was asked by reporters at the Toronto Star in 1986 to comment on the decency of ladies applying lipstick at the dinner table, he responded dryly that “it’s not elegant and it’s not chic.” Nevertheless, Noakes continued diplomatically, there was something alluringly laissez-faire about a woman at her toilette that harkened back to glittering Hollywood starlets and the “decadent chic of the ‘30s.” There were far worse sartorial crimes according to Noakes: “The thing I hate most is over-accessorizing. A woman can have on one great piece of jewellery, but someone with jade on her arm, turquoise on her finger, and diamonds in her ears – or even wearing bracelets on both arms – no! I like simplicity.”(1)
Simplicity was, however, not the reigning aesthetic principle of Noakes’ career. Born in 1946 to parents Charles and Jean Noakes, Robert Noakes was best-known as Toronto’s premiere interior designer – and one with a flair for the fantastical.(2) Noakes’ career in design began, as it does for so many aspiring decorators and lovers of beautiful things, with a trip to Europe. Freshly evangelised by the then-reigning Toronto decorator of note, Herbert Irving, twenty-two-year-old Robert ventured to the continent in search of soul feeding. And what a feeding he had. In Florence he met with countesses and craftsmen commissioned by the Rothschilds; in Paris, he plied himself into the upscale auction floors at Drouot and charmed his way into coveted relationships with Parisian fabric dealers. It was in Europe, Noakes said, that he discovered his affinity for beautiful things and where he found himself transformed into a self-professed “compulsive buyer."(3)
These early visits to Europe were, in many ways, the beginnings of Noakes’ career as a designer and bon-vivant. In 1970, when Noakes launched his first design venture out of a coach house on Avenue Road in Toronto – right beside what would later become the first flagship Roots store – he brought that same opulent European sensibility to his showroom and window displays. It was through the glass of this little shop window that Noakes secured his first major clients and where, in 1975, he first met friend and long-time collaborator, Stephen Cohen. As the story goes, Cohen was visiting from New York when he walked past Noakes’ shop and, so impressed by the display, bounded in declaring to the shop assistant: “That's my new partner!”(4)
Cohen and Noakes went on to open Noakes & Cohen Ltd. with offices and a showroom on Bay Street and a design sensibility catered towards the “crowd that goes to Holt’s and Creed’s, the advertising man, the socialite."(5) Perhaps their best-loved project was the society-favourite Bemelmans Bar which, although short-lived, was an era-defining Yorkville watering hole renowned for being so chic that “a pair of Levi’s would probably shrivel in embarrassment were they to cross its tony threshold.”(6) Bemelmans and its marble-topped tables were the backdrop for many a Toronto celebrity sighting and tête-à-têtes shared over bites and bubbles.
Noakes eventually set off on his own, establishing Robert Noakes International, Ltd. and its lavishly-appointed showrooms in a shop along Davenport and Avenue Road. Noakes’ Rolodex at this time bristled with the names of Canada’s best and brightest, titans of industry, bankers, and charismatic socialites. Noakes’ clientele included the likes of then-Bank of Montreal CEO Matthew Barrett and former wife Anne-Marie Sten, Conrad and Barbara Amiel Black, and Peter and Melanie Munk, whom he shared a decades-long friendship with.(7) According to Noakes’ sisters, Gloria and Julie, (both of whom worked for Robert Noakes International at various points in their careers) Noakes’ approach to each project was entirely bespoke: “Robert’s style was dictated by the client’s likes and lifestyle [and] would vary from twentieth century modern to European luxury.” In every project, however, was Noakes’ unwavering commitment to designing spaces that people actually wanted to live in: “Always a room would feel lived in and inviting to the eye and touch.”
For Noakes, good design was as much about the look of the space as it was about the feel of it. Gabi Despathy, a friend and employee of both Noakes & Cohen Ltd. and Robert Noakes International, remembers the importance of fabrics in Noakes’ interiors. “Custom furnishings, fabrics and broadlooms were always part of every project,” Despathy recalls, “attention to the details for colours, textures, shapes and styles came together to complete each project.” Noakes’ family similarly cite his affinity for fabrics as a mainstay of his work, saying that “pillows and backsides of upholstered chairs would often be pleated in silk or suede,” and, on the windows, curtains were “always French pleated drapery fabric triple the width and puddled on the floor.” Wherever textiles appeared in Noakes’ projects – on windows, floors, furniture, walls or anywhere in between – they were judiciously chosen and, in typical Noakes style, first-rate. “I don’t ever use anything that is synthetic,” Noakes would explain, “that is my standard. Only wool carpets, silk, velvet and linen.”(8)
Noakes’ signature treatment of textiles became his trademark. Andrea Zeifman, Principal and Senior Appraiser at A.H. Wilkens agrees that Noakes’ generous use of upholstery was an immediately identifiable feature of the quintessential ‘Noakes Style.' “Whenever I step into a living room and catch a glimpse of the iconic suede ruching on the back of a fauteuil armchair, I know that I have entered a classic Noakes home,” Zeifman recalls. “His style and signature design elements will live on for years to come in the city.”
While simplicity might not have been Noakes’ reigning standard, balance certainly was. Professionally, Noakes was known for his thoughtful mix of sleek modernist art coupled with eighteenth-century French and English furnishings. Although antiques featured heavily in Noakes’ design ethos, he never let the old overpower the new: “if it was all ‘fussy antiques’ or contemporary art,” Noakes said, “it would get boring.”(9)
Personally, Noakes struck a fine balance between the urban aesthete and the rural countryman. He was often caught in transit between the upscale auction floors of London, Paris, and New York and his cottage in Cedar Point on Georgian Bay where he entertained friends and family. In life as in work, Noakes chased that delicate equilibrium between distinct, yet complementary features, the “bright-dark, feminine-masculine, negative-positive, full-empty.” To Noakes, these contrasting principles were essential to the balancing act in design and in life: “the closer all the elements are in tune with one another, the closer you are to perfection.”
On November 19th, 2024, A.H. Wilkens is honoured to present selected items from Robert Noakes’ collection at auction, beginning at 11 AM EST. The sale includes items from Noakes’ extensive collection of antique European furniture, European art, ethnographic art, rugs, bronzes, and antiquities. A.H. Wilkens is fortunate to have worked with Cowley Abbott and Christie’s on this collection, each of whom will be auctioning items from Noakes’ estate in separate sales. Interested bidders can preview the sale and register for bidding on A.H. Wilkens’ website.
Holly Johnstone is the Decorative Arts Specialist at A.H. Wilkens Auctions and Appraisals in Toronto. She has an MSt in Early Modern History from Oriel College at the University of Oxford and a BA in History from the University of Toronto. She lives in Toronto with her partner and her tuxedo cat.
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Endnotes
Matteson, Sandra. “Accessories demand a certain etiquette.” The Toronto Star, September 25, 1986, C5. https://www.proquest.com/hnptorontostar/docview/1412374412/A07589E2D5E4660PQ/25?sourcetype=Newspapers
“Robert William Noakes, November 30, 1946-February 13, 2024” Humphrey Miles.com. https://www.humphreymiles.com/obituaries/Robert-William-Noakes?obId=30740025
The gilt thing: did the Europe experience. Did the party scene. Did the rehab. Interior designer Robert Noakes knows there are places Toronto will never follow him." Toronto Life, vol. 29, no. 18, 12, 1995, pp. 98-102. https://www.proquest.com/hnptorontostar/docview/214355688/6166B2E030C0455FPQ/2?sourcetype=Magazines
"The gilt thing.” Toronto Life, 1995
Kates, Joanne. "Nibbling chic." The Globe and Mail, Jun 1, 1977, A6. https://www.proquest.com/hnpglobeandmail/docview/1239321116/98D4EFE1D6D64ECAPQ/2?sourcetype=Historical%20Newspapers
"Nibbling chic," The Globe and Mail, 1977
Hampson, Sarah. “Inside the jacuzzis of the rich and famous. Want to see beauty through the eyes of Robert Noakes? It'll cost you.” The Globe and Mail, November 4, 1999, C3.
Mullen, Karyn. “Inside the Artful World of Robert Noakes.” First Lady Global Magazine, May 21, 2020, pp. 66-97. https://issuu.com/firstladyglobalmagazine/docs/firstlady_global_2020_single
Mullen, “Inside the Artful World of Robert Noakes.” First Lady Global Magazine, 2020
Mullen, “Inside the Artful World of Robert Noakes.” First Lady Global Magazine, 2020
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