an imaginative toy designer turns a staid old carriage house into a focal point for fun and games
Although Toy Designer Marvin Glass has created some highly imaginative playthings, his most ambitious and successful undertaking to date has been the total renovation of a 96-year-old Evanston, Illinois, carriage house. A bachelor, Glass purchased the building several years ago, then got together with architect Jim Stewart and drew up plans to revamp the interior from gabled roof to cellar floor. The result, pictured here, clearly reflects Glass's personalized approach to creating a live-in adult toy.
Most of the furnishings in Glass's pad are both contemporary in design and entertainment-oriented, as the master of the house is self-admittedly a compulsive party giver. His bashes usually are just for the fun of it, but, on occasion, he'll shrewdly combine business with pleasure and take the opportunity to gauge guests' reactions to an adult game he's perfecting. (The couples above are playing Funny Bones, a Glass money-maker.)
Since a good deal of the action at a Glass party takes place in the large, beam-ceilinged living room, all the necessary ingredients for a gala affair are close at hand. Hi-fi controls have been built into a marble and black-glass cocktail table that's framed by a three-piece sofa--and a grand piano and microphones stand nearby, awaiting the show-business personalities that invariably attend. Thirsts are quickly quenched at the pad's well-stocked walk-in wet bar located between the living room, dining room and kitchen. With drinks in hand, guests can wander about, admiring Glass's collection of sculpture and paintings by Picasso, Dali, Rouault and Frank Gallo, or study the primitive-patterned aluminum fireplace hood that dominates the first floor. The custom hood extends over two fireplaces and continues into the dining room, where it covers an entire wall. Other walls in the living room and dining room are paneled in rosewood cut from a single tree, so that the grain matches from section to section.
Glass purposely placed his emperor-sized ceramic Roman tub for eight (which is adjacent to a sun-lamp-equipped sauna) below ground in what was once the carriage-house basement, in order to get all the depth he needed. When designing this room, Glass included several built-in gadgets that the pleasure-digging Romans would have liked; incorporated in the ceiling is a unique lighting system that changes the color of the room, and a Jacuzzi whirlpool stands ready to whip up copious amounts of bubble bath, should a sudsy frolic be in order.
Those more romantically inclined can relax just down the hall in the wood-paneled den, where a blaze can be kindled in the field-stone fireplace and libations mixed at the black-leather-padded bar that stands at the opposite end of the room. Vinophiles can choose from a complete selection of vintages housed in the den's custom-built wine rack. On warm summer evenings, couples often take to the swimming pool, where there's a row of cabanas for changing, along with a bar and a jukebox. Since Glass designed his pad with guests in mind, it's no surprise that his parties and his eminently livable domain are both resounding successes.
