Personal Space: Larry Beasley

Neoclassical art and architecture greet visitors from the entry to this four-storey condo at the False Creek end of Hornby Street. The drawing room is a museum of statuary, drawings, and paintings, like these 18th-century watercolours depicting Roman ruins like the Arch of Constantine, shown here). Beasley and partner Sandy Logan moved in when the building was completed in 1993-Beasley was instrumental in planning the surrounding North False Creek area.

The mantel–sharing its square-cut dental motif with the cornices–supports a sampling of Beasley’s interests: 19th-century Chinese silver-plate boxes (imported as ballast); obelisks; icons (like St. George, far left, patron saint of city planners); and two Dianas–the costumed Duchess of Orléans by Pierre Gobert circa 1690 (its sister hangs in the Louvre) and the 19th-century Artemis bearing a clock. Beasley’s travels–500,000 miles last year–take him to Europe (he’s bidding on a redesign of Moscow), Asia, and the Middle East, where he just completed a five-year redesign of Abu Dhabi under the patronage of crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Beasley, 63, was born near Savannah, Georgia. His earliest memories are of his parents taking him for walks in Forsyth Park, an influential example of urban design borrowed from Paris. His childhood rowhouse marked him: he and Logan have lived in condos for 44 years. The two met in Las Vegas, where he grew up and a city he still visits annually. He also owns a modernist home in Palm Springs.