Meet the Homeowner

Advertising icon Pat Fallon and his family will move into the newly remodeled Lake Harriet home in July.

From left to right: Duffy, Megan, Tressa, Pat, Kevin, and Reilly Fallon

When Mpls.St.Paul Magazine first approached Pat Fallon in June 2007 about the ASID project, he was intrigued by what might arise from such an involved collaboration. (Twenty-plus designers finding harmony with architects and builders? Oy!) It may have been his familiarity with major-league creatives that gave him confidence.

In 1981, Fallon, Fred Senn, Tom McElligott, Nancy Rice, and Irv Fish founded Fallon Worldwide, an advertising and branding agency known for envelope-pushing work—the amusing Citibank identity theft ads and the “herding cats” spot for EDS to name a few—that started small and became a major force in a fiercely competitive industry.

As chairman of advertising and branding agency Fallon Worldwide, Pat has seen his share of ad campaigns. Check out his three favorite campaigns. United Airlines Children's Defense Fund Citibank

Fallon’s love for art and design inspired recreational interests in music and literature. An avid reader, his old house was almost like an enormous reading room, with books tucked into every corner and shelves built along most walls in the living and sitting rooms. As the collection grew, so did his children, and eventually the entire family began to feel the need for more space.

Given his preference for open, sweeping spaces that feel warm and welcoming, the promise of a modern take on the traditional colonial home hit the mark. The next step for Fallon was getting specific and translating his vision for the Showcase Home.

No detail escaped him; when asked to share architectural and design ideas with ASID, Fallon created a thick sheaf of magazine pages and notes to illuminate his taste and highlight specific types of sinks, cabinetry—even doorknobs. The thoughtful portfolio became a touchstone that established this year’s Showcase Home as a sort of living art form that befits a modern, bustling family.

A sense of adventure and creativity in design seems to be genetic: when talking with the designers about their wishes, Fallon’s children shared a similar desire for open spaces filled with compelling details.

Megan, a recent Trinity College graduate and collegiate hockey player, will be moving in for the summer to recover from knee surgery. She imagined her bedroom as a serene space to recuperate—cozy and feminine with an inviting, shabby chic feel.

In his meeting with the designers, thirteen-year-old Duffy gave a direction that’s probably not heard often in client discussions: “Just make it amazing and go crazy,” he said. Duffy’s aesthetic veers toward urban, gritty touches like brushed metal mixed with brick, but in contemplating a shared space with his brother, twelve-year-old Reilly, the main issue was to have plenty of cushions for their posse of friends.

Reilly agreed quickly, and when designers began talking about catering to his love of hockey by making one of his bedroom walls look like a sheet of ice, his smile lit up as if he had just seen Marian Gaborik pull off a hat trick.

Nine-year-old Tressa, also a hockey fan, opted instead for a dachshund motif. She envisioned a window seat to hold her formidable stuffed animal collection, and large swaths of blue and green, her favorite colors.

“The kids are fun for the designers, because they’re open to different ideas,” Fallon says. “It’s incredible, too, what kind of ideas and thoughts spring from their heads.”  —Elizabeth Millard