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Biography
Caroline Millett has had a lifetime of experience in three seemingly disparate professions: Diplomacy, real estate development, and residential design. In actuality each experience led directly to the next. Yet none of her university studies specifically prepared her for any of her careers. Millett earned her M.A. in American cultural history, and completed three more years of graduate course work in law, education, and art – all at Stanford University. At the University of Wisconsin, she was awarded a B.A. in history and comparative literature, and during her junior year she studied fine arts and history at the University of Edinburgh. As an over-educated and under-skilled single woman, she got her first big break in the Foreign Service. The U.S. Information Agency posted her to Sao Paulo. Here she had the remarkable opportunity to found and direct a unique new American-Brazilian binational center. At the age of 29, she was promoted to the position of Cultural Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Brazilia. Toward the end of Millett’s tour of duty, she began to recognize the darker side of Brazilian political life. In those days, torture was a horrifyingly common practice in Latin America. Victims included liberals and intellectuals whom Millett met at seminars she taught at the University of Sao Paulo, and at her binational center. Official American policy was in line with the fascist regime’s much-publicized slogan; “There is no torture in Brazil.” She openly opposed her own government’s unenlightened position, and she would have been sent home in disgrace but for future President Jorge Figueiredo’s patronage.
This was a major turning point in Millett’s career. She took a leave of absence, and subsequently arranged a series of assignments in Washington at USIA. Millett began by organizing architectural studies programs for all posts overseas. Subsequently, she coordinated international art exhibitions – her most important achievement was raising funds and orchestrating “Made in Chicago,” the 1973 U.S. contribution to the Sao Paulo Biennial. Next she directed films featuring Secretary of State Kissinger. She also acted as a State Department delegate, first as executive secretary of the U.S. Inter-Agency Committee on the Arts, and then as a delegate to the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Toward the end of this stint she was awarded the title of “Advisor on the Arts.” When Millett moved to Washington she bought the only beautiful house she could possibly afford – a derelict Victorian townhouse in Logan Circle, then a notorious slum. Here she had a chance to practice what she preached as a staunch advocate of historic preservation. She preserved all her own home’s historic features and used modern methods to create sunny, open interiors. Louis Kahn, a renowned architect whom she had featured in USIA’s “thematic programs”, showed her how to create light and space. One freezing winter she also befriended Plumley the Plumber, who traded her a new furnace for 52 home cooked dinners. By the end of that year, Plumley had taught her the “how to’s” of working with contractors. Here's an invaluabale Plumley Principle: “Pick’em for their good character since you’ll never really know what they're doing.” After sufficient indoctrination, she began buying more historic wrecks, along with abandoned churches, parking lots, and warehouses. By the time she left Washington in the early 1980’s, Millett had bought, improved and sold over 100 properties. Throughout those years, she was on the front lines of inner city renovation. When Millett’s former boss became president of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in the 1980’s, she found a new mission. As vice president, she directed press and public relations, special events, and fundraising projects. After the university was formally established she returned to real estate development on a full-time basis. Millett took a great liking to University City, where she could renovate some more marvelous old properties and teach interior design at the University of Pennsylvania. Perhaps her greatest accomplishment was the total renovation of a city block formerly owned by the Catholic Church – a vacant school, rectory, and cathedral-sized church buried deep within the slums. While providing much needed moderate-income housing, this 165-unit project saved three historic buildings. During this period, Millett became very active in community service, serving as vice president of her neighborhood civic association, trustee of the Wilma Theater, and trustee of the Preservation Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. By 1990, Millett realized that what she liked best always involved designing and art collecting. In 1992 she began teaching at the University of Pennsylvania’s continuing education program. Subjects included: personalized color schemes, collecting and exhibiting arts and crafts, arranging space, and most importantly, developing personal style. She built her own full service design firm, Millett Design, and specialized in custom projects throughout the U.S. and the Caribbean. She has also published residential design columns called Narrative Style, and wrote Redesigning Design: A Guide to Personal Environments. In 2001, the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia honored her for outstanding contributions to the interior design profession.
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