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Albert Hadley , éminence grise of American interior design, has trained some of the country's top tastemakers. So it was only natural that when two major events converged on his calendar last fall—his retirement after more than 50 years in business and his honorary chairmanship of the "Rooms With a View" showhouse in Southport, Connecticut—a dozen acolytes would rush to pay their aesthetic respects.

The annual event, launched in 1994, is held at Southport Congregational Church and raises funds for its ministry and programs (Hadley lives in the village part-time). Decorator Thomas Jayne's space, measuring just eight feet wide by five feet deep, proved to be as eye-opening as any room by his soft-spoken mentor: A Georgian secretary was set against walls whose hand-daubed patterns resembled Rorschach tests. Hadley called it "my favorite room"—but, as Jayne observed with a laugh, the Southern gentleman gallantly said the same about every designer's vignette. Other Hadleyites taking part were Pamela Banker, Libby Cameron, Susanne Earls Carr, David Easton, Thom Filicia, Harry Heissmann, David Kleinberg, Brian McCarthy, Brian Murphy, Michael Whaley, and Bunny Williams.

Murphy combined a folk-arty carpet with a Hadley-designed spotted wallpaper. As for Heissmann, he posed a theatrical 19th-century bed amid black walls, 1970s plastic lighting, and a psychedelic painting that looked straight out of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine . With all the love on display beneath that Congregational steeple, small wonder the dean of decoration was deeply moved. "I was sort of surprised, what with all those stars coming together just for me," Hadley says. "But they did a fantastic job. And it's a very good cause."