Oasis of Art and Light
ARTISTS ARE ALCHEMISTS, TAKING FUNDAMENTAL MATERIALS AND TRANSFORMING THEM INTO SOMETHING CAPTIVATING AND MEMORABLE. THESE ELEMENTS VARY — WOOD, CLAY, STONE, PAINT, AND CANVAS — EVEN THE EMPTY SHELL OF AN UNFINISHED, ABANDONED HOME.
This last example was the medium of choice for an architect, an interior designer, and a homeowner who found their blank canvas in an urban neighborhood near Buffalo’s Delaware Park. Together they created a striking home of art layered upon art. It’s a sanctuary for the homeowner’s spectacular collection of artwork and furniture, and a peaceful oasis for daily, family life.
DESIGN RESOURCES
A Blank Slate
As an unfinished project deserted halfway through construction, the original home was nothing more than a carapace with a makeshift center stairwell. No fixtures. No drywall. It was perfect.
“The homeowner wanted a clean slate,” explains Blynn Nelson, interior designer with CJS Architects, which earned a 2023 AIA Buffalo/ WNY Merit Award in the Residential category for the home. “He wanted a simple, blank palette to showcase his art collection.”
Fast forward to the finished masterpiece. Artwork aside, the home itself is a conceptual and constructed triumph. Its creative inspiration came from another of the homeowner’s projects, a downtown art gallery. Built in the 1870s, he gutted the interior and reinvented it in a contemporary genre.
“That brownstone was the creative brief for the home we wanted,” the homeowner says. “We purchased this home because it had the bones for a downtown contemporary style. I have an eclectic artwork collection, but the commonality is contemporary.”
The homeowner is a big fan of the mid-century modern aesthetic, particularly Eames designs and Herman Miller furnishings, with his Eames lounge chair being his favorite. From being flooded with natural light to the open concept and indoor-outdoor connection, the home’s remarkable layout and furniture carry a mid-mod flavor. The color selection, or more accurately, the lack of color, accentuates the artwork and architectural elements.
Blynn painted the entire interior in the same shade of white, “Chantilly Lace” by Benjamin Moore. Similarly, the 10-inch-wide, 7-foot-long oak plank flooring is also the same throughout the interior, warming it up and enhancing the artwork and furnishings.
Outside In
Underscoring the home’s artistic inspiration and modern, open concept that the homeowner and his wife wanted, is a large skylight inspired by James Turrell’s “Skyspaces.” The skylight, visible from the entry, sits on the home’s roof, two stories up, and floods the space with natural light. Its gentle conical shape directs your view to the oculus, like an aperture pointed at the sky. Two Herman Miller Spun Chairs, strategically placed in the entry, invite you to sit, twirl, and meditate on a cloudscape and the occasional plane. It’s a first impression that’s equal parts fun, unexpected, and mesmerizing.
The home’s open concept is expressed with the central space expanding up through the second floor. The original idea called for a spiral staircase, but that idea was scrapped for a floating staircase. To support the stairs, CJS Architects reinforced the wall with 12-inch concrete.
Blynn exclaims, “It’s just beautiful! Really remarkable.”
A Living Gallery
The skylighted, central entry opens to the dining room and offset kitchen, powder room, and living room. A library with custom, built-in shelving creates a calm space for reflection.
The kitchen’s double Cambria® Quartz waterfall islands are offset in a perpendicular position. Punchy orange and sage Herman Miller chairs, the same used for the chunky, rustic wood dining table, pop against the white. Between them is a stairway lined with colorful skateboard decks, leading to the wine cellar. The STACT wine storage system holds bottles with the labels outward, each bottle a piece of art. One even has rhinestones.
Oversized (63” by 126”) Daltile in the Panoramic series makes a striking contrast for the backsplash and is also used for the living room’s minimalist fireplace. A Nelson ball clock punctuates the mid-mod furniture vibe.
Delightful Details
A NanaWall melds the kitchen and adjacent patio into one al fresco experience (the 48” swivel front door is also a NanaWall). Sculptures pepper the exterior, including an installation by Buffalo artist Shasti O’Leary Soudant. A whimsical koi pond is another refuge, inviting serenity and reflection with the natural world.
Uniformity of fixtures and countertops uphold the interior’s curated simplicity. All the bathrooms have the same millwork, quartz white countertop, and black fixtures. But that doesn’t mean the absence of some delicious fun. Like something out of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, the first-floor powder room features scratch-and-sniff banana wallpaper, handmade in Brooklyn by Flavor Paper.
The homeowner says his mood is uplifted every time he comes home.
He says, “It’s very much a home. Nothing is too precious. We have a teenager with friends, and a dog. People can relax and live here.