The long hallway added in the recent renovation added lots of space for art and the creation of pocket rooms for laundry and a studio for him and his daughter.
Jeff Strout
THE HOUSE: A circa 1890s Uptown shotgun, renovated to add 800 square feet of space designed with kids and art in mind.
THE OWNER: Gallery owner/artist Jonathan Ferrara, with kids Anson, 11, and Quinn, 7, and rescue border collie/black lab, Glory.
THE SPACE: 2,497 square feet filled with art.
WHY HE LOVES IT: 'I walk around my house and it speaks to me,' says Ferrara. 'It’s a pictorial autobiography.'
Art plays a meaningful role in Jonathan Ferrara's life, both at work in his CBD gallery and in his home.
"Art tells a story, reminds you of an experience and can challenge you and take you out of your current head space and into the realm of creative possibility,” he said.
That creativity factored heavily in the home's renovation.
Four years ago, Ferrara, then a newly single father of two, moved into the historic shotgun previously occupied by his mother, who had moved to New Orleans to be near her grandchildren. Having originally found the house, which had been renovated in 2010, Ferrara appreciated its high ceilings, simple crown moldings and modern finishes, and his kids were already comfortable in the surroundings.
When he made an 800-square-foot addition this year, he wanted the new portion of the house to have a seamless connection.
“I wanted to keep it as consistent to the rest of the house as possible, from crown molding to flooring to finishes,” he said.
At the suggestion of his friend, architect Lisa Pulitzer, Ferrara set his sights on a design that would bump out the back of the house, take full advantage of the lot and afford a linear view from the front door to the backyard.
Working with architect Ned Brown of Concordia Architecture and Ronnie Rodriguez of NOAH Construction, he extended the existing hall, added an art studio for his daughter, a full bath, and a laundry room off the hall, and included an expansive cathedral-ceilinged, multipurpose room across the rear of the house.
The sunny flex room alternates between a play area for Ferrara’s sports enthusiast son (complete with a removable basketball ball hoop), an annex where Ferrara can display art and entertain, and a home studio where Ferrara can create and collaborate with other artists.
“I can think more clearly in large spaces like a gallery creates,” said Ferrara.
A retractable sliding door can be closed for privacy or kept open so that the home’s front-to-back site line is unobstructed.
Because art is central to the way Ferrara lives, the high ceilings (“they give the art space to breathe,” he said) and the wall real estate that they provide were especially appealing.
In addition to his family, Ferrara’s collection, which includes his own work and pieces by artists he’s represented through the years, is the heart and soul of the house. There are works by Anastasia Pelias, Sandy Chism, Paul Villinski, Bob Tannen, Skylar Fein, Ruth Owens, Damian Aquiles and Bonnie Maygarden to name a few. Ferrara included his children in curating the art by allowing them to choose pieces for their rooms.
He painted the exterior of the house turquoise and fuchsia, his favorite colors. And placed a small silver Buddha wearing a string of silver Mardi Gras beads in the center of the front yard’s pavers as an homage to a Zen garden. Inside, he painted walls white and kept furnishings minimal as a backdrop for the art.
In the living room, he points to butterflies that artist Paul Villinski made from the ubiquitous signs advertising construction services after Hurricane Katrina.
It makes Ferrara think back to that time and symbolizes rising from the ruins.
As a general rule, he says he is drawn to works that he finds both aesthetically pleasing and conceptually challenging.
“Also, I like to adorn my house with little bits of funky art that are not necessarily ‘high art’ but that make me happy, little things but placed in prominent spaces that say ‘this is me’,” he said.
After three decades, Ferrara still finds “the magic” in art and says his newly completed, art-laden house has been a fresh source of inspiration and ideas. While some might want home to be a respite from career demands, Ferrara embraces the integration of his two worlds.
“I come home and am happy to walk into a turquoise house through a fuchsia door,” he said, “and then into my own little art gallery home.”