The art and furniture collection of the interior designer Alison Damonte and her husband, the architectural photographer Bruce Damonteit was so spectacular that they enlisted the help of their friend, the architect Casper Mork-Ulnesfounder of Mork-Ulnes Architects studioto transform their old Edwardian home into the heart of San Francisco in one container for all these gems. The original 1908 Victorian-style wooden home was built for a roofer and his family of five and was a single story with a low, sloping ceiling. The Damontes purchased it in 2010, and in 2017 it unfortunately suffered a devastating fire that forced them to rethink their housing “concept” – as they claim.
Thus, the previous small and dull Victorian house was replaced by one modern house which blends harmoniously with the urban landscape of San Francisco and in which a sculptural staircase serves as the central element. The new home shares a similar silhouette to its gabled neighbors lining the steep streets. It has an original black facade, in clear allusion to the fire which, in reality, was the origin of everything. Its beyond 250 square meters they are divided into three floors, three bathrooms and a courtesy room, and in addition to the classic spaces there are, for example, a music room inspired by a disco, a photography studio and a large room in the attic which opens onto the two facades and onto a spectacular view of the city.
For the interiors, Mork-Ulnes created a formal, volumetric environment with a simplified organization of objects, allowing Alison Damonte to equip them with materials and finishes in line with her interior vision. “The owners opted for an inverted floor plan, where the lower level offers privacy to the master suite and a small sunken garden; the second level contains the entry, guest bedroom, and more intimate rooms for entertaining and leisure; the penthouse kitchen appears in the space above, offering maximum transparency with distant views of Noe Valley and Twin Peaks,” explains the studio. Offering a compelling counterpoint to the sobriety and rigor of the architecture, each room of the house offers a tactile and vibrant experience of color, furnishings and art. Objects covered in texture, pattern and materiality reflect the collective creative spirit of the owners.
www.morkulnes.com
