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Neil Griffin and Martin Varela’s renovated Logan Circle residence is rich with hidden life. Before it was a polished modern dwelling, it was a well-built but unspectacular condo. Prior to that, it was the Cadillac Hotel, an infamous 1940s flophouse. “Many an older DC cab driver has dropped me off and said, ‘Ahh, the old Cadillac Hotel,’ ” Griffin says.
The ornate building, a 120-year-old mansion restored in 2000 by Abdo Development Inc., is textbook colonial style. The condo “was very broken up, with the typical moldings,” says Interior Designer Amy Samelson of Amy Samelson Design. But it had an unparalleled location and lush, unobstructed views. “Our top priority has always been a view,” says Griffin, who is president of Jam Communications. History isn’t the only thing beneath the impeccable surface. Below the fireplace and bookshelves in the den are deep drawers used for storage. There’s nearly invisible, handle-less storage throughout the Boffi kitchen system. And the sleek, narrow closet – on first glance it looks like a wall of cabinetry – acts as a partition between the bedroom and bath, making the couple’s bedroom small but intimately so. The condo is a catalogue of cleanly executed small space solutions.
Guided by Light
Griffin and Varela wanted a space they wouldn’t outgrow, so they left no detail to chance. They brought in a lighting designer in the project’s early days so lighting could be truly integrated with the way they live. “They understood that lighting could really focus the experience of the space,” says Linnaea Tillett, principal of Tillett Lighting Design Inc., and “they encouraged us to get involved with the art.”
In many cases, the lighting is more art than enhancement. A stationary Venini fixture that looks like an exquisite, oversized string of glass beads stands at one end of the living room. The vintage dining room chandelier lights from without or within – tiny spotlights in the ceiling surround it, so it can either produce a warm glow or bounce luminous patterns around the room. A cascading panel of light falls on a wall of Bisazza tile in the kitchen. And as sunlight ebbs, more strategic spotlights bring out ethereal colors in art that held little interest during the day. “They cared so much about the visual space on the walls,” Tillett says. Samelson agrees. “They have a wonderfully eclectic art collection,” she says, and the interplay of light and art are what “activates” the space.
Common Ground
When you’re dealing with 1,500 square feet, every inch matters. The key, Samelson says, was openness, both in dialogue and in the final design. “Martin is much more deliberate than I am,” Griffin says, explaining that he brought a lot of opinions and ideas, and Varela, who is an account executive at Jam Communications and a film director, brought the “restraint.”
Samelson helped them define the space as “Renaissance in feeling, but not in form.” There is richness in materials, like the dyed, hand-rubbed Venetian plaster column that encases the bar and the Bisazza tile accenting the kitchen and fireplace. Art and seating are the only accessories.
Every room has a view. “We took out the impediments,” Samelson says. The living room opens to the dining room, which interacts with the kitchen.
Thinking Small
Griffin and Varela choose to view things as amenities that would often be seen as limitations. The bedroom, while so tiny it was too difficult to photograph, doesn’t feel claustrophobic, rather, it feels concise. “We even eat in here,” Varela says. (The three large windows help give it air.) The closet feels streamlined, not cramped. And the bath, with ample mirrors, smooth concrete, and bursts of orange color, feels at once masculine and soft.
The total package is sturdy, timeless, and fitted perfectly to its owners. As Griffin says, “I’m never going to get tired of it. This is our little oyster.”
