Breathing Exercise

Updating a historic New York town house, Andre Mellone and Jean-Gabriel Neukomm give the art ample air to shine

- SAM COCHRAN

Space changes everything. Depending on the context, a painting or sculpture can assume different personalities, its form redefining a room, its colors shifting in a given light. That process of rediscovery has been a source of joy for two art collectors who recently moved from their longtime apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side to a historic town house downtown. Living across multiple floors, in discrete yet airy rooms of varying scales, has allowed them to see treasured works with fresh eyes.

The couple didn't set out looking to buy a whole house. During the pandemic, eager for a change of scenery yet reluctant to travel, they opted for an extended staycation, renting a single-family property in the West Village and falling in love with the area, whose off-grid streets reminded them of Paris. “We weren’t going to move to another city,” says the wife, who recalls thinking, Why not change up our neighborhood? When their initial search for a prewar apartment proved fruitless, their real estate agent took them to a 19th-century town house just down the block from their rental. Opposite a park, sun streaming through the windows, the home dispelled any preconceptions of such buildings as dark and cloistered. Thus they officially became West Villagers.