Brightening Up the Neighborhood
One resident can change a neighborhood, even in the pricey precinct of Kensington, West London.
There, Zipporah Lisle-Mainwaring painted her $8.3 million rowhouse with garish red and white stripes, apparently out of a desire to “add to the gaiety of the nation,” she told The Times.
“Children absolutely love it,” she said. But not the neighbors. They accused her of choosing the colors as an act of revenge after residents resisted her plans to demolish the house and rebuild it with a two-story basement that would have included a cinema and indoor pool. The neighbors gave Ms. Lisle-Mainwaring a planning order telling her to repaint the facade.
“The issue is not whether it is pretty or not, the issue is that I was entitled to do it,” Ms. Lisle-Mainwaring said, accusing her detractors of being “pompous idiots” who resented her wealth.
She took her case to the High Court in London and won. The stripes were “entirely lawful,” the court ruled last month, and could remain.
Controversies over paint jobs are not limited to wealthy London neighborhoods. Joe LaPadula, an automobile body shop owner who bought a two- century- old mansion on Long Island, can attest to that.
Mr. LaPadula bought the historic home, built in 1810 in Glen Cove, New York, and had planned to turn it into a restaurant. When renovations were delayed, he invited a local street artist to paint inside. Over time, 125 graffiti artists added their work in a project that became an art exhibition.
But when artists covered the outside of the house with repeating por- traits, the neighbors took notice.
Or, as Mr. LaPadula told The Times, “the town completely lost its mind.”
As a city landmark, the mansion’s exterior was off limits to any remodeling. Neighbors who were aghast took to Facebook to vent their frustration, and the local government intervened. A compromise was reached. Mr. LaPadula could keep the portraits that bless, in graffiti parlance, the exterior for a week or so, but the house would have to be returned to its original appearance.
In Berlin, a different sort of restoration has taken place. Ryan Mendoza, an American artist who lives there, recently paid a team to take apart the home of Rosa Parks, an American civil rights icon, had it shipped from Detroit, Michigan, and rebuilt it in his yard.
“It’s my job to keep the house alive,” Mr. Mendoza told The Times. The home has captured Berlin’s imagination, making front-page news and attracting scores of visi- tors. On his website, Mr. Mendoza has listed hours that people can come to see the landmark, but he said some 50 people ring the bell to his house each day, hoping to get a closer look.
“We’re getting a little worried,” Mr. Mendoza said with a laugh. “But it’s O.K. This was an act of love, and we want to start a discussion.”
Reginald Spinello, the mayor of Glen Cove, would agree that a neighborhood benefits from a good conversation starter. “Art is in the eye of the beholder,” he told The Times. “Anything that is transformative brings about questions. That is the beauty of art.”
As for the red-and-white striped house in South London, Ms. Lisle-Mainwaring said she had no intention of keeping the color scheme once she moves back into the house, which currently serves as a storage area.
She said she prefers a brick facade with colorful shutters.