WHEN BECCA GLASS and Brett Powers bought their circa-1900, Eastlake-style shotgun single in 2020, it was a snug 984 square feet. The deep, 3,950-square-foot lot afforded them space to add a narrow driveway and a deep screened-in porch to the rear of the main structure, which connects to a 400-square-foot guest cottage via a covered vertical breezeway.
Architect Clarke Gernon was responsible for the clever design that, while contemporary, mimics the lines of the original structure. The downward slope of the roofline over a rear side door in the original structure visually collides with the upward slope of the roofline on the addition, giving the impression of a pair of cojoined flying buttresses.
Glass and Powers chose their home, just steps from Bayou Road, because of its proximity to Esplanade Avenue. “It was our dream to live in this neighborhood,” said Glass, a native of Sacramento and a case manager with a law firm. She now uses her porch as an en plein air home office.
“We love the people, the vibe and the local music scene,” she said. “It is so cool the way Bayou Road has become a strong Black-centric business and entertainment hub.”
Powers, a barber, is a native of Seattle. When the couple expanded the footprint of their home, they used the opportunity to demolish a “decrepit” bathroom and replace it with a new one. They reused the cerulean-blue commode, lavatory and a porcelain-coated cast-
iron bathtub and juxtaposed them with pristine white tile and Creamsicle-colored walls.
In the living room, stacks and crates of albums and promotional posters advertising bands at local music clubs bespeak the couple’s embrace of the city and culture that Glass gravitated to 12 years ago and Powers 20 years ago.
In the kitchen, the couple installed trim with pegs reminiscent of those once found in classroom closets for hanging coats and knapsacks. Trinkets and mementos hang from the pegs, which are interspersed by iron hooks from which well-used and much-loved cast-iron cookware hangs.
The home’s tidy entry foyer is overseen by a taxidermized nutria mounted to an opulent carved and gilded oval plaque. “We dress him for every holiday,” Glass said. On a recent occasion, the nutria was garbed in celebration of the Carnival season, his prominent orange teeth contrasting with the gold in a tri-colored leather mask and the jewel-toned string of beads hung about his neck.
Come see this home and several more at the Preservation Resource Center’s Spring Home Tour on May 9 & 10!
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
Photo by Liz Jurey
