Name: Galen Gondolfi
Location: Saint Louis, MO
Size: 2,513 square feet
Years lived in: 9 years
It takes a special gift to wrangle the random and disparate into something functional and beautiful, whether it's a diverse community of people or an apartment of stuff. Galen - a long time community organizer and housing advocate - shows commitment to both. His mixed-use building sits in the Cherokee Street district in Saint Louis, an area known for its unlikely marriage of antiques, mexican food, and an alternative arts scene. Galen lives upstairs in a two bedroom apartment. Fort Gondo, the gallery he runs downstairs, is a revolving door for all manner of independent artists.
Galen's living space befits his open-tent philosophy. Taking a tour through his multiple rooms and hallways, it's clear that all is welcome. There is a metal structure plucked from the streets of boston, salvaged porch railings lining the walls, and old photographs of his parents on a dresser in the hall. Every surface is rich with both art (many by artists whose work showed at Fort Gondo) and artifact. He has kept many of the items for twenty years through moves from rural Illinois, to Chicago, to Boston, and now to Saint Louis.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My style: Eclectic, ad-hoc, and accretionary. I use an "amalgamated, fate-driven procurement process" if you will. Read: thrift shops, yard sales and dumpsters. To be candid, I gave up the affliction some time ago; now people just relentlessly give me stuff.
Inspiration: Father's den, mother's sewing room and select manifestations of material culture post-1850 (the more oxidized, the better).
Favorite Element: Changes on a weekly basis; this week it's plastic flowers (picked from a public trash can) housed within three different glass bell jars atop the piano. Each jar has a glass knob at its top which functions as a kaleidoscope of sorts when viewing the wallpaper backdrop.
Biggest Challenge: "Less is more." Hence, I'm forever rotating stock and amidst a downsizing effort. Suffice it to say that my basement is stuffed to the gills.
What Friends Say: "Have you considered medication?" And then they go on to offer me some castoff of their own - perpetually feeding the desire and pathology.
Biggest Embarrassment: I've never baked a damn thing in my life, yet I openly display cake tins, molds and actual display cakes. I guess you can't have your cake and eat it to.
Proudest DIY: Wheeling home a 1948 Frigidaire on an appliance dolly for five blocks (slight uphill gradient) and then lugging it up a flight of stairs to my second floor kitchen.
Biggest Indulgence: Nutella - but not as a design element, per se.
Best advice: Never carry cash when frequenting thrift shop and yard sales - and always drive a sub-compact for self-restraint.
Dream source: My great Aunt Lillian's house in Seneca, Illinois.
Resources:
Art: folk art by Howard Finster, faux wood painting by Chris Thorson, and SCUD missile mappings by Ben Halstead
Furniture: thrift shops, yard sales, friends, and dumpsters
(Thanks, Galen!)
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Comments (56)
I really like this home; it's calm, interesting, and unpretentious. I love the photo of the woman. Really well done:-)
I have the same dining table!
love the layout and the choice of colors
I'm going to use this for my Spring Cure inspiration. His place is fun, artsy, homey, unpretentious, and not overly cluttered (like my place is currently). I don't have MCM furniture but I love vintage do-dads.
As someone who shares your "affliction" for collecting, kudos to you! Great job showcasing everything. I too, struggle with driving by garage sales and with people who want to give me things. I've been paring down my garage for the last year or so.
I like how your house is very streamlined in spite of all the stuff, and all the collections of "multiple objects"
Would like to see some pics of Fort Gondo!
I like your Honda Hobbit. I've got a Puxi (Puch engine, Foxi frame) myself. Are you in the MA? I've been with the Tom Cruisers for a year or two.
I love your place, it's got a great feel to it. How do you like living in St. Louis? I'm thinking about moving there in a couple years.
I like this place, seems so cozy and personal. I wish I had a pretty cake picture like that one!
I like how there are so many interesting pieces here without the overall effect being one of unwieldy clutter. Do you store anything in the old suitcases or are they simply for display? I'm thinking of using a few to store our DVD collection...
Best House Tour advice ever.
Effortless cool. I love it all.
Whoops. Suzuki FA50.
More people should consider the design possibilities of Nutella.
sturgeongeneral: I was hoping someone would comment on his moped (no-ped? I can't tell if those move)! I'm a Latebird (LA), but live in Chicago now...I sold my 77 Maxi when I moved, but am hoping to buy another moped in the summer...
fun apartment!
http://mylittleapartment.blogspot.com/
Very whimsical & fun & it looks great!
Beautiful house and noped! @sturgeongeneral & my little apartment (and Galen!): Come to StL and ride with IRE sometime!
Who is this god of design? He must be Italian. Do any of you realize that is the same toaster Queen Elizabeth uses? Simply divine. I'm going to further investigate this interior when my husband is not around.
I love the Howard Finster!
jenny@remihome
www.remihomeelevators.com
Galen,
Maybe not BE"Romanian" but you rock...!Never knew how your crib looked..it's great!
As always,GOD BLESS AMERICA!
With respect, your next door neighbor..Tower Taco:)FRANK.
Happy looking. I really love it.
My first thought on the photo was that it was a huge Abercrombie ad but then I realized that she had on too many clothes to be an AF ad.
This place is fantastic. I need to go back and look at the photos again & again because there are details I see each time. Love it and really love the Finster.
Wow, your place made me smile, put me in a great mood, and I have a wonderful, happy feeling from looking at it:) I was born and raised in San Francisco and Oakland, CA but My parents both grew up in St. Louis, and I am very familiar with the neighborhood - such a great place! I am nostalgic for a visit now. Thank you for sharing - you have such a cool and unique style.
Who cares about the home design, you can make twelve pieces of toast at once!
Try the cake making thing Galen... it's easy peasy... go on... just one cake...
I love the Wayne Thiebaud print. He's my all time fave.
Great space!
I recommend a trip to St. Louis if anyone reading is entertaining the idea. The city is beautiful & the trip is economical. The Art Museum is a must.
My dream home.
Eva
Gawgeous!
Yes, St. Louis!!!! Oh this makes me so happy. I've been to Fort Gondo and met Galen. So cool. So happy to get a peek inside his home (which is awesome). I especially love the Wayne Thiebaud painting display cakes.
Adore the Wayne Thiebaud print. Also like the layout and the colors used. You have some fabulous pieces of furniture.
Love it! Very nice. Globe collections are becoming quite the trend! I want one too.
who's the artist of the cake painting?
As hutchhalo mentioned, cake painting is by Wayne Thiebaud.
Love all the old suitcases! I'd love to display mine as you have, but I'm afraid my cat would attack them!
trying to figure out why he has three different dining room tables.
Love the red Suzuki ! Does it get carried up stairs ? Cheers, Philip
Awesome! And I adore Galen's "everyone is welcome" philosophy and sense of humor! Thanks for sharing this...
xo
Melis
Way to represent St. Louis! I always meant to check out Antiques Row...
The seating arrangement in the livingroom (?) is a bit strange to me. All focused on a phone. A really important phone maybe? The Batphone?
I love the suitcase tower.
Love, Love, Love it! The tower o' suitcases is my fave! Bravo!
Those fake cakes look sooo yummy.. :)
Is the wall art in photo 10 heart-shaped cake pans on oven racks? I love it! I want to replicate in my kitchen on a smaller scale!
Awesome. Love the phone art, the bedding, the kitchen table, the floors, and, really, everything else.
Have you been to SFMoMA? They have a Thiebaud cake work in their collection. And in the rooftop garden café, they serve real little cakes made to look just like the Thiebaud cakes.
I love the stove, wishing I had one like it!
All I can say is, Galen, will you marry me?
It all works. Your tour and the 76 sign just reminded me that I need to get the old gas sign out of my uncles garage!!
Very calming - love the cake picture and those underneath.
Those who have had the wild fortune of being a part of Galen's life will see an analogue in this magical space: singularly self-made, resourceful, with an endless attunement to life and its constant ability to surprise, and the continual invitation to act on the beauty of the moment. In short: true art and true activism. Most of us aspire to the level of sincere authenticity that's represented in both this home and this person -- and he offers his example to all. Seek him out if you can; you're life will be the better for it.
This is the most well decorated apartment I have seen as of recent. Stylish without going overboard. Much love for Heywood-Wakefield. And this kitchen is the most perfect room. I am so envious of the black table and chairs and the collection of metal fans! Well done, Galen!
An interesting side anecdote...A couple times a year Galen pulls out all kinds of eclectic finds onto the sidewalk and practically gives the amazing pieces away in the guise of some sort of cleansing right/yard sale. It's so tempting at these points to take every amazingly beatific item home. Awesome pics sir.
I grew up in STL, and I have no idea which neighborhood this can be. I don't recall a "Fort" anything, though I am familiar with Cherokee on the South Side. I don't miss living in STL (I moved to Chicago 8 years ago), but I do miss the unique architecture of the buildings, which Galen's represents: high ceilings, gorgeous wood floors, and of course those built-in hutches that seem to lurk in every old home in the city. There is a lot of furniture, but 2500 sq ft is a LOT of space (it's 2.63 times the space of my 2-bed, 2-bath condo), and if he didn't put that much furniture in there, people would be commenting about how cold, sterile and empty it feels.
can someone tell me where those armchairs in the living room are from?
Very nice. But globes again?...
Galen-
Hello from Pittsburgh! Your place is really amazing. Hope to see you the next time we are in town.
Heather Visnesky
@TaniaTingel, correction, make that _16_ pieces of toast at once! There's an additional four-slot stashed under the microwave.
@centrd, I agree. I want to marry Galen, too. Do you think with a little luck and lots of toast, we could make (compound, complex) polygamy work? ;)
Love. This place makes me want to be your friend; it looks like someone really fun lives here.
Galen, your place is amazing! Are we long lost twins? I have the breadbox that matches the turquoise box above your kitchen garbage (lard) bin, I have the same wood radio console unit and black rotary-dial phone, and I also have a very large black and white photo (mine is from a Gaultier boutique from the 80's). The only difference is, my place is only 500sq ft. I truly love what you've done!
Uh-- Galen -- If you ever decide to get reeaallly generous and leave your wonderful home to someone--I'll be glad to take it off your hands--because-- you see, I'm luuuvving this. In all seriousness this apartment is very well put together.
Wow. I love everything about this place. Globes, the toasters, phones, luggage. . . love the multiples. Awesome place!!!
the cakes displayed under the Theibaud ....c'mon! brilliant. and everything else too.