As his miniature dachshund housemates, Dewey and Bubba, barked excitedly at his feet, Curtis Herring described the many joys of living in his New Orleans home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt always feels like I\u2019m on vacation here,\u201d the New Orleans interior designer said from the kitchen of his Lakewood North home of two years. \u201cThe wonderful terrazzo floors, amazing fireplace, nice pool … the neighborhood is so hidden and quiet. I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lakewood North, that blink-and-you-miss-it subdistrict of Lakeview, is nestled between Veterans Memorial Boulevard to the north, the I-10 overpass to the south, Pontchartrain Expressway to the east, and the 17th Street Canal to the west. Herring\u2019s corner-lot, midcentury modern home sits on a shady, oak-lined street. Before stumbling across the home on a real estate app, Herring, a Shreveport-Bossier City native, wasn\u2019t familiar with the neighborhood.<\/p>\n
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Interior designer Curtis Herring with his two dachshunds,\u00a0 Dewey and Bubba.<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY Jeff Strout<\/p>\n
\u201cI really didn\u2019t know the neighborhood existed. But I grew up in a midcentury home \u2014 built in the late 1950s \u2014 and always knew in the back of my mind that I would eventually end up living in one again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
How he got there<\/p>\n
Herring moved to New Orleans in the 1990s after graduating from Louisiana State University with a degree in interior design. For several years, he lived and worked in a traditional two-story Uptown Broadmoor home, building a successful business catering mostly to high-end residential and commercial work, including restaurants for John Besh, such as Pizza Domenica and Shaya.<\/p>\n
In recent years, Herring kept his eyes on real estate listings and open house announcements, particularly in Lake Vista and Lake Terrace. In early 2023, his real estate app alerted him about a 2,050-square-foot, three-bedroom home in Lakewood North that had been on the market for less than a week.<\/p>\n
When he walked into the home with his real estate agent, it was love at first sight. \u201cWe walked in, I saw the terrazzo floor, nice vaulted ceiling, open floor plan and so many other wonderful features. I said, \u2018I gotta have it\u2019,\u201d Herring recalled.<\/p>\n
The sale went through quickly, and Herring had a new home.<\/p>\n
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The midcentury modern home in Lakewood North was built in 1962.<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY Jeff Strout<\/p>\n
The home’s history<\/p>\n
It was designed in 1962\u00a0for Moise Alaynik by New Orleans architect Leonard Dreyfus. A pre-World War II graduate of Tulane University\u2019s school of architecture, Dreyfus learned alongside many of the South\u2019s modernist design vanguard, including Albert C. Ledner and Arthur Davis.<\/p>\n
Herring recently discovered that Dreyfus also had designed a stunning two-story international-style Shreveport home he had admired while growing up there.<\/p>\n
Alaynik died in the early 2000s and his widow, Dorlene, remained in the home until her death a few years ago. <\/p>\n
Making some changes<\/p>\n
The Alayniks made very few changes to the house over the years, except for post-Katrina flooding repairs and updates to the kitchen and bathrooms.<\/p>\n
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Herring removed as double-sided closet between the hallway and living but kept its framing to create a sleek display shelf for his pottery collection.<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY Jeff Strout<\/p>\n
Herring removed the carpeting installed in the hallways and the three bedrooms and replaced it with wood plank flooring.<\/p>\n
He also removed some of the louvered closet and cabinet doors, commonplace among midcentury homes. In one case, he removed the doors of a two-sided louvered closet, which divided the living room and entrance hall, and, using the frame and shelves, created a sleek display shelf for his pottery collection.<\/p>\n
Other updates included widening a narrow kitchen peninsula to create a roomier, more practical \u201ceat at\u201d counter. For seating, Herring found two vintage rattan and chrome cantilevered Cesca chairs. The quartz countertop Herring installed runs along the breakfast room wall to create a new buffet\/bar with cherry wood cabinetry, ideal for entertaining. Adding a pop of color above the buffet is a framed abstract on canvas by Louisiana artist Yvette Owens.<\/p>\n
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A circular walnut dining table, made by Alexandria furniture designer Glenn Armand, is paired with six vintage Bruno chairs. A 5-by-5 foot painting by Louisiana artist Gaither Pope landscape hangs nearby.<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY Jeff Strout<\/p>\n