Blake Street House

Library bookshelves, table, and a fireplace with artwork over it in the distance.
A modern living room with a gallery of framed house artwork on the wall, including a gray sofa, a round coffee table with magazines, various chairs, a floor lamp, and a side table with a lamp, all on wooden and carpeted flooring.

Art advisory, arts programming advisory, and special creative advisory. Bentonville, Arkansas. Opened 2021. Architecture: Hufft. Interiors: FÖDA.

Blake Street House is a private members club and wellness destination in Bentonville, built around an 1880s farmhouse that once belonged to the county sheriff. Hufft did the architecture, FÖDA the interiors, and I was brought in early to build the art collection, direct the arts programming, and advise on the experience as a whole. Most hospitality projects hang the art last. This one started with it.

The collection is serious. Robin Rhode, Nick Cave, Robert Longo, David Shrigley, Tony Matelli, Jeppe Hein, Genevieve Gaignard, Paola Pivi, and a lot more. I bid at auction in London for an Alfred Stieglitz portrait of Georgia O’Keeffe and for a Chuck Close self-portrait, and won both. I commissioned Kenesha Sneed to make a 57-foot painting on shaped canvas for the gym, a Black body swimming, so that the room people sweat in is the one with the most ambitious work in the building. I commissioned Markus Åkesson to make a series for the restaurant and chose the Voutsa paper for its ceiling. Every room rewards closer looking, and the fireplace lounge, library, music room, bar, and fitness pavilion each got work chosen for exactly that room.

Then I stayed. I launched and hosted monthly art talks for members, small sessions that demystify the market and get people closer to the artists. Member trips built around art, architecture, and design became part of what the club is. Interior Design covered the project in 2021, which is what happens when architecture, interiors, and art line up at every scale.

When art is treated as a pillar instead of an afterthought, it changes the culture of a place, not just the walls. Blake Street is the proof I point to.

Contemporary, sophisticated double-height bar with wall of glass and contemporary artwork. Light wood floors, painted cabinetry, architectural space, and bold artwork define this contemporary restaurant space.
A black and white photocopy of a house drawing hung on a white wall.
Architectural bar in lounge space of a hospitality room, barn artworks, plants, and sleek furniture line the comfortable, modern space.
Contemporary stairwell, light wood floors, a blue feathered bear sculpture hangs on the wall above the room, hanging light fixtures filled with hanging plants dangle from he ceiling, and a purple painting off in the distance.
A tight seating of calm furniture, surround a traditional fireplace with paintings of a man and a horse colorful above it.
A potted plant with green leaves placed on a windowsill, with a garden and white house in the background.
A sculptural contemporary curved sofa, in a dark saturated room, the walls stacked with framed photography of iconic musicians.
A private listening lounge, photography by legendary photographers documenting musicians in their element curated by Dylan Turk.
Wide plank white oak flooring, pink millwork, floral wallpaper on the ceiling throughout the space. Paintings and artwork along the side of the traditional yet contemporary dining room.
The dining room, with Voutsa wallpaper on the ceiling, Ebony Patterson works lining the walls, and an intimate comfortable main dining room. Dylan Turk.
Kenesha Sneed commissioned mural hangs in the gym at the private arts and wellness focused members club. Curated by Dylan Turk.
Members private club wellness club outdoor swimming pool. architecture and adaptive reuse.
Sarah Caine, Zoe Buckman and others curated by Dylan Turk in a private arts focused members club.
A member's club about wellness, community, and the arts.