Chai Style Home: Worlds Intersect at the Prado

Denny Marcus and Andre Schnabl felt like fish out of water in their gracious Buckhead home and set their sights on just the right location in Ansley Park.

Schnabl said, “With Harrison Design, we created the house that reflects who we are and how we live. Growing up in Zimbabwe, architectural design focused on bringing the outdoors into the home. This was a challenge in a high-density urban neighborhood where maintaining privacy was important. We created spaces to be used in our daily lives filled with art collected from travels over the years.”

The Marcus-Schnabl living room has a brick hued, centrally focused grouping by Argentinean Virginia Gabaldo, “Personal Images.” Also shown are self-portraits in different moods in glass and metal foil. Top right: a shaman illustrates the Hopi tribe’s migration to safety and spiritual destiny (Dan Namingha). // All photos by Howard Mendel

The couple’s intensity and exuberance let the art do the talking. Casual formality presides here where what’s on the walls envelops thought, with pieces from Cape Town to Santa Fe to the Far East. From folk art to modern abstracts, beadwork to glass, sculptures in stone or bronze, pop art and antiques- their home is a trove of diversity.

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The adventure began with knocking down a bungalow built in the 1920s that took 18 months to complete, resulting in a house and pool that relates to its unique site.

Denny and Andre created a private backyard paradise in which to unwind and entertain.

Marcia: How did the process flow?
Andre: We entered the project with some trepidation, as we have all been told, building a home can be stressful. We agreed that I would drive the overall design and feel of the structure while Denny would choose textures, colors, and materials. We loved the process…talking to each other each step of the way.

Marcia: How would you describe the aesthetic?
Denny: With the heavy lifting done, we set out to bring the space alive with art and collectibles from our travels crossing a variety of cultures, periods, geographies, and media. We love traveling, and part of the adventure is exploring galleries, studios, and local markets. Meeting local artists makes it even more fun. The art in our home and outside in the yard is an accumulation of these travels.

Dining room wall, from left: “Resting Spirits” by Claud Nyandoro, from serpentine stone from Zimbabwe; “The Window Series” (bronze) by George Beasley; Fertility Doll, Cameroon

Marcia: You grew up in an artsy household?
Andre: My mother’s love of art stuck with me. She was a mentor to many local African carvers. I witnessed her sharing her thoughts with local artists who dropped in unannounced at our home in Zimbabwe. My father fled Germany in 1936 for South Africa. Although he enjoyed my mother’s interest in the visual arts, he was more of a music man. This 1830s liquor cabinet is from his side of the family. The light-hearted painting above the cabinet is “Three Children,” by Parisian artist Fabrice Mulheim.

Marcia: What are your favorites here?
Denny: The large piece in the stairwell is “Eva,” by Anna Halm Schudel, a Swiss artist. It’s a pixel portrait made from hundreds of digital photos of notable women. Nearby sits an exotic Moroccan jar (1960) we found in Fez.
Another special oil with the haunting eyes in the foyer, “Looking Through the Letter Box,” is by Andre’s nephew, Daniel Levi. We have many favorites.

Marcia: What is African inspired?
Andre: We are a mixed marriage of sorts. Me, with my African background and she, born in Memphis, and raised in Alabama. Her experience helped me assimilate into America: and my background caused her to fall in love with Africa. Although we have many African pieces, I think our collection is diverse. Some of the African work was handed down by my parents and is representative of native and European cultures from the 1950s and 1960s. Some are tribal artifacts, but much is contemporary. The bulk was collected in the last 30 years by us as a couple.

The large butcher painting in the entrance hall is by Zimbabwean artist Gareth Nyanhonfu. Below is a colorful detailed table by American artist, Barbara Brozic.

The soapstone sculptures are akin to the ones at the Atlanta airport where subjects are gradually carved and exposed. We have a South African beaded work, one of a series representing the solar system, done by tribal Xhosa (Nelson Mandela’s tribe) women. We’re pleased to support local women there to be self-sufficient.
Denny: We have a horizontal Native American piece (Dan Naminga) where a shaman illustrates the Hopi tribe’s migration to safety and spiritual destiny of life’s sagas: crossing the mountain to get to freedom, life, death…all of which reads from right to left.
By the fireplace is “Conception,” a compelling sculpture of a woman standing on the back of a man.

Marcia: Describe the painting with the Atlanta Jewish Times.
Denny: I had that commissioned (Steve Penley) for Andre’s 50th birthday, and your paper had just run a story, “Wild and Wooly,” when he owned a sheep farm near Athens. It was a fun project collecting his life’s memorabilia, which Steve incorporated.

Marcia: Your kitchen is central to the home.
Denny: We enjoy cooking together and entertaining. Weather permitting, we cook outside. Andre is the master griller and sous chef. There are nooks for art in the kitchen. To the right of the refrigerator is a work by Preston Singletary, recently featured on “CBS Sunday Morning.” His focus is bringing Native American art into the contemporary world using glass. The pop art ceramic of Ben Gurion is by Israeli artist Noam Yuval.

One of Denny’s favorites is “Eva” by Anna Halm Schudel, a Swiss artist. The piece is a pixel portrait made from digital photos of notable women.

Marcia: What’s the stone on the front walkway?
Denny: “Shiva Lingam” from the Narmada River (India) is a sacred Hindu symbol. Its egg-like phallic shape represents the divine male and female powers of nature.

Marcia: And when you’re not country hopping?
Denny: We are very involved as volunteers at Kennesaw State University.
Andre is chairman of the finance and compensation committee of the university foundation and serves on its executive committee. I am board chair for the homeless and food insecure students on campus (CARE). I also enjoy my pickle ball league.

Marcia: Bottom line?
Andre: We created a sense of open spaces with loads of light and without losing warmth and intimacy.
Denny: We buy art with which we will enjoy living.