Cool Spaces: Alabama artist creates a unique house that's bold and beautiful

You'll never find another house like this one.

Normally, that would be a risky statement, but we can say it with assurance here.

Jean-Jacques Gaudel, an artist, and his wife Rachel, a decorator, have created a living space like no other. Their home in Birmingham -- all 4,000 square feet of it -- is absolutely unique, entirely special and utterly one-of-a-kind.

The eight-room residence -- a U-shaped building with a central courtyard, plus a couple of additions -- was designed by Jean-Jacques, melding the influences of Guatemalan, Mexican, Italian and Spanish architecture. In less skillful hands, this might have resulted in a chaotic or awkward design, but the artist had a clear vision for their ideal home, and he achieved it with confidence.

"We both like the unusual," says Jean-Jacques, 72. "We get excited when we see something we haven't seen before."

No ordinary house would do for these world travelers, who've brought back unusual items from places such as India, Nepal, Burma, China and Bali. The couple wanted a living space that would reflect and showcase their collections -- a personal museum, if you will -- but they also craved the warmth and comfort of a livable home.

Mission accomplished at Chez Gaudel, a bold and beautiful structure built by Jean-Jacques over a three-and-a-half year period -- roughly 1999-2002, he says. With the help of two masons, the artist implemented a construction plan using concrete blocks and the DAC-ART building system pioneered by architect Theodore Dial.

"I was actually on the crane, putting the blocks in with two workmen," Jean-Jacques says. "It was pretty major, heavy construction."

The house was designed to fill nearly every inch of a triangular lot -- "We didn't want any yard," Rachel says -- and it sits on a curving, fairly secluded street on Red Mountain, surrounded by trees and other greenery.

Pull into the driveway of the Gaudels' home and it feels like a destination -- an escape from the mundane -- and that feeling intensifies when you venture inside. Vivid paintings and prints adorn nearly every room, along with large-scale sculptures, statement furniture, unusual decorative items and oddball assemblages.

It's a blizzard of wonderful, if your taste runs to earth tones, antiques, ceremonial costumes, animal skins and bones -- not to mention vintage puppets, old dolls, religious artifacts, exotic jewelry and items that can only be described as creepily cool. (Know anyone who has a human femur displayed in the house? The Gaudels picked one up during a trip to Sicily. "It was on a junk pile, in a dump in a cemetery," Jean-Jacques says.)

Minimalists might not appreciate their aesthetic, but the Gaudels are avid collectors -- when they're interested in something, more is more -- and Jean-Jacques says Rachel has arranged their possessions with a masterful eye, creating an effortless harmony.

"We tend to kind of fall in love with things and then we buy as much as we can," he says. "I tend to lean toward the old stuff that has lived, that is weathered, and so forth. Rachel has more of decorator's taste. It's a mix. She just makes it look good. It's a common work of art."

Newcomers tend to be overwhelmed on the first visit -- there's just so much to look at! -- but the Gaudels enjoy entertaining and quickly make their guests feel welcome. Also, Jean-Jacques praises Rachel, 76, as an expert cook, and says friends have no trouble focusing on the meal during dinner parties.

"The house is designed to be easy," Jean-Jacques says. "It's just a lived-in house. People don't have to be worried about setting down glasses and making rings on the tables. There's nothing so precious that it can't get messed up. We're just a little different from the average guy, I guess."

The Gaudels have three dogs -- two red toy poodles named Frida and Diego, plus a black teacup poodle named Daemon -- and the critters scamper happily throughout the house, unaware they're living in an exceptional showplace.

That's exactly the way the Gaudels like it, and the couple says a "no fuss, no muss" atmosphere pervades the entire residence, despite their obvious attention to detail. Symmetry was a crucial concern for Jean-Jacques when he was designing the house, and a series of French doors, each 11 feet tall, was carefully placed to surround the courtyard.

The ceilings are high, ranging from 12 to 20 feet high, and the overall color scheme relies on oranges, greens and purples. (Primary colors are in short supply.) Aesthetic beauty played an important role when the Gaudels were choosing some practical items for the house, such as kitchen appliances, closet doors and bathroom tile.

Although much of the furniture bears the distinguished patina of age, the Gaudels did incorporate a few pieces crafted by Jean-Jacques in the 1980s. At that time, he was heavily influenced by the Memphis Group, an Italian design and architecture collective that emphasized postmodern geometry and a pop-culture vibe.

Jean-Jacques has a studio in the house, of course, and Rachel, an enthusiastic thrift-store shopper, has dominated the closets and storage spaces with her finds. The couple's roots are very different -- he was born and raised in France; she's a small-town girl from Banks, Alabama -- but they've been married since the 1970s and the Gaudels say domestic serenity comes naturally to them.

"We just get along so well, I guess, and we have the same ideas and tastes," Rachel says. "One builds on the other. We get along fabulously."

Ask the Gaudels if they regard their home as an ever-changing work of art, and they'll tell you the collection remains fairly stable these days. Construction has long been completed; the singular decor is well established. The couple is likely to pick up a few items during a holiday trip to Guatemala, but in all major respects, this house fulfills their hopes and dreams.

"I'm very happy. I feel blessed," Jean-Jacques says. "Life is sweet here."

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