Matt Malone, 35, a D.C.-based painter, used to create his canvases in a basement or, as he describes it, “a dungeon.” Not anymore.
“When you have the space to expand your vision, you can create different work,” Malone says. “The high ceilings are key.”
Lots of tenants in the D.C. area complain about the high rents. Artists have an even harder time — which is where affordable spaces like the Brookland lofts come in.
“Once artists move in, the neighborhood becomes interesting and cool,” says Melodie Bahan, vice president of communications at Artspace, which owns the Brookland lofts, “and businesses follow and high rents follow that.”
That means that when artists move to a neighborhood, they often can’t afford to stay there. The trend spurs the development of affordable live/work spaces.
Artspace, a nonprofit dedicated to providing affordable housing for artists, also owns Mount Rainer Artist Lofts (3311 Rhode Island Ave., Mount Rainier, Md.; 301-927-3586). The group is working on a third project in the D.C. area: converting a police station in Silver Spring into artist lofts.
Renters don’t have to be artists to apply to live such developments, but it helps. (See sidebar.) The units are designed with artist-friendly features, including “durable surfaces,” Bahan says. “Because artists are messy.”
Having spilled paint on wood floors before, Malone likes his apartment’s concrete floors. “It’s not going to be too precious where you’re scared to express yourself or be creative,” he says.
Artspace units — whether studio, one bedroom or two bedroom — are also about
150 to 200 square feet larger than a typical affordable housing space so artists have room to work, too.
“That’s the beauty of it — you are actually able to create your craft inside your home,” says Mel Davis, property manager at both Brookland and Mount Rainier.
Pianist and music producer Daryl Hunt, a resident of Mount Rainier since 2005, has taken this concept to the next level. Hunt, 44, lives in a one-bedroom unit, but where a bedroom would typically be, he’s built two recording booths. (He sleeps downstairs in the unit’s general living space.)
“I mapped out every part of that top floor” to build the booths, Hunt says.
Hunt has a tradition that every artist who records in his apartment signs one sound booth door, while other visitors — friends, family — sign the other. Both are covered in signatures.
Space aside, the rent is appealing. It’s $970 for a studio, $1,011 for a one-bedroom and $1,205 for a two-bedroom at Mount Rainier. “That’s allowed me to put aside and really invest in my studio,” Hunt says.
The neighbors are also a boon. There’s a certain camaraderie to living in a building full of fellow artists, Hunt and Malone say. Residents sometimes collaborate on projects, and they can display their work in the hallways.
Of course, having so many creatives in one building causes unique issues. “At random times, you’ll hear music coming from the walls,” Malone says. “You’re just like someone’s practicing a trumpet or someone’s playing a sitar or whatever it is.”
But don’t expect any complaints to management. “People are a little bit more tolerant of things,” he says of residents.
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