Jonathan Fogelson caught the real estate bug as an undergraduate at Rhode Island School of Design, when he rented a room in a house owned by a friend and realized that the monthly check he and his fellow tenants were writing covered his friend’s entire mortgage — and then some.
So when it came time to apply to graduate school for dual master’s degrees in architecture and city planning, he gravitated to Philadelphia, in the hopes of scoring a fixer upper and doing the same thing. Back then, before the sub-prime mortgage crisis, he remembers, “all you needed was an ID and a smile” to get a loan.
By the time he and his wife, Candice Chouinard, purchased their two-family residence on Market Street in Northampton in 2013, Fogelson, now 42, had gut-renovated four other properties on the side.
By day, Fogelson works as an associate at Michael Singer Studio in Wilmington, Vermont and Delray Beach, Florida on site-specific projects ranging from sculptural gardens at the Austin Airport to a neighborhood sustainability plan for northeast Hartford. It was Singer, an artist who garnered a one-person show at the Guggenheim in the 1980s — and who has prioritized sustainability since the 1970s — who introduced Fogelson to the charms of Northampton.
The two were on their way back from a meeting in New York in 2009 when they stopped at La Fiorentina downtown. The cappuccino tasted so good, Fogelson remembers, that he looked up and asked, Where are we?
Fogelson, who also teaches urban planning at the University of Pennsylvania, walked up and down Main Street with his boss and thought to himself: “Northampton has all the benefits of urban living and all the benefits of rural living, without the drawbacks of either.”
Chouinard and Fogelson had been living in southern Vermont, where she ran Boys and Girls Club extensions at a low-income housing community and the Brattleboro Retreat, a mental health and addictions hospital. She also served as a case manager for foster care reunification. “Every day I came home crying,” she says, tearing up even now, “and every day I would ask Jonathan if we could adopt all the kids.”
Chouinard, 38, had long dreamed of opening a daycare that emphasized creativity and outdoor play, and when her pregnant cousin, employed at Smith College, couldn’t line up care following her maternity leave, she and Fogelson moved to Northampton in 2011, renting at first, so she could establish the Little School House family day care in Florence. (Full disclosure: We met when I enrolled my daughter at Little School House and my son goes there now.)
They found their current home five years ago after touring a For Sale By Owner home on Market Street — which is on the edge of downtown — sensing that something wasn’t quite right. Walking down the street they saw a man wearing a tape measure on his belt and looked to him for intel. That man — a Northampton native named Gary Cadette, known to some as The Mayor of Market Street because he’s lived there for 34 years and seemingly knows everyone — confirmed: The eccentric owner of the house didn’t really want to part with the place, but, lo and behold, the house next door was available — albeit not listed. Cadette made the introductions and eventually a private deal followed.
Fogelson was undeterred by the dark wood interior paneling and wall-to-wall carpeting in their new home. Working with contractor Mark Landy of Ashfield, he shored up crooked ceilings and a foundation out of whack. Ultimately, the project — which took just over a year — led to rebuilding the 1800s house from the inside out.
The first floor became a two-bedroom unit where Fogelson’s parents stay for weeks at a time, while the hobbit-height attic was turned into a proper third floor so that the second unit, where the family lives, could span two floors, surrounding a dramatic open staircase.
Big windows flood the space with light, while modern materials make the place energy-efficient and tight as a drum. And though this is where the couple raises their 3-year-old daughter and 13-month-old son, pragmatism dictated the layout and other decisions for future use. The family’s three-bedroom unit is set up for three roommates to share, explains Fogelson; each would have his or her own bathroom. The plumbing — including that of the first floor apartment— runs up and down interior walls so that the pipes won’t burst, no matter how brutal the weather. And the appliances — all standard sizes in recognition that some day they’ll need to be replaced — came from a President’s Day blowout sale at Sears. “I like buying things on sale,” says Chouinard, with a smile, adding that she got such a good deal on flooring that it was worth renting a storage unit for six months until it was time to install it.
For her, urban living has been an adjustment. She was raised along the Quabbin Reservoir where neighbors couldn’t see into one another’s windows and days were spent exploring rivers and woods. “Growing up, my mom would open the door, and we’d come back in at night. So, here, I’m bringing the park inside.”
The swing hanging from the staircase pretty much says it all. With plenty of space to learn how to ride a bike, splash around a water table, eat lunch at a picnic table, or simply watch the birds swoop towards the feeders, the generous front and back porches essentially function as their yard.
Officially, the playroom is the one off the kitchen, stocked with bouncy horses for riding, costumes for dressing up, and easels for making masterpieces with markers and stickers. But in truth, no place is off limits — especially with a momentum car, magnet wall, sand table, play fort — not to mention mini rocking chairs and giant beanbags — dotting the other rooms.
They buy clean-lined furniture from Ikea, and Chouinard has developed an eye for pieces with ample hidden storage. So while the bedrooms and bathrooms read as remarkably clutter-free, they’re packing serious amounts of art supplies, kids’ toothbrushes and extra clothing the little ones will grow into in three years — further evidence of Chouinard’s penchant for scoring deals.
Balancing creativity and practical concerns, form and fun, they’ve ended up with a delightfully modern house where the family life unfolds in a different way each night: rolling out dough for sugar cookies at the oversized dining table they use to supplement their counter space or folding laundry upstairs, where the washer and dryer are tucked beneath a standing desk.
All the interior walls — save for blue bathrooms — are warm white. But the house’s exterior tells a wilder tale. “I always wanted to live in a purple house,” Fogelson said of the color they chose to paint the cement board cladding and paired with a cheerful vermillion door. “The first time my father-in-law saw the place, he said, ‘You know, I’ve never lived in a house without a red door,’ ” says Chouinard. “I thought that was a really nice thing for him to say.”
Katy McColl Lukens can be reached at katymccollwork@gmail.com.