It all began 51 years ago, when Mike Strohl saw an ad on a laundromat bulletin board for this apartment, tucked in the back of a circa 1914 Brooklyn Heights building.
“A European couple was looking to get out of their lease. Lucky me,” says Strohl.
He became an artist, avid collector (finding art in galleries and flea markets), and photographer and now runs a branding and marketing agency with a client list of interior designers, architects, and furnishings companies.
Though he travels extensively, living five decades in one place is a deep contrast to Strohl’s childhood. “I was raised on the road in a military family and moved every two years, including stops in Italy, France, and England,” he says. Now, he has roots, surrounded by his favorite things.
When it comes to passions, whether the perfect yellow wall paint or his love of movies and theater, Strohl goes big. “I first saw ‘A Chorus Line’ at the Public Theater, and then on Broadway seventeen times,” he says.
“I always liked the pumpkin yellow that interior designer Mario Buatta used on the walls in his apartment, so my living room walls became pumpkin yellow,” says Strohl. He chose deep green for the bedroom and multiple colors for the kitchen, a vision inspired by a room in the 1990 movie “Havana,” starring Robert Redford.
Another of his passions: Becoming a self-taught cook and throwing “tons of dinner parties” for friends, clients, and colleagues. Strohl’s repertoire includes a “superlative lasagna” (the sauce is his mother’s recipe); chili; carrot cake with orange buttercream frosting; and a banana cake he discovered in the newspaper. He likes tableware from potter Karen Karnes, who pioneered salt-glazing in the 1960s and wood-firing in the 1980s.
“My furnishings are random, including dining chairs from the great designer Dakota Jackson,” he says.
By Strohl’s bedside: An old oak table that was in his grandparents’ Allentown, Pennsylvania kitchen for 70-plus years. “I brought it home and had it stripped down. It has been by my bed for decades,” he notes.
Strohl had no training as an artist, but was influenced by the work of Louise Nevelson, the sculptor known for wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures. He began experimenting with wood pieces in different designs and color finishes.
“An editor told Tiffany’s display director, Gene Moore, what I was doing. Gene asked me to come to his office with some examples and I wound up doing a set of constructions for Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue windows. It was a glorious moment when a great piece sold right out of the windows,” Strohl says.
He continues to enjoy his home, five decades on, in the Brooklyn district with the famous promenade. Color is his friend–note the once “ugly brown” cupboard he repainted apple green with intricate white trim. Where others see dull and outdated, Strohl sees the bright side.
Photography by James Bleecker.
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