The greatest ideas can come about in the unlikeliest of ways.
In the case of a creative business venture called Common House, it all started with the game of bridge.
While helping to produce a documentary about the card game, Charlottesville, Virginia native Derek Sieg realized there was a decline in organizations — such as bridge clubs, neighborhood associations and bowling leagues — that bring people together.
Longing for social clubs like those he experienced in Los Angeles, Sieg teamed up with Ben Pfinsgraff to co-found a common space that would attract like-minded individuals over food, drink and shared experiences. And thus, Common House was born.
The duo opened the first Common House in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, followed by locations in Richmond, Virginia, in 2020, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 2021. The fourth Common House location opened in New Orleans’ Warehouse District in June. The modern social club aims to create connection among members through curated programming, thoughtful design and intentionally sourced food and beverage.
AJ Capital Partners, the owner and developer of the property — 420 Julia Street, which formerly housed the Louisiana Children’s Museum — retained Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture (HPA) to design its adaptive reuse into a mixed-use development.
“When Common House expressed interest in the site, we began test fits with the AJ Capital team to explore how their desired program could work within the existing building,” said Stephen Marcus, principal at HPA.
The team at HPA — which also included Aracely Nevarez as partner-in-charge, Paul Alessandro as project partner, Stephen Marcus as project architect and Aileena Gray as designer — handled the architectural design for the renovation of the 46,000-square-foot historic building, as well as the interior architecture and a five-story 117,000-square-foot addition. Common House now occupies nearly 20,000 square feet on the first floor of the building, while Memoir Warehouse District, a multifamily property owned by AJ Capital Partners, operates 43 hotel rooms on the second floor and 70 apartments on floors three through five.
When the Louisiana Children’s Museum occupied the building, it had three levels, including a mezzanine. To provide Common House with more open, taller spaces, the architectural team removed the mezzanine level.
Common House now includes a restaurant and bar (helmed by Chef de Cuisine, Sean Rajo), two event spaces, a social hall, open co-working spaces, private offices, conference rooms, phone booths, and support spaces like storage and administrative offices. Amenity areas include the fitness center and locker rooms on the second floor, and the rooftop pool deck.
“The critical, driving factor for Common House is how they interact with their guests,” Marcus said. “To ensure efficient food and beverage operations, the kitchen had to be centrally located with multiple routes in and out to directly connect to both event spaces, the dining hall and the bar. This element became the heart of the program around which all other rooms were subsequently organized.”
Meanwhile, the presence of columns caused interruption to the desired program.
“Working closely with our structural team to eliminate columns, brace existing ones and cantilever loads, we were able to carve out large spaces for events,” Marcus said. Several timber columns remain.
The museum’s old blue exterior double doors are still in place, and the same hue is translated into the interior via plaster, tiles and painted surfaces. The interior’s exposed brick and concrete floors were also preserved.
The historic building and new addition now come together to carve out a long inner courtyard, which allows daylight to penetrate the heart of the deep site.
“It is a special moment to stand in the negative space and take in the dialogue between these new and old elements,” Marcus said. The team also used reflective materials, glossy tiles and glass block to create brighter surfaces and channel light into some of the deeper spaces.
Joshua Charles, owner of Joshua Joseph Interiors, began the interior design work in early 2023 with two main goals: to design Common House in a way that reflected New Orleans (while still feeling uniquely like a Common House) and to be respectful of the existing space.
“We spoke with people in the community who had emotional experiences with the Children’s Museum, and it became clear that the house needed to honor those moments and to be playful,” he said. “We mixed textures, colors, patterns and tile, and we had murals commissioned from local artists such as Brandan ‘BMike’ Odums and Tyrell Shaw.”
Charles also found inspiration in one of his favorite books from childhood, “Where The Wild Things Are.”
“There is a quote in the book we have written on the wall outside the green room, a space meant for special occasions, that says, ‘There should be a place where only the things you want to happen, happen,’” Charles said. “That stuck with me, and it became our motto.”
Charles used shades of terra-cotta in the workspaces; purples, blacks, pinks and yellows in the social hall (as a nod to Mardi Gras); and tone-on-tone greens in the green room.
“The dining room is where you can find every color we used in the whole space in varying forms,” he said. “They meet here as one and break apart as you explore each nook and cranny.”
As Common House continues to expand to midsize cities throughout the country, the fifth location is currently being designed in Memphis.
Common House 420 Julia St.
504-315-2030 // commonhouse.com/neworleans
Quick Look
Number of years in operation: The first Common House opened in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Common House New Orleans opened in 2024.
Style of architecture: Historic renovation
Square footage: Nearly 20,000
Number of Employees: 45
Persons in Charge: Sarah Haviland, director of operations; Nick Karel, general manager
Architecture: Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture
Interior Décor: Joshua Charles of Joshua Joseph Interiors
