Castleberry Hill loft mixes business with pleasure

Massoud Besharat didn’t plan to live in a loft in Castleberry Hill. Heck, he didn’t plan to own a granite quarry in Elberton. But here he is — in both places.

“I believe life is nothing but a big accident,” Besharat said recently while giving guests a tour of his 5,000-square-foot loft and 6,000-square-foot gallery. The loft is part of the seventh annual Castleberry Hill Loft Tour this weekend.

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Sean Drakes/Special

‘Everything is the public area and the private area. It depends on who we want to go through,’ Massoud Besharat says of the gallery portion of his loft.

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Sean Drakes/Special

Kristofer Lamey was commissioned to craft columns of steel and glass lit from within for the gallery space.

SEVENTH ANNUAL CASTLEBERRY HILL LOFT TOUR
The juried tour will showcase eight lofts. An artist market featuring regional artists and craftsmen has been added this year. Castleberry Hill is on the southwestern edge of Downtown Atlanta, just south of the Georgia Dome and CNN Center. Visit www.castleberryhill.org/directions.php for detailed directions. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. noon-5 p.m. Sunday. $10 in advance and available online at www.castleberryhill.org/lofttour. The tickets will be $15 the day of the tour. Atlanta LINK will provide shuttle service.

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He bought the building more than four years ago and has lived there for the past two.

Besharat’s girlfriend at the time loved the neighborhood and convinced him to invest.

“I wanted to do a Peters Street Art Gallery and make three condos and sell them,” he said. But a visit from a French friend encouraged him to make the entire space an art gallery.

Besharat, 61, decided to take his friend’s advice, but make it his home as well.

“It was not a grand vision,” he said with modesty.

The building, constructed in 1925, was used as a warehouse before Besharat purchased it. Much of the original building still stands.

“Really and truly this place is my home. Sometimes I sit here and read the newspaper. Everything is the public area and the private area. It depends on who we want to go through,” he said referring to the gallery portion of his loft.

“I never had a gallery. As a child I bought paintings and gave them to friends and family. I opened an art gallery more for my own pleasure.

“My bread and butter is granite.”

That is evidenced from the smooth granite kitchen island to the granite floors and walls.

In the gallery, Besharat commissioned Kristofer Lamey to craft columns of steel and glass lit from within. Besharat calls his work, also seen in the glass chandeliers of the gallery, “much more intelligent than [Dale] Chihuly.”

His gallery houses artists from across the globe, including photographer Steve McCurry and Italian painter Gigino Falconi, one of his favorites.

Describe your decorating style: Besharat doesn’t believe in using architects or interior designers.

“Everything you see here is my own design,” he said. “I’ve lived in Florence. I grew up in Vienna and everything is beautiful. You should go and do whatever pleases your eye.”

He has the same philosophy about art. He tells his patrons to buy what they love.

“You look at it, you like it.”

The glass stairway in his gallery curves inward like a woman’s waist. He told his builder to make it “like a gorgeous, beautiful woman.”

Heart of the home: The kitchen area is the main draw for guests in the loft. Though by its very nature a loft is open, and the flow is easy.

“We start drinking here and everybody’s so drunk they don’t want to go home,” Besharat said laughing as he sipped a glass of champagne.

Coolest feature: “Myself.” His calling card has the wry tag line Massoud Besharat “Saint and Poet.”

Most cherished item: “Honestly nothing. In life you move forward like a bulldozer. I’m like a chameleon. I never mixed with my own kind.”

Future projects: Besharat’s plans are grand.

He’d like to expand and build a space on the roof as well as add a sculpture garden and amphitheater out back.

Tips for good living:

• “Follow your senses. What pleases your ears … eyesight,” he said.

That’s how he runs his gallery.

“I buy the art I love myself,” he said.

• “And have mercy. Have pity on other people.”

• “Every few months move things around because you get bored with them.”