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Egyptain Flair

Downtown loft décor adds mystery and contrast to modern lines.

By Thomas Shess
Egyptain Flair

Photo by ROBERTO ZEBALLOS

The resurgence of downtown San Diego’s high-rise residential scene has been captivating, to say the least. Bonnie Stewart, director of the Fred J. Hansen Institute for World Peace, is one of 30,000 people currently calling downtown home. By 2030, Centre City Development Corporation, the quasi-public entity behind the building boom, predicts Stewart will have 90,000 neighbors living between the Embarcadero and Golden Hill, from Middletown to Barrio Logan.

For now, however, Stewart is more concerned about the present. She makes it her daily goal to foster world peace, even though she knows the road there can be a turbulent one. That's why her 2,200-square-foot townhouse at the Renaissance had to be calming and comforting. It was important that her home support her life as a single mother (her son, Chris, is now a junior in college) while embracing her family heritage and love of travel. Many of her furnishings and accessories were hand-picked from around the world.

“All the tapestries are from family sources, either handmade by my mom or grandmother or purchased from travels, especially to Egypt,” says Stewart, who speaks fluent French and Arabic, including several Mideastern dialects, Egyptian, Tunisian and Levantine (the language spoken in parts of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan).

Stewart credits her success in part to her heritage: She comes from a long line of independent women who embraced their roles as wives and mothers but also forged careers in education and the arts. The eclectic décor of her townhouse reflects her artistic flair. An Egyptian harem screen, for instance, hangs as wall art. “The harem could see through the screens but couldn’t be seen from outside,” she explains. The piece lends mystery and contrast to the clean lines of the modern architecture.

“I like being in the middle of things,” Stewart says of her recently remodeled home. “I got a taste of urban living as a child in San Francisco. Now, I’m near art and theater venues, and Nordstrom is just across the street. How perfect is that?”


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