Restoration Uvarara

Restoration Uvarara. . .

So many people walk into Uvarara and are immediately taken with the beautiful building we are housed in. This beautiful Gothic style building dates back to the 1930's and was originally used as a registry for the cemetery. Since then it has had many lives, as a knitting mill, an office, a place to purchase monuments and a tailor shop and at one point it was vacant for 10 years. Until one day, when our wonderful Richard , the father of Uvarara passed by and found this amazing place right here in Middle Village no less.
The place was completely covered in wood paneling and sheet rock and in a sad state. It took Angela, Annalisa, Gordon , Mama Rosa, Richard and visiting relatives from Italy over 9 months of hard work, creativity and dedication to unearth the hidden gems of this building. As Angela says she "The building inspired her and in turn she felt the energy and magic of the building".
All of the set-in niches, molding, bricks, bathroom door and floor date back to the original 1930's foundation. The mosaics in the niches and ceiling were all hand laid, curtains hand made and ceiling tiles hand covered in burlap. The beams and dark wood that the bar is made up of was recycled from a building on the upper east side that was over 108 years old. The tables were also especially carpentered just for Uvarara and the chairs were found and refurbished.
The piece de resistance is the basin style cement sink in the bathroom and dining room wall light fixtures, which were created by using a garbage can as a mold. There are also personal touches all around, such as the beautiful photos of family, Italian life and mixed media art that Annalisa creates. Fresh flowers from Mama Rosa and a large corno pepper above the bar to keep the evil eye at bay.
This place is so visually stunning that recently Vogue Spain choose to use it in a fashion shoot. So as you can see from all of our fun facts, Uvarara is truly is a labor of love . So next time you come in and are enjoying your lovely glass of vino make sure you take a good look around . . .