Photos by Richard Maack

Jack Shanahan’s obsession with doors began innocently enough. He was raised in Ireland and grew accustomed as a boy to turning the knobs of standard, run-of-the-mill doors. Sometimes they would be painted different colors, but that was as jazzy as it got.
When he traveled the world as a man, particularly in Spain and Italy, he found himself drawn to the intricate carvings and metalwork that punctuated the typical neighborhood doors. He saw demure doors, imposing doors, doors with peep holes and family crests and Mediterranean leaves.
“Anyone who goes to Spain and Italy, you will always hear foreigners talk about the doors,” he says. “It started as benign as that, and it became an obsession.”
Shanahan and his wife, Siobhán, have turned that obsession into a growing business. They’ve traveled through Europe to find the best artisans, and they are tapping those tradesmen to make custom, handcrafted doors for Americans. They are targeting the Valley in particular: Last year, the Irish couple moved their business – The Spanish Door – across the Atlantic to Scottsdale.
The Shanahans partnered with a local man who owns Artitalia Group, also known for digging up European treasures for Americans, and renamed the business Mare Nostrum – an ancient Roman term for the Mediterranean Sea.
But before any of this could happen, Shanahan had to get really sick of his job. He traded stocks on the floor in London for a decade, waking up every day at 4:30 a.m. and coming home at 8:30 p.m. He was successful but frazzled, and so was Siobhán, who worked grueling hours as a chef.