Cape Cod

Yellow and lime green, this $4.8M Provincetown house was an artists’ retreat: ‘A house with a soul’

“The entire house is built by Provincetown artists down to the tiles."

The house at 4 Center St. in Provincetown stands out on the street Nauset Media

November 7, 2025

4 minutes to read

Sometimes a house is not just full of art — it is the art.

When Ronny Hazel, the founder of Provincetown’s eclectic Shop Therapy, purchased 4 Center St. in 1991, he began a long process of not only filling it with sculpture, painting, taxidermy, and oddities, but also hiring artists to adorn and modify the house — and then often filling it with the artists themselves. Hazel died in May, and the property’s future is out for bidding. Listed for sale at $4.8 million, its buyer will inherit the echoes of a vibrant past.

The exterior of 4 Center St. in Provincetown, which belonged to Ronny Hazel, owner of Shop Therapy in town. *– Nauset Media*

Ronny Hazel’s home in Provincetown. – Michael Koehler

The home’s exterior is painted bright yellow and lime green, and it’s surrounded by a sculpture garden — a satellite to Shop Therapy’s landmark mural and nearby Art Alley (an outdoor memorial tunnel of Bob Gasoi’s psychedelic painting and sculpture). The eye-catching house grabbed the attention of national real estate site Zillow Gone Wild recently — a Cape Cod artist submitted it to the account.

Ronny’s son Keith, who lived in the property when his father first purchased it, recalled leading tours there. He said the home’s “open door policy” was part of its character. He imagined it as a bed and breakfast, hosting global travelers.

“My father would love that,” he said. “He loved when the house was full.”

The house has a sculpture garden. *– Nauset Media*

The garden at 4 Center St. in Provincetown. *– Nauset Media*

Pilar Colleran, a Plainville-based realtor with Keller Williams, who also studied painting at Rhode Island School of Design, was a longtime Provincetown summer visitor and Shop Therapy customer. She leapt at the opportunity to represent the listing, and she is working to help potential buyers understand this is not just an ordinary house.

“It’s a house with a soul,” she said. “It’s a bold house. It’s for somebody who doesn’t want to hide.” She described Hazel as multidimensional: a veteran of the Vietnam war, an artist, flamboyant, spiritual, and creative.

A gate shaped like mushrooms. *– Michael Koehler*

A sculpture in the yard at 4 Center St. *– Michael Koehler*

“The entire house is built by Provincetown artists down to the tiles,” said Colleran. “The stones with amethysts …” The sculpture garden represents work by artists including Pierre Riche, welder Michael Kacergis, Peter Catchpole, Carl Tasha (sculptor and former tender of poet Harry Kemp’s dune shack), and sculptor Richard Pepitone.

Shop Therapy remains an iconic Provincetown landmark. Its incense-scented aisles packed with racks of tie-dye clothing and assorted oddities, all framed by its massive, colorful muraled exterior. Upstairs, hookahs, pipes, and much more line the cases. (Hazel served two years under house arrest at 4 Center St. after being convicted for selling drug paraphernalia and tax evasion starting in 2006.)

The foyer glows blue with stained glass. *– Michael Koehler*

The house was often mistaken as a museum. Ronny Hazel reportedly said that he would often hear voices gathering outside to photograph the elaborate sculpture garden and its iron gates, towering creatures and stonework designed by mason Peter “Columbus” Annese, Jr., formerly of Truro.

Built around 1870 and first used as a parsonage for the Center Methodist Church, the home later belonged to a pair of hatters, who purchased the building in 1965. According to the listing, there are waterviews from all of the bedrooms, and it’s within striking distance of the beach.

The dining room at Ronny Hazel’s house. *– Michael Koehler*

Among the home’s live-in guests was Rachel Harrington, originally of Vermont, who met the Brooklyn-based Hazel family between visits to the Cape and attending college in New York. For 18 years, Harrington has owned accessory shop B.Xclusive directly next to Shop Therapy; she said she credits Hazel with helping make that happen. Hazel took her in, she said. She spent summers doing hair wraps on the steps of Shop Therapy, eventually living summers in the house, and returning to spend some holidays.

“He supported a ton of local artists and let them work their vision into the house,” she said.

“It really has been a gathering place for a lot of people, an open door for as long as I’ve known him, which was over 25 years,” she said, noting that he set up the dining room to seat 20 people.

The kitchen with pendant lights. *– Michael Koehler*

Artwork is displayed throughout the house, including above the bathtub. *– Michael Koehler*

“The courtyard was always an after-hours place or gathering place for barbecues,” she continued. And I think half the town knew that … if the door was locked, the slider right next to it was open.”

“The best parties that town has ever seen were at that house,” added Keith Hazel.

One summer, a fireplace repair led to a hole in an upstairs ceiling. Harrington said while others cleared out, she moved in, taking the opportunity to sleep inside but under the stars.

One of the bedrooms at 4 Center St. *– Michael Koehler*

The house at 4 Center St. in Provincetown stands out. – Nauset Media

The waterview home has four bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms across 3,312 square feet. Keith Hazel, now based in New Mexico, said he hopes the next occupant will continue the home’s community-oriented legacy.

“A lot of people in Provincetown, you know, they’re just knocking stuff down and building sterile things,” he said.

“I dug the six-foot trench for that front wall. I tore out those hedges … Hopefully somebody can really appreciate that place. I mean, it would be great if it was filled with people all the time from all over the world, because that’s kind of the way it was there all the time.”