Events

Open House at Hammett Designed Home

a2modern is hosting an open house on Sunday, July 21st at the home of Margaret Leary and Russ Serbay. Their home is at 1056 Newport Road just north of Miller Avenue.

When Ralph Hammett designed the Newport house in 1942, there were very few Mid-Century Modern houses in town to model on and World War II was in progress so it was hard to get materials, as most were needed for the war effort. However, he was well versed in MCM principles and did a wonderful job of siting the house on the two and a half acre former farm land and creating a home with large windows well placed for maximum sunlight and built-in furniture to make it look less cluttered. He was able to use recycled materials, including a support beam and other wood from the First Methodist Church who were replacing their 1866 church with a new one.

The next year Hammett joined the Monument Men, saving Europe’s art treasures from war devastation. After the war he resumed teaching at U-M and became a nationally recognized expert on modern church architecture, spending his sabbatical year in Europe studying their modern churches. He built three churches in Ann Arbor – Lord of Light Lutheran Church, Northside Community Church, and Trinity Lutheran, of which he was a member. He designed additions for St. Andrews, first Congregational, and also for the City Club (then the Woman’s City Club).

Hammett was also interested in historic architecture. When he came to town he and his family lived in the 1842 Guy Beckley house, which he spent years restoring. He oversaw the restoration of Kempf House after the city bought it in the 1950s. Meanwhile, in 1957 he built an ultra-modern house for his family at 485 Riverview.

The house was built by Dr. Ruth Cecelia Wanstrom. She retired in 1958 and sold the house to Alfred H. Stockard, head of the UM Biological Station on Douglas Lake. Margaret Leary bought the house from Stockard’s widow. They have kept or restored the original features including bathroom tile, wooden kitchen cabinets, and marble window sills. They enlisted the help of Mary Jane Williamson, interior designer for Gunner Birkerts, who Margaret, now retired as head of the Law Library, met when she was working on the Birkert-designed Law School addition, to help with paint colors and furniture selection. Russ, an architect with Hobbs and Black, designed an addition over the garage that creates a luxurious master bedroom and bathroom.

Tickets can be purchased here. Parking is on the opposite side of the street. After the inside tour, people are welcome to wander in the gardens around the house.

Winningham / Saffer Open House

On September 9, a2modern will host a tour of the David and Ann Saffer’s George Brigham-designed house.

This expansive single-level home nestled in the northeastern corner of a six acre property provides a maximum of privacy with spectacular views of gardens and forest. The present owners, David and Ann Saffer, enjoy “the long views” both inside the house and out across the lush and level grounds.

Mid-century Modern architect George Brigham designed this house for an elderly client who asked for two wings for bedrooms, an indoor conservatory, and a screened porch, identified in the plans as “the terrace.” The Saffers have enhanced the sensitivity of this house to its orientation in the natural setting by adding a trellis-covered patio onto the terrace, by enlarging the existing skylights and by adding a large skylight above the dining area. They have made the house a most beautiful platform for entertaining.

Arriving by car, one first sees the two-car garage and a covered walkway to two separate points of entry to the house: the main door by the master bedroom wing (west end) and farther down an access door to the kitchen. An axial corridor runs the full length of the house from master bedroom to kitchen/food preparation area along this side of the house. Entering the central core of the house there is one long and quite wide room, gently lit by clerestory windows along the north roofline. The wide floor to ceiling fireplace sets the scene of a large gathering space that is flanked by the dining area, the terrace and the open patio on the east. In the other direction expanses of glass invite one to saunter to the conservatory area (now a conversation spot) and the courtyard between the bedroom wings. The Saffers have placed in this outdoor courtyard a fountain that is audible from the master bedroom and the library.

This is not a simple ranch-style house. The generous interior dimensions of conservatory space, fireplace area, dining area, terrace area and patio area respond to the client’s needs for accommodating gatherings of many people. Equally, the views out onto the grounds and the forest create a sensation of being in nature. A highlight of the house are the eaves and the overhangs left open so as to mediate the sunlight without blocking it. These overhangs are created by the ceiling beams extending beyond the walls of the house, and while unobtrusive at first the effect is pleasure at a friendly presence.

There are many striking design features and designed-in amenities in this largely original Mid-century Modern house. A great new feature involves the tile floor covering from conservatory to the terrace. Its quiet sandstone and ochre colors unite the entire entertaining space in a single sweep and add to the feeling of openness, serenity and naturalness already induced by the design of a gifted architect.

Tickets can be purchased at a2modern.myevents.com.

Thornoaks Walking Tour

Sorry! This event is sold out.

On June 10th a2modern will be hosting a walking tour of the Thornoaks neighborhood. The tour will include several interior visits.  Thornoaks is an unusually intact group of 32 mid-century modern homes, recently designated as an historic district.  Docent led tours will start at 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. The entire tour is 0.6 miles long.

Tickets to the event can be purchased here.

A small enclave of 32 houses on Thornoaks Drive and Huron River Service Drive, it’s located off East Huron Drive just before the U.S. 23 underpass.  On April 18 the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners voted approval of a request by the residents to designate it as an historic district thus protecting it from demolition or unfortunate alterations.

Thornoaks was developed in 1957-1961 by architect James Livingston and builder E. E. Kurtz.  They carefully laid out the lots to take advantage of views of the Huron River, South Pond, or the woods.  As the parcels were sold, Livingston and Kurtz reviewed the site plans, as the incorporation document states, for “materials, harmony of external design with external structure… placement of walls or fences… and to the location with respect to topography.”

Livingston was a well- respected local architect (1922-1975).  Bob Chance, who worked with Livingston at the beginning of his career noted, “All of Livingston’s houses were contemporary, with lots of daylight.  He did nothing old-fashioned, he wouldn’t waste his time.”  Livingston is best known as the designer of Lurie Terrace.  Readers may remember the cave-like Kales Water Fall, later a Chinese restaurant, and now torn down, which Livingston designed.  Other work included the Bell Tower Hotel, Weber’s Restaurant and Hotel (where the idea of a pool inside an atrium with hotel rooms looking down on it may have been his invention), Lawton School, apartments including Maynard House and one on Pear Street, as well as many private homes.

Livingston’s residence – front

Livingston’s residence – rear

It is known that Livingston was responsible for at least seven Thornoaks houses, but he’s probably the architect of quite a few more, as there are many where the architect is unknown that look like his work.  When Livingston was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1975, he immediately closed his office and went to Florida to spend his remaining time.  The architects working for him took plans for buildings they were involved in, but it is believed the rest of his files were destroyed.

Livingston’s residence – inside

Livingston’s residence – inside

Identified Livingston homes include one he built for himself at 4099 E Huron River Service Drive, now owned by Kristine Bolhuis, the president of the Thornoaks Neighborhood Association, and her husband John Holkeboer, which is where the tour will start.

Livingston was also the local agent for Techbuilt homes and there are several  homes  in the neighborhood that fit the description.  Techbuilts are considered among the best of the modular homes of that era.  Boston area architect Carl Koch noticed that in most homes the attic and basement were the least used, so developed a module home that was just that, a basement halfway out of the ground and an attic on top of it, so both floors were very usable.

Another modular house in Thornoaks is a Deck house developed by another Boston-area architect.  Other local modern architects designing homes in the neighborhood include Ted Smith and Donald Van Curler.

Botch / Aaron Open House

On the afternoon of January 13th the Aarons, who soon intend to sell the Metcalf home known as the Botch House, will be holding an open house for our a2modern friends. Tickets may be purchased here.

Architect Robert Metcalf’s 1958 presentation drawing lifted the Botch House on Chestnut Street just above the crest of the ridge. A rising walkway led to three steps up to the startling entrance portico, while a sweeping white retaining wall created an illusion of floating. It is an extraordinary drawing of an extraordinary house.

A visitor approaching from the street today would see a house gently nestled into the site, the entranceway firmly set on the ground, and rather than a retaining wall (which was not built) a berm landscaped so as to conceal the driveway area at the northwestern end of the house. It is a better solution altogether, and the landscaping and other work supervised by the present owner, an architect herself, won a Preservation Award from the Ann Arbor Historic District Commission in June 2017.

Vintage photos of the interior of the Botch House (see 1055 Chestnut/Old News) emphasized openness to light and the natural beauty of the setting. Sited along a northeast to southwest axis, the all-windows private side of the house facing a golf course receives indirect sunlight all day long. Attention to the sun also explains the elegant screen on the portico: it modulates the raking afternoon sunlight.

In its essence, a “modern” house must be designed specifically for the client. In this instance, Dr. Edmund Botch asked for a discreet area off the master bedroom where he could, when necessary, dress and quietly leave the house to see a patient or keep an appointment. The intricate living area that resulted, including the master bedroom and two large bedrooms, has to be experienced to be fully appreciated.

The present owners, Richard and Yuni Aaron, bought the house in 2006. A series of practical updatings took place in the following years, including replacing almost all of the windows, redesigning storage spaces in the kitchen to accommodate new appliances (without changing either dimensions or materials), replacing carpeted areas with light-toned hardwood flooring, and creating two bedrooms in the lower level area. On the other hand, the buff brown tile used on the portico floor, through the entranceway, and into dining area was left untouched.

When the new owners invited Robert Metcalf to Thanksgiving Dinner, he brought his little black book, in which he had noted, to the penny, the original cost of the house. Two of his trademark touches add romance to the simplicity of its modernist flat roof, continuous expanses of glass, warm tile floor, patio areas, and indirect lighting—an elegant wooden screen separates the dining area from the portico entrance; and on either side of the living room fireplace, niches of purple-rose stained glass complement the pink marble of hearth and over mantle.

It is a big, very proud house, now updated by an architect who thoroughly understands the legacy of a brilliant architect. Together, the Aarons have earned the right to the re-identification of this house as the Botch/Aaron House.

Written by: Jeffrey Welch

Mies van der Rohe’s Lafayette Park

Sold Out

Time: 1:00-3:00 p.m.
When: Saturday, September 9th, 2017
Cost: $30/person, registration required

Detroit’s Mies van der Rohe Historic District in Lafayette Park includes 186 cooperatively owned Town House and Court House units, three apartment towers, an elementary school, a retail district, and a 13-acre park known as the Lafayette Plaisance.

The neighborhood has been hailed as “one of the most spatially successful and socially significant statements in urban renewal” and as a “prototype for future urban development predicated on human values.” The site contains the largest collection of buildings by the architect Mies van der Rohe in the world, as well as the only group of row houses built to his specifications.

The tour will be conducted by Christian Unverzagt and Neil McEachern, both long-time residents of Lafayette Park. Unverzagt is an Assistant Professor of Practice in Architecture at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College. McEachern, now retired, is a former Detroit Public Schools principal.

Space is limited (only 12 tickets available), REGISTER HERE

LOGISTICS: Transportation is on your own. We will meet at the Mies van der Rohe Plaza in the Shops at Lafayette Park at 12:45 p.m. Parking is available in the shops (off Lafayette). Alternatively, public parking is available on Joliet Place and Nicolet Place (off Rivard) and the plaza may be approached from the north by walking through the Plaisance.

Below are pictures of a courtyard unit at 1320 Nicolet Pl. that is currently for sale.

Regent Drive and Highland Road Walking Tour – 8/17

On Thursday, August 17, at 6:30 P. M., Grace Shackman will lead a walking tour of Highland Road and Regent Drive. The lots on both streets were sold with the caveat that the homes be architect-designed. Architects represented include George Brigham, David Osler, Robert Metcalf, and Aldon Dow.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased here. The tour will be limited to 20 people. Meet at the corner of Regent Drive and Highland Road, which is north of Geddes Road near the Arboretum.