An historic and picturesque grouping of barns and caretaker houses is the setting for this new home near Cleveland. Careful attention to the restoration of the graduated cedar shingle roof and architectural features of the historic barns and apartments, coupled with sympathetic new construction preserves the character of this early 20th century farm complex. The new home was designed by Ferguson and Shamamian with David Ellison working as Restoration Architect and Architect of Record.
READ THE FULL STORY DOWNLOAD THE FEATURE FROM ARCHITECTURAL DIGESTThe Van Sweringen brother's legacy lives on in Northeast Ohio. "Clanonderry", originally built in the late 1920's to house the Van Sweringen's horses and cars, a blacksmith's shop and apartments, has been converted into a new home that is featured in the April 2010 issue of Architectural Digest Magazine.
Ferguson and Shamamian of New York and David Ellison, Architect, of Cleveland collaborated on the recent restoration and additions to architects Small and Rowley's romanticist agrarian folly, known at the time it was built as the "Daisy Hill Farm Group".
Cleveland architects, Philip Small and Charles Rowley, active from 1921-1928, may be better remembered for their designs of Shaker Square, Moreland Courts, The Country Club and The Greenbriar Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. While the Van Sweringens were alive, Small and Rowley acted as their architects on many of their private commissions, including their suite inside the Terminal Tower and their home, Roundwood Manor, also at Daisy Hill in Hunting Valley. The farm complex includes extensive examples of the work of the late Gates Mills mason, George Brown most notably a stone turret and bridges over moat-like Luce Creek.
The collection of buildings is reminiscent of French manoirs and moated English farmhouses, with its dovecote tower, stone bridges and almost fortified courtyard. After the Van Sweringen's deaths the property was purchased and occupied by first the Hanna family and later by several members of the O'Neill family, former owners of the Cleveland Indians baseball team and Leaseway Transportation Corporation.
In the 1990's the buildings began to fall into disrepair. The village of Hunting Valley made special provisions to allow their redevelopment as historic properties with the hope that they would be preserved for future generations. The current owners bought the property in July 2000.
In July 2001 local architect David Ellison, retained as the Architect of Record by the new owners to see the project through to its completion, began to document the existing conditions. Simultaneously, New York architect Mark Ferguson began to plan for a new home to replace part of the original group of buildings. During the following years extensive restoration work was undertaken on the signature-style stonework, the graduated cedar shingle roofing with its many cupolas and the old stables. Parts of the old complex were razed, while doors, beams and other materials were salvaged and a new house rose in place of the old garages. As the buildings came back to life and the new home took shape, overgrown landscaping was pruned back, gardens were restored and new ones were conceived and planted by Maggie Williams of Brighton, England.
An old circular horse-watering trough marks the axial centerline of the main barn and new breakfast room window, linked across a courtyard to the Van Sweringen's old hunting lodge and paddock. An original fountain was restored at the front door of the lodge. High above the entrance to the stables, a clock tower finally had its clock installed. The long neglected weathervanes were restored, as was the unique stone roof of the round tower-like structure at the front gate. Ms. Williams' genius in knitting the landscape and buildings into a cohesive whole emerged as new garden areas took shape around the new house. A lawn flanked by an allee of pleached (braided) Linden trees makes a formal statement in the midst of the lush foliage of the more intimate garden and patio spaces that surround the house.
As important as the buildings and new gardens are to the project, it would have fallen far short of its achievement had the mother-daughter Interior Design team of Pat Brownell and Anne Ames not brought their expertise to make the new house into a home.
The Owner of the property, who commissioned the project and took on the role of General contractor, commented, "Ferguson's office provided the basic design direction for us, while David Ellison helped us develop ideas and carry them out. We couldn't have done the project without each of the players, including Pat and Anne, and my project manager, Mark Murphy, who coordinated the bidding and contracting process. I think we maximized the value of what each person brought to the table, and we had a lot of fun at the same time."
In speaking of the project, Mark Ferguson said, "David Ellison was essential to the success of the project. Not only did he share our deep experience with traditional architecture, but he shared our values, our vision and our dedication to our client."
Maggie Williams added, "It's very helpful to be able to liaise with someone locally, who empathizes with the vision of the house and garden that I'm trying to create."
The end result is a profound testament to the imagination and commitment of the current Owners and to the successful collaborative work of Williams, Brownell and Ames, Ferguson, Ellison and Murphy in preserving this unique piece of the region's architectural heritage.
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This new home in Indianapolis is informed by the work of Italian renaissance Architect Andrea Palladio. Classical proportions and vocabulary form a familiar and coherent architectural language that is as clear and vibrant today as it was 400 years ago. The basic principles of order, usefulness and beauty apply to the house, its details and its outbuildings. John Saladino and the owner conceived of this Italian style villa on a lake but were unable to finish the project together. Bunny Williams and David Ellison worked with the owner and Paul Muller, the Architect of Record, to refine and complete the design and construction.
READ THE FULL STORY DOWNLOAD THE FULL PROJECT REPORTLinden House is the realization of a long held dream for an Italian-style house in America, where friends could join to share music and laughter. It was constructed between 2003 and 2007. Linden House contains a large sala for concerts, a formal living room, dining room, outdoor terraces for entertaining and four guest bedrooms. A private suite of rooms provides a kitchen, informal living area, library, master bedroom suite and office. Also included are an indoor pool, garages and service spaces. The owner's intention was to create a place evocative of the great European villas built and inspired by Andrea Palladio, where music and art, good conversation, eating and drinking could blend and become the background for enjoyment and the creation of memories.
The design and construction of Linden House posed several unusual problems. From the outset, it was understood that it was not to be an ordinary house. Early designers of the project, John Saladino, Vicente Wolf and others, set forward bold propositions, but failed to finish their work. Midway through construction a new design team consisting of Bunny Williams and David Ellison inherited a reinforced concrete foundation already in the ground and a set of structural steel shop drawings upon which to base their final design work. Ultimately the new design team and the architect of record, Paul Muller, realized the final project.
The owner's requirement that the building have a European appearance and feel required a change of approach for many of the workmen and designers involved. From the architect of record's point of view, it was challenging to be drawing and specifying something that would have a traditional appearance while using modern construction techniques and practices. Applying finished plaster and stucco coats that weren't smooth and flat, and which had their color already blended into them, building an elliptical staircase of solid stone treads, and placing a three-foot-deep limestone cornice above a thirty-foot-high wall, each posed unusual challenges for trades people who had infrequently, if ever, been asked to build using such ancient methods or proportions.
The stone staircase was ultimately built between its landings, where each tread transfers its load into the next stone down. Its iron handrail anchors into the landings and spans between, merely supported by the individual treads. Since the house is not built of load-bearing masonry, each piece of stone in the upper cornice is supported on back-to-back stainless steel angle-irons acting as shelves which are then hidden by corbelled stone modillions. At every turn, the owner required the appearance of simplicity and a lack of over-done decoration and detail.
Classical proportions and vocabulary form a coherent architectural language.
Whether in a palatial villa or in an outlying service garage, the same priciples of order, usefulness and beauty apply.
Simplicity of resolution in the precise details and observation of historical precedent strengthen the architectural concept and effect.
The center section of this home was originally built in 1875 as a simple timber-framed farmhouse. The current owners wanted to downsize from their home in Shaker Heights but first, the servant's kitchen and a compartmentalized plan needed to be fixed. Old additions were removed and a new mud room, family room and eat-in kitchen were added, allowing the owners to live a more modern lifestyle. Architectural antiques from an old family home and new Greek Doric columns provided the finishing touches.
