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Classic four-square homes appeal to Cleveland Park homeowner MaryAnn Nash. “I like big, four-square, family homes,” says MaryAnn, who remembers reading books about this style of home when she was a child. “I read lots of books about children who lived in drafty old houses with window seats and front porches,” MaryAnn says. The porches, the bedrooms that intertwine, the nooks and crannies – they’re all part of the charm of an older home in an established setting.
Cleveland Park has all these elements and more. “We were attracted to Cleveland Park because it’s a front porch neighborhood where you can always find people out and about,” the owner says. Easy access to The Rosedale Conservancy across the street and the Macomb playground behind the home influenced MaryAnn Nash and her husband Rick to move into this enchanting, historic neighborhood.
But the home they found – even with its notable 1910 roots, large rooms, and porches – wasn’t perfect and was in need of repair and renovation to suit the needs of their growing family. So after purchasing the home, the Nash family lived there for one year to determine what they liked and didn’t like about the modified four-square floor plan. To the owners’ surprise, they decided to keep some elements that they had previously thought they’d demolish. “We grew to love the screened porches, even though the originals were in poor condition, and incorporated new, larger ones in the plans,” MaryAnn says.
The Nashes interviewed several architects, including Ralph Cunningham, principal of Cunningham | Quill Architects. After MaryAnn and Rick discussed their needs and desires with Cunningham, who not only lives in Cleveland Park but also grew up there, the owners determined he was the right fit for them. “We were impressed with Ralph’s practical approach to both the design and the business aspects of a major renovation,” MaryAnn says. Formerly a group home that hadn’t been updated since the 1970s, the Nash residence included open spaces that the owners wanted to enhance, while also restoring historic details and better defining the living areas. It was a home with a wonderful foundation on which to build.
Six Square
A typical four-square home offers a progression from formal to informal spaces. But in the Nash home, the plan had been modified into an informal four-and-a-half-square home for its former use as a group home. Before, open spaces eliminated the transition from room to room. Now, “The renovation evokes the house’s turn-of-the-century character by altering and adding onto a clumsy floor plan, modeled after the American four-square, and converting it into an elegant six-square plan,” Cunningham says.
While the owners were involved with Cunningham and Acadia Contractors Inc. in every aspect of the project, the new kitchen and family area were among the most important parts of the renovation, MaryAnn says. “We definitely didn’t like the old kitchen with its dark cabinets and orange countertops,” she adds.
Expanding the back of the home by 600 square feet allowed Cunningham to create a cozy family room with a direct link to the cooking area. “We love to entertain so a large, gracious dining room was important as well,” MaryAnn says, even though most guests wind up in the kitchen and family room.
“We wanted a clear axis between the kitchen and family room so that one could see from the front entry all the way through the glass door to the back porch,” Rick says. To achieve openness and symmetry in the kitchen, cabinets were designed with the efficiency of a ship’s galley. Every available inch of space was used in the kitchen for storage and efficiency, including adding two four-inch deep cabinets at both ends of the island. Wells Woodworking Specialties Inc. incorporated built-in bookshelves in the kitchen island for cookbooks and on each side of the French doors in the family room for a vast collection of books. During renovations, children’s books were found in the walls, which were probably placed there when the house was built, Rick says. Now those books are displayed on the family room shelves. Window seats in the children’s bedrooms provide another place to curl up and read.
To keep the integrity of the home, the owners added elements that match the tone of the home, such as new and locally salvaged white oak flooring from Universal Floors Inc., radiator covers from The Wooden Radiator Cabinet Company, and plantation shutters from Signature Shutters. Wells Woodworking Specialties installed old-fashioned painted kitchen cabinets in a milky white color. “We chose our new materials carefully to complement the old,” Mary Ann adds.
Front to Back
One of the main goals of Cunningham | Quill Architects was to increase the connection of the home to the site. “The house is in an ideal location,” Cunningham says. So the best way to further connect the house to the terrain was by restoring the front porch, including replacing the collapsed floor, and completely overhauling the rear elevation and porches. The back verandas added 500 square feet of indoor-outdoor leisure space to the home.
“We often have the doors to the porches open so we get a lot of light and fresh air,” MaryAnn says. “The second floor screened porch feels like a tree house. It’s surrounded by green leaves and has a great view of the Cathedral.”
“The new porches are seamless,” Rick adds. “Our neighbors have said that they look like they have always been on the house.” Both the owners’ bedroom and bathroom open to the top rear porch creating a private retreat for the owners. “A major piece of the renovation was the owners’ suite,” Cunningham adds, with its new dressing room and updated bathroom.
Because creating storage space was key, “We reconfigured the owners’ bedroom to include a closet/dressing room,” MaryAnn says. “We also included some new closets and dressers in the children’s rooms on the third floor.” The homeowners are also planning to incorporate more bookshelves and closets in the bedrooms.
Historic Character
“We restored much of the historic detail that had been stripped out in an earlier renovation,” MaryAnn says. “We also took a lot of care to use original materials in the house rather than replacing them.” The Nashes utilized all the home’s original six-panel doors as well as added transoms over new doorways to match the primary ones.
When an enclosed stairway to the third floor was opened up to connect with the main staircase, the homeowners searched through salvage stores to find a similar period banister. Upper level floors were repaired with vintage heart pine and the owners ordered old-fashioned pushbutton light switches from an online company called Rejuvenation. “It was time consuming, but well worth it,” MaryAnn says.
“We love the neighborhood’s historic character,” she adds. So the in-depth review and approval process for the renovations was an anticipated aspect of living in a district like this. “The whole process took about two years from start to finish,” MaryAnn says. “We fixed up the third floor first and then moved up there while the first and second floors were under construction.” Family togetherness grows daily in this home and in this “front porch neighborhood” in the city.
