Author: Andy Ross

Quarton Residence Open House

Quarton Residence, rear view

Quarton Residence, rear view

855 Country Club Road

This house resolutely dismisses the street, but at the same time it puts on a bold show. As one drives in from Country Club Road, a range of clerestory windows pulls the eye up to the roofline, or rooflines, whose pale fascia boards stand out against dark wooden walls. Another surprise awaits around back, where a screen porch, a second-floor balcony, and a second porch above the greenhouse provide views of the forest landscape. Yet another surprise, a garden sanctuary 20′ x 16′ 5″, greets the visitor entering at the left of the garage.

Quarton Residence Floor Plan

Quarton Residence Floor Plan

It is very easy to see out of this house and almost impossible to see in, and in this sense, it is a study of interiority, of home as total environment. The shed roofs create the feeling of airiness in many of the interior spaces through the suggestion of movement overhead. If one desires to go out into nature, there are porches, a balcony and a walkout in the lower level along the back of the house.

Built in 1969 by its designer, Frances Quarton, the house shares the shed roof form popularized by Marcel Breuer. Frances and her twin sister, Priscilla, studied at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1942 with Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. Priscilla Neel designed her own house (a spare, cinder-block ranch with an orchid house for her husband, James Neel, the famed geneticist) on Belmont Road in Ann Arbor Hills in 1950.

Quarton Residence, front view

Quarton Residence, front view

A variety of updates to the exterior and interior of this house have brought it intact into the 21st century–compare the photographs of the old house on the Ann Arbor Township assessor’s website for yet another surprise.

 

The open house will be held Sunday April 7 ,2024. There will be 1:00pm, 2:00pm, and 3:00pm entry times. Tickets are $15.00. To get tickets, click here.

 

Text by Jeffrey Welch
for a2modern
March 2024

Video and Slide Deck of Miller House and Garden Talk

The Ann Arbor District Library made a video of the recent presentation:

 

Quintessentially Modern—and Midwestern:
Landscape Typologies and Cultural Memes in the
Miller House and Garden, Columbus, Indiana
Peter Osler, speaker

 

 

You can watch the video here, courtesy of the Ann Arbor District Library.

 

 

Peter Osler made the slide deck he prepared available:

Download the slide deck here, courtesy of Peter Osler.

 

 

4875 Crystal Drive, Beulah, Michigan

4875 Crystal Drive, exterior view

4875 Crystal Drive, exterior view

Beautiful Lakehouse by Famed MCM Architect Robert C. Metcalf

4875 Crystal Drive, exterior view

4875 Crystal Drive, exterior view

4875 Crystal Drive, exterior view

4875 Crystal Drive, exterior view

On the north shore of Crystal Lake is an architectural gem: a meticulously constructed mid-century modern home (MCM) designed by Robert C. Metcalf. Metcalf homes are known for fastidious attention to detail, integration of interior and exterior spaces, and high standards of materials and construction. Utilizing natural light with large windows and an open format, the house is sited harmoniously. It has 180 feet of private lake frontage, in pristine condition, within a landscape of natural sand, dunegrass, and native trees. Designed for all-season use, the house is luminous and comfortable any time of year. With expansive lake views, lapping waves, and sunrise and sunset views from all rooms.

Summary: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 2,046 square feet

Architect: Robert C. Metcalf
Built: 1989
Asking price: $2,200,000

Private Showings Available, phone: (231)499-1430

For more information, see the beautifully photographed and very detailed listing at:

http://www.4875crystaldrive.com/

 

4875 Crystal Drive, interior view

4875 Crystal Drive, interior view

4875 Crystal Drive, interior view

4875 Crystal Drive, interior view

4875 Crystal Drive, interior view

4875 Crystal Drive, interior view

4875 Crystal Drive, interior view

4875 Crystal Drive, interior view

4875 Crystal Drive, exterior detail, showing glass block and colored panels

4875 Crystal Drive, exterior detail, showing glass block and colored panels

4875 Crystal Drive, interior, showing glass block details

4875 Crystal Drive, interior, showing glass block details

Miller House and Garden Talk

Miller House and Garden Talk

Quintessentially Modern—and Midwestern:

Landscape Typologies and Cultural Memes in the

Miller House and Garden, Columbus, Indiana

Peter Osler, speaker

 

Sunday, October 1, 2023
2:00 – 3:30 PM Eastern
Ann Arbor District Library Downtown
353 S. 5th Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48204
4th Floor Meeting Room
Admission is free, there is no need to register in advance

 

Long hailed as one the most iconic works of mid-20th-century American design, the J. Irwin and Xenia Miller residence (1957) is noted for its material and formal elegance. While the designers—and indeed, the client—for this project were of global importance in both reach and influence, Peter Osler, Architect and Site Designer, FAAR, will present a less common reading of this landmark, emphasizing its abstraction of familiar midwestern landscape typologies and cultural memes.

 

About the speaker: Peter Osler was born into a family with farmers on one side and an obscene number of architects on the other, and has spent his peripatetic adult life as a spatial practitioner and part time academician. He has lived in Ann Arbor—his birthplace, as well as that of his parents—for two-thirds of his life, but has also enjoyed stops in Bloomington, Indiana; Cambridge & Boston; San Francisco; Chicago; Champaign-Urbana; and Rome, Italy. He has taught at the University of Michigan (where he received his B.S. in Natural Resources and where he was Associate Professor of Practice at the Taubman College), the University of Illinois, the Escola Tecnica Superior d’Architectura in Barcelona (ETSAB), the Harvard Graduate School of Design (where he received his professional training in both landscape architecture and architecture), the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he directed the Master of Landscape Architecture Program for its first seven years, and most recently, Washington University, St Louis. He is currently developing a landscape design curriculum for the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility, to improve both employment opportunities for, and the dignity of, its inmates and returning citizens. Osler’s academic interests are focused on modernist site planning and landscape materiality, especially plants as historical and cultural ciphers, their potential as a contemporary art medium, and their maintenance as an untapped source of poetics–a subject about which he has lectured widely, at venues such as the Arts Club of Chicago, the University of British Columbia, Ohio State University, and Harvard.
Professionally, he has worked in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design practices large and small, and as Campus Landscape Architect and Planner at the Cranbrook Educational Community. He works at a wide variety of landscape types and scales, both as a sole practitioner and in collaboration with larger firms. Recent completed projects range in scale from the outdoor spaces of Title Town in Green Bay, Wisconsin (in collaboration with Design Workshop), which won the Merit Award from state ASLA chapters of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Colorado, to sculptural stainless steel furniture for the Knight Wallace Journalism Fellowship program at the University of Michigan. His designs have been published in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and he has been an invited juror at universities throughout the U.S and in Europe. Having won the Rome Prize in landscape architecture, he is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.
Peter’s sister, Molly Osler, was a long-time a2modern board member until her passing in 2019.

The Kingswood School Cranbrook Tour Sponsored by a2modern of Ann Arbor

When: Saturday, March 18, 2023
Where: Cranbrook Educational Community, Bloomfield Hills
Program: Visit to the Collections Wing of the Cranbrook Art Museum
followed by a Visit to the Kingswood Building
Time: 3 hours, 1:00 to 4:00
Tour Leader: Kevin Adkisson, Curator of Cranbrook Collections
at The Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research

 

The Collections Wing

The tour started in the Art Academy Museum with a welcome and introduction by Kevin Adkisson. Kevin covered the biographies of George G. Booth and Ellen S. Booth, Cranbrook’s founders, and the history of the community. Then it was on to the Collections Wing for our group of twenty.

Kevin introducing the tour on the lower level of the art museum

Kevin introducing the tour on the lower level of the art museum

On the way in, the group passed a niche framing a maquette of a figure titled “Precision Craftsmanship,” by Cranbrook Art Academy sculptor, Carl Milles. It was made for the great Hall of Progress in the General Motors building at the Chicago World’s Fair: Century of Progress, 1933. At the fair the worker would stand 16′ high on a pedestal 9′ high.

The workman inspects a connecting rod for possible imperfections

The workman inspects a connecting rod for possible imperfections

First Stop: Cranbrook Archives Reading Room, where architectural drawings, letters, inventory materials, and artifacts, such as a dress designed by Eva-Lisa “Pipsan” Saarinen, were on display around the room. The entire Saarinen family participated in the design and dressing of the Kingswood building. Eliel Saarinen conceived the building, including the leaded glass windows and the Green Lobby with its translucent Pewabic tiles. Loja Saarinen, Eliel’s wife, designed the textiles, such as the large curtains for the entrance doors, and curtains for the classroom, library and dormitory windows, carpet runners for the public corridors, and rugs and mats for the dormitory. Besides furniture, Eliel’s son, Eero, designed the ceiling light panel for the auditorium (this dome form was used again for his Irwin Union Bank & Trust building, in Columbus, IN), and Eliel’s daughter, Pipsan, designed the stenciling for the auditorium walls, the auditorium stage curtain, and the door panels for the private dining room above and visible from both the dining hall and the auditorium.

Saarinen drawing of Kingswood Green Lobby Area

On display in the Archives Reading Room: a part of Eliel Saarinen’s composite drawing of the Kingswood Green Lobby area. The detail featured here is the stairway to the headmistress’s office and administrative offices on the second level.

 

Drawing table lamps for Kingswood School

In this detail, a drawing of the base of a wooden desk lamp, designed by Eero Saarinen. At age 19, Eero was invited to design all the furniture, including for the auditorium, dining hall, offices, classrooms, public reception areas and dormitory. Also, there are two ceramic pieces by him.

 

 

Second Stop: Upstairs from the Archive Reading Room, in the Plaza Vault, Kevin had on display Eliel Saarinen designed furniture, silver, textiles and other artifacts. Saarinen designed flatware

This silver service was expressly designed for use in Saarinen House. Eliel Saarinen invented and patented the design for a short-bladed knife. According to Kevin, this particular silver pattern is still available for purchase.

Kevin Adkisson shows items from the Cranbrook Archives Plaza Vault

Kevin is explaining how the museum obtained from Finland the blond table and chair behind his head. They are originals from Eliel Saarinen’s Helsinki Railroad Station (1914). To the left: a Kingswood dining hall sideboard with silver service, ceramic place setting, and chair behind.

The Kingswood Building

Next Stop: Entrance to the auditorium/dining hall/dormitory block on the Kingswood Oval. The site of the large leaded glass window in the central block was, at first, going to be the main entrance to this wing, but later the entrance was moved to the left side where the columned porch provided sheltered access.

Kingswood School showing main entrance

Note the stacking motif on the chimneys. The distant one is for the house for the first headmistress.

 

 

Kingswood School under columned porch

The columned porch spans the south wall of the Kingswood dining hall. The photo is taken standing at the entrance doorway.

 

To replace the original entrance porch, Eliel Saarinen designed this magnificent leaded glass window featuring the stacking motif characteristic throughout the Kingswood building.

Window Tracery

The large window illuminates the waiting area inside the entrance doors to the right.

The Kingswood Dining Hall, with tables and chairs, the Queen of the May tapestry on the wall, and leaded glass clerestory windows. Note the two aluminum torchiers flanking the tapestry.

Kingswood School dining hall

 

Across from the Dining Hall, the Kingswood Auditorium expands the space to accommodate very large groups that can circulate from one to the other. When preferred, both dining hall and auditorium spaces can be sealed off by means of heavy, leaded glass pocket doors.

Kingswood School auditorium

Note Pipsan’s stenciled stage curtain and Eero’s ceiling light panel with 40 domed light fixtures.

The Green Lobby is the ceremonial reception area for Kingswood, with the Dean’s office to the right, and access to the library wing behind. The Green Lobby space divides the dining hall/auditorium/dormitory area, to the right, from the classroom area, to the left.

Kingswood School Green Lobby looking toward entrance doors

The room pictured below is in the study hall wing, part of the classroom area arrayed around the Diana Courtyard. This room is now an informal gathering space in the Kingswood library.

Kingswood School library

Our Last Stop: The Kingswood Weaving Studio. Established by Loja Saarinen when the school opened in 1931, this room affirms that the arts remain a central element in a Cranbrook education. There are 60 looms in use today. Kevin had ready for us a newly finished weaving (rather reweaving) of a Loja Saarinen design for Saarinen House. This curtain panel took 4 months to weave and was funded by a grant from Finlandia Foundation National and donors to the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research’s 2022 “House Party” fundraiser. It was woven by Cranbrook alumnae, Paula Stebbins Becker (Cranbrook Academy of Art Fiber Department 1993) and Sim Rosseau (Cranbrook Kingswood Upper School 2017).

Reweaving of a Lola Saarinen design for Saarinen House

Here Kevin is unwrapping and holding it up for display. The curtain panel was woven on a Cranbrook loom, especially designed at Cranbrook for use by Studio Loja Saarinen.
The weaving studio exits onto the great entrance porch across from the Green Lobby. When the group spilled out onto the entrance porch, the sky was blue and the sun was shining even as a light squall filled up the Diana Courtyard with swirling snow. It was a scene from Fellini, for sure, and an appropriate conclusion for this magical experience conducted by Kevin Adkisson, The Man Who Knows.

Kingswood School courtyard

Note the stacking motif in the chimney and in the borders of the walkway in the direction of the Diana Fountain, pedestal and basin. The tawny porch column and base to the right or carved from Mankato stone.

Photos courtesy of Susan Wineberg and Jeffrey Welch.
Text and layout by Jeffrey Welch

Techbuilt Homes

By Grace Shackman and Jeffrey Welch

Techbuilt homes were designed by New England architect Carl Koch to help alleviate the post WWII housing shortage by developing a way to quickly and easily assemble them using pre-made components. The parts were interchangeable to give the buyer a house that met their needs and taste and that worked for the specific site.

Carl Koch

Carl Koch

Techbuilt houses offered an attractive two-level interior arrangement in which the lower level functioned as a quasi-basement and the upper level as a quasi-attic but with no loss of functional space. The gentle gable and open area overhead gave to the upper level a cathedral ceiling while the lower level, set in three feet below ground level, allowed the use of every square inch of floor space. In a bow to Michigan winters several Techbuilts were clad in brick.
These houses were scattered around town, wherever clients found an empty lot. Techbuilts were manufactured in Massachusetts and delivered in two truckloads containing basic parts, such as pre-cut beams, wall panels (with or without windows) insulated with fiberglass, and sliding glass doors. Different from other prefab houses, Techbuilts had 4′ wide wall panels, giving buyers many options for placing windows and doors.
Siting was determined by the contours of the land. If the site was on hilly terrain, part of the first floor might be underground but part might provide a walk out. If the house was built on a busy street, a solid wall of windowless panels would be put on the street side, but if on a wooded lot, the windows could be put wherever was the best view.
Because of the post and beam construction, the interior space dividers didn’t need to be load-bearing and thus could be put anywhere to create rooms. The houses were rectangular in shape, typically 24′ x 48′, which made it easier to add on rooms as families grew or wanted extras like a sunroom or a screen porch.
Carl Koch, a native of Milwaukee, attended at Harvard College and continued his studies at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, receiving an MA in 1937. It was just at this time that Dean Joseph Hudnut brought German modernist Walter Gropius onto the faculty of the HGSD. While traveling in Europe on a fellowship, Koch spent six months studying with the Swedish modernist architect Sven Markelius. This was a formative experience. On his return to the United States, while teaching architecture at MIT, he became involved in developing several housing projects around Boston, which furthered his interest in prefabricated houses. When he was invited to redesign the prefabricated, metal Lustron House in 1949, for example, he reduced the construction kit of 3,000 parts to just 37 components, and he reduced the weight of the kit by 6,000 pounds. By 1952, he had designed the housing development, Conantum, located in Concord, MA, one of the nation’s first cluster housing developments. The idea for Techbuilt emerged from Conantum, particularly from a design by architect Leon Lipshutz.
In 1953 he started Techbuilt, using as his basic premise the elimination of wasteful attic and basement spaces. In its original conception, the Techbuilt house was shrunk to just two floors, whose entire area would be open living space. The lower floor was built three feet in the ground, leaving the other five feet to let in light. Upstairs, the roof above the living space was gently pitched, which gave the house a softer, more Japanese look and allowed for taller windows that made the space seem bigger and airy. Large windows and sliding doors opened up the gable ends. The mid-level entrance on the side of the house gave easy access to both floors.
In 1955 Techbuilt launched its Space Making Furniture Line. Twenty pieces of furniture were advertised for their flexibility, affordability, and customization but they were never a money maker. They came unassembled, much like Ikea kits today.
Ann Arbor Techbuilt Homes
A2Modern has identified 15 Techbuilt homes in the Ann Arbor area but there are probably more. They were built between 1955-1974. In 1955, James Livingston, a graduate of the University of Michigan school of Architecture, secured the Techbuilt franchise for the Ann Arbor area, three years after earning his architectural degree. With his associate, Bob Chance, he built Techbuilt homes for the next three years.
Bob Chance explained that Livingston was the salesman, helping clients figure out which model would work for them and how to site the house. Because prefabricated houses went against the Frank Lloyd Wright dictum of letting the landscape determine the shape of the house, siting was a crucial concern. The on-site architect was essential for guiding the client as to orienting and landscaping the building. Chance acted as the project manager, figuring out the details, overseeing construction, and working closely with Gene Kurtz, local contractor who often partnered with Livingston. Chance thought that Techbuilt was both “an interesting concept and a good deal financially.”
As of 2022, only one Techbuilt, on Heather Way, had been torn down, while the other identified houses were still standing and in good use. In most cases, the Techbuilts are newer than their neighboring houses, but mature vegetation helps them fit in.
Below is an alphabetical list by street address of Techbuilt houses that have, so far, been identified. If anyone knows of others, or knows more about the houses listed, please let us know using the Contact Us form on our website.
221 Barton Drive

221 Barton

221 Barton

Mary and Dick Burris, 1955. This was the first Techbuilt in Michigan and newsworthy enough to rate an article in the Argus Eyes, the Argus Camera employee newsletter. It was different from later ones as the first story was entirely in the ground. The article says it was put together by a local builder, but the Burrises did all the painting and staining, both inside and out. The oven, automatic dishwasher, stove burners, and garbage disposal came with the package. See Old News for the Argus Eyes article of December 1956.
1441 Catalina Drive

1441 Catalina

1441 Catalina

Daniel L. and Margaret Treacy, 1956. Techbuilts appealed to architects. Ann Arbor architect, Daniel Treacy, worked with the local firms of James Livingston and Charles W. Lane, and then he joined the office of Minoru Yamasaki in Troy.
1300 Chalmers Drive, 1955. The fourth owners, Jesse and Anitra Gordon, made four additions, including a sunroom and a balcony, that go perfectly with the original house. Jesse especially appreciated the many windows that allowed him to see the woodsy landscape whichever way he looked.
2025 Crestland Drive

2025 Crestland Drive

2025 Crestland Drive

George N. May, 1958. George May worked as a draftsman at Ford Motor Company. This house, built across the street from Pattengill School on a corner lot, elegantly negotiates a high traffic area and a widening street that leads to the school’s student drop off.
2831 Daleview Drive, Val and Paul Rasmussen, 1974. Paul Rasmussen was Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan. “It was a great house to live in, lots of glass, tall ceilings, great views in all directions,” recalls Val Rasmussen of her house, which is the last, or almost the last Techbuilt built locally. Beyond framing, the electrical, plumbing, and heating systems were also designed and done on site as were the interior walls. The Rasmussens ordered Techbuilt kitchen cabinets, which Val says had “great-wooden doors, tall enough to go along the high ceiling. The materials were excellent.” They lived there 35 years before moving to a one-story house.

2550 Devonshire Road

2550 Devonshire

2550 Devonshire

Gordon and Marion Brown, 1956. Chemistry Professor Gordon Brown, working in the School of Public Health, directed one of 27 labs across the country conducting research into developing the polio vaccine.

2814 Glazier Way, Raymond and Daphne Grew, 1973. Raymond Grew was a professor of history at the University of Michigan.

16 Heatheridge Avenue

16 Heatherridge

16 Heatherridge

Alfred and Georgia Conard, 1965. Alfred Conard was a law professor at the University of Michigan and president of the Association of American Law Schools. According to the Ann Arbor News, the exterior of the house was a Techbuilt design and “popular in Ann Arbor since last summer.” The inside was designed by Livingston. The lower level was the living area, and the upper for sleeping. See the story and pictures of the house in Old News.

638 Northside Avenue

638 Northside

638 Northside

Jordan Humberstone, 1957. Jordan Humberstone was the district manager at Balfour & Co. and an expert in antiques and American culture. He was the designer of the Bicentennial Program for the Ann Arbor public schools’ continuing education program.

3164 Sunnywood Drive

3164 Sunnywood

3164 Sunnywood

Irving and Jane Brown, 1956. Irving Brown was an engineer for Detroit Transmission. When later owners, Jim and Linda Elert, founding members of a2modern, moved into this Techbuilt, the original footprint was untouched. It had four bedrooms and a full bath upstairs, mudroom, kitchen, half bath, and living/dining room/fireplace on the first level. The main entrance to the house was on the long side, between the first and second stories. The house was built on a hill, with the living/dining rooms opening to the back yard with sliding glass doors. The Elerts added a porch. The next owners, Katherine and Bob Bodary, turned the two bedrooms at the rear of the house overlooking the backyard into a master bedroom. The next owner added an enormous two-story addition adjacent to the front entrance.
910 Sunset Drive

910 Sunset

910 Sunset

Professor Edwin H. Sonnecken, 1956. Sonnecken was a programming manager for the Ford Motor Company. The fourth owner, Doug Kelley, lived there for 40 years. He appreciated all the windows that allowed him to enjoy nature in every direction on his one -acre piece of land. He added a front patio, a garage, and a sunroom in the back. He was sad when mobility issues made it necessary to move to a one-story place.
912 Sunset Drive

912 Sunset

912 Sunset

Wiley and Helene Hitchcock, 1956. Hitchcock was in the University of Michigan department of music.
4051 Thornoaks Drive

4051 Thornoaks

4051 Thornoaks

Arnold and Elizabeth Kaufman, 1961. Arnold Kaufman was a professor of philosophy and the inventor of the “teach in” at the University of Michigan. Although much altered on the front, the back, which faces the Huron River, is pure Techbuilt.
4194 Thornoaks Drive, Peter and Sandra Lawson, 1974. By the time this was built, Techbuilt had changed their name to Acorn. This model was called Deck House.

1244 Westport Road

1244 Westport

1244 Westport

Stephen and Lois Withey, 1957. Stephen Withey joined the Institute of Social Research in 1948, was promoted to Program Director in 1951, and served as Director of Survey Research from 1976 to 1981. He was given a dual appointment the department of psychology in 1953. Altogether, he spent forty years at ISR, retiring in 1987.

For more information on Techbuilt homes, see:
https://modernmass.com/carl-koch/
https://thetechbuilthouse.com/
https://www.ncmodernist.org/techbuilt.htm

The Return of Walking Tours!

Buy Tickets Here

 

 

Mark your calendars for our fall walking tour on September 18 at 1 p.m., starting at the corner of Devonshire and Heather Way. We will look at the exteriors of a variety of midcentury modern homes designed by local architects including Robert Metcalf, David Osler, Herb Johe, William Muschenheim, Joe Albano, Edward Olencki, Thomas Tanner, and Walter Sanders. We will also see an example of famous Midland architect Alden Dow.

 

The cost of the walk will be $15.00 per person. Follow this link for tickets.

 

If it rains, we will walk the following Sunday, at the same time.