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AN EMPTY-NESTER COUPLE FORGE A NEW LIFE BY REBUILDING THEIR NORTH SHORE SUBURBAN HOME WITH A MORE MODERN AESTHETIC.

WRITTEN BY JORGE S. ARANGO / PHOTOGRAPHY BY DREW SEMEL-ILLUMINARTS

CLEAN SLATEINTERIOR DESIGN / ARLENE SEMEL AND BRIAN SNOW, SEMELSNOW INTERIOR DESIGN, INC.

ARCHITECTURE / LAURENCE BOOTH, BOOTH HANSEN HOME BUILDER / ARVID EIESLAND, EIESLAND BUILDERS, INC.

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE / DOUGLAS HOERR, HOERR SCHAUDT LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS

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While many empty nesters jettison their large, traditional suburban homes for coolly sophisticated, modern city apartments, one North Shore couple—after raising four children—ultimately

decided to forgo a move and stay put. Although they loved their verdant 2-acre-plus site with its abundance of mature oaks, they still craved a more modern vernacular. “They had lived in a beautiful home but wanted to create a house with a simpler aesthetic and a more contemporary appeal that fit their current needs,” says interior designer Arlene Semel, who worked on the project with principal Brian Snow and senior designer Mary Ennis-Smith. Off the table, however, was the usual glass box with sleek polished surfaces and extravagant materials. “The wife was absolutely steadfast about not wanting the house to be precious,” says Semel. Rather, the clients desired a home that featured a prolific use of wood, connections

to the outdoors and Asian-inflected furnishings—with such Japanese design concepts as kanso (simplicity), shibui (understated beauty) and shizen (naturalness).

To begin the project, architect Laurence Booth conceived an open-concept layout. “I really envisioned a home with free-flowing interior spaces,” says Booth, who worked on the residence with project architect Alex Schabel and project manager Christopher Guido. According to Booth, the influence of Japanese architecture, lots of wood, corner windows where glass meets glass, natural materials and nothing too shiny are all evident in the home’s design.

Additionally, the house had to function on a variety of levels. “It had to beautifully serve two people but easily accommodate their children and grandchildren plus small-and-large entertaining needs,” Snow says. Booth and his team responded with a design comprising an H-shaped structure whose connecting middle would be a glass box housing a spectacular handcrafted metal staircase.

Working with designs by landscape architect Douglas Hoerr, Mariani Landscape installed a courtyard that embraces the front entrance, which incorporates granite slabs that function as sculptural seating; the lanterns were existing. Inside, the staircase was conceived by Booth Hansen and fabricated by Fine Art Metalwork in Ironwood, Michigan.

This North Shore home’s Asian influences are apparent from the entry hall. Here, interior designer Arlene Semel and principal Brian Snow collaborated with the homeowners to install framed Japanese calligraphy artworks above two mid-1800s Chinese demilune tables from The Golden Triangle. The runner is from Oscar Isberian Rugs.

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In the living room, doors by Grabill Windows & Doors open up

the house to nature. Custom barrel chairs and circa-1930s Hungarian armchairs—all from The Golden

Triangle—and a sofa from Holly Hunt surround a Gulassa & Company

coffee table. A Helen Frankenthaler painting hovers above a custom

sectional from A. Rudin; the central Spanish Baroque console is from

Therien & Co. in Los Angeles.

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In the kitchen, countertops supplied by Norstone and fabricated by Rocktops pair with cabinetry designed by architect Laurence Booth and handcrafted of white oak by Eiesland Woodwork Co. The counter stools are from The Bright Group. Clerestory windows over cabinets allow natural light to pour into the kitchen.

The stairway was intended to be a piece of sculpture, which the design—executed by the team at Booth Hansen—beautifully fulfills. Says general contractor Arvid Eiesland, “the massive staircase’s three parts had to be soldered together on site before the walls and windows were installed in the stair hall.”

Throughout the dwelling, Booth also provided spaces with high ceilings and opened up the house to the outdoors, another Japanese concept. “Creating openings from interior spaces that frame views of trees, sky, sunlight and flora was the goal of this design,” Booth says. “Wonderful homes connect people to landscapes.” The architect opted for stucco walls—regularly interspersed with windows and doors with frames—that feature aluminum on the outside and wood on the inside. Moreover, the profusion of rift-sawn, European-cut and plane-sliced oak can be found throughout the interiors. Wood, of course, emanates the shizen concept and is the chief material of Japanese

architecture; it imparts mellow warmth that humanizes even soaring spaces such as the double-height living room.

Aside from many of the Asian antiques that can be found around the home, Semel relied on a broader and more eclectic assortment of international furniture archetypes, many of which—though of diverse cultural provenance—are unified by their straightforward, unadorned integrity, or shibui. “Beautiful pieces live well together,” Semel says. “These furnishings are more earthy than dressy, without a lot of frill. They’re also not polished yet not rustic either, and some pieces are very sophisticated.” A long table in the master bedroom, for example, is fashioned from a 12-foot-long wood plank supported by carved legs and connected by hand-forged iron stretchers, while the console in the living room is Spanish Baroque. Furthermore, a Swedish Mora clock resides in a hall near the stairway, comb-back Windsor armchairs mingle with a chunky French Renaissance oak trestle table in the combined family and

A French Renaissance trestle table from Therien & Co. and circa-1780s Windsor armchairs from Robert Young Antiques in London bisect the family and dining rooms. Wei chairs from Primitive surround Formations’ Alessio table from Holly Hunt. The antique wool rug from Oscar Isberian Rugs and a Japanese screen complete the scene.

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On the south side of the property, Hoerr created free-form spaces

by alternating areas of green lawn with a mixed-border matrix that’s defined by a curvilinear thread of stone walls. Chicago Ornamental Plastering worked on the exterior stuccowork. The shingles are by Greenstone Slate Company, and the edges of the roofing feature

VMZinc eaves purchased through Tuschall Engineering Company.

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dining room, and a French apothecary cabinet in one of the guest rooms shares space with an English bobbin chair and a wooden sea chest. The materials around the home are also incredibly inviting. “The fabrics are very soft and beautifully woven,” Semel says. “You feel the handmade quality of everything.” And, in keeping with the kanso spirit, many of the windows are not dressed. “The outside is so beautiful and so much of what this house is about,” Semel explains. “There was really no point in adding draperies.” Instead, hidden motorized shades do the trick when the couple want privacy.

Because the site was the principal reason for the couple to stay put, landscape architect Douglas Hoerr took great care to preserve the mature trees, protecting generous areas and their root zones from construction. He also worked closely with the design team to conceptualize a house that’s final design was informed by and respectful

of the site. Then, Hoerr designed gardens of naturalistic native perennials, bulbs and grasses “that would be seasonally dynamic with fluidity and privacy,” says Hoerr, who worked on the home with project manager Patrick Peterson. A woodland garden of rhododendron, boxwood and evergreen situated in a courtyard that embraces the front entrance “became the couple’s art wall,” he adds, referring to the floor-to-ceiling glass wall around the staircase that, when viewed from indoors, is transformed into a three-dimensional landscape. “The house seeks to blend with the outdoors, giving nature the starring role,” says Booth.

This combination of Midwestern landscape, international furnishings and architecture that is Japanese in spirit, while still being thoroughly American, makes this an exceedingly dynamic and distinctive home. “The couple had a real interest in planning the house,” says Semel. “It was a wonderful project because of their clear vision.”

Custom panels from Duross Design and Development in Johnstown, New York, surround the study’s steel fireplace. A. Rudin chairs feature Manuel Canovas fabric through Cowtan & Tout, and an ottoman, fabricated by Interior Dynamics, includes an Indonesian textile from Primitive. Semel covered the clients’ dining chairs in leather from Donghia.

Custom veneer-plaster walls provide a backdrop in the hallway for the circa-1790s Swedish Mora clock from Dawn Hill Antiques in New Preston, Connecticut. Wide-plank, white-oak floors are from Apex Wood Floors. Across from the clock is an architectural glass box that houses the staircase.

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Above: An antique armchair from Charles Jacobsen in Culver City, California, and the owners’ existing rug both add a rustic feel to the master bathroom. Eiesland Woodwork Co. fabricated the cabinetry; Villano Interiors installed the countertops and flooring, both from Stone Source. The window is dressed in a Conrad Imports shade.

Left: An 18th-century Spanish table doesn’t disturb the view from the master bedroom, where a circa-1730s Italian console doubles as a nightstand. The custom bed, fabricated by Interior Dynamics, features linens made by Muse Bespoke. Sconces are from One Source; the drapery material is from Duralee and fabricated by Dezign Sewing.

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HOERR SCHAUDT LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS

850 W. Jackson Blvd Suite 800Chicago, IL 60607

312.492.6501

www.hoerrschaudt.com