A fine American Foursquare
Throughout the house you’ll note period-specific pieces. The doorbell is manual, the doorknobs are ornate, and the window and door mouldings have gorgeous rosettes.
We tried to pick linens and rugs that would complement the existing parts of the house while honoring older traditions.
The wood floors are also original to the house. If you look at the floors in the front of the house closely, you’ll note how well they fit together – even though they are hand-hewn. We were lucky to find some replacement boards at a salvage place because modern boards will not fit. As you go further toward the back of the house, you’ll see more gaps between the boards. We think that this is because the servants were in the back of the house, while guests would have been in the front — and the best boards would have been in the public rooms.
This classic American Foursquare was built in 1921 and has elements of the Prairie School and Arts and Crafts architecture. It is a bit of a rejection of the overly ornate Victorian style house, some of which you can see in the Summerville neighborhood. The bare bulb lights are all true to the period, and some of the lights are original to the house, most notably the tulip glass fixture in the art gallery.
The house colors are meant to bring the outside in. You’ll have seen this on other Craftsmen house that are often a forest green with a red clay trim. We chose to update that look with more modern colors – apple green, sky blue, midnight blue, and a soft, daylight yellow. The ceilings are a color called Skylight – meant to remind you of the light that comes through its namesake.