2007 AIA Michigan Design Honor Award

Julius Melchers Residence and Carriage House
Detroit, MI

Jury Comment:
“The existing house was beautifully and carefully restored and the new structure interprets and respects the essence of the historic house.”tc "“The existing house was beautifully and carefully restored and the new structure interprets and respects the essence of the historic house.”"

Project Description:

The restoration and renovation of this home, originally built for a sculptor in 1896, involved a complete overhaul of internal mechanics, restructuring of dilapidated areas, new construction, and detailed restoration.

By 2001, most parts of the house were abandoned, with the back wing nearly collapsed. After comprehensively revamping all of the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, the back wing was lifted off its original foundations and reinforced with structural steel. A new cedar and copper roof replaced three other roofs layered over the original shingle roof. The exterior wood clapboard was stripped of 20 layers of paint and rotted perimeter eaves and inverted gutters and soffits were rebuilt. A meticulous restoration of the original hand-carved details was achieved by consulting historic photos of the house. The colors used to complete the exterior include colonial yellow with a cream trim accented with green tones to highlight details of the restored carvings.

The next phase was interior reconstruction, which required establishing sectional relief where there originally was none. Four new bathrooms, a new kitchen, and morning room were created. Three bedrooms evolved into the master suite on the second floor. A revision of the original sunroom created a two-story sunroom with views of the newly created courtyard and carriage house. A large family room was created on the third floor, where once three bedrooms existed, and a new third floor balcony replaced unfinished attic space. A fourth level loft overlooks the third floor space and completes the complex relationship within the restored structure.

The front landscape is inspired from the oval window at the center of the second floor, which is perhaps derived from the “third eye” or “eye of God”, as the original owner was an influential member of the Masonic order. The detail is rendered upon the ground through the symmetrical use of brick walkways, boxwood hedges, plantings and other landscape elements.

Resourceful design created a new carriage house, allowing for an inventive garage, courtyard, and storage facility, continuing and building upon the architectural language of the main structure.

The carriage house takes advantage of the alley access to the home. It was carefully designed to engage the original historic fabric of the main structure and comprises two symmetrical wings flanking a sunken courtyard. Each wing of the modernized space accommodates one car, with a storage loft located above. The connecting space between the two garages was designed to be a summer kitchen, spilling out to the intimate courtyard space used as an alfresco dinning room.

The end gables of the carriage house also pay respect to the language of architectural detail found on the original house. But the most significant component of the building’s exterior is the extensive use of architectural salvage, the most prominent being the front entry. This arched entrance was salvaged from a 1906 Albert Kahn mansion that once faced Lakeshore Drive in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Now forming the façade of the carriage house, which faces the rebuilt rear of the main house, this architectural jewel helps create the courtyard of this historic home.

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