Is my house quot;modernquot;? Is it anything?

I'm so glad I found a forum for the St. Louis Area. I need help!

My husband and I recently purchased a very unique home in Belleville, IL (less than 20 miles from St. Louis) and we are trying to learn more about it. I have never seen anything like it, and I would like to find out if any one on this forum knows of similar homes or of an architect who might have built our home. Our neigborhood has a wide variety of styles, but nothing is even close to the style or our home. Is it modern? Is is anything?

Check out the [url href=http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZtGLJk2atHIQ ]pictures of the house[/url]. There is a crude floor plan at the end of the series of photos (second page of the thumbnails). The curved wall is the kitchen.

Here is what we know:
- Built in 1946 in the Edison Place subdivision (outside the city limits at the time)
- Concrete block (CMU) construction over crawlspace/basement combo
- Flat roof with a parapet wall, no overhangs
- Irregular stone veneer (limestone?) appears to be original
- French doors instead of windows in every room except the bath and kitchen
- Hideous blue awning is not original, but hardware for awnings on every window/door is present, and more or less intact
- Portico on the back was enclosed later (1960's, judging by the windows)
- Hardwood floors in the bedrooms and under the new living/dining carpet

This is our first house, and we have lots of plans for improvements. We moved in less than a week ago, but we have already started to work on a few things (goodbye rotten split rail fence!). Our first major project will be the front door area, including awning, steps, and lights. I would appreciate any design suggestions or references to local buildings that would help us come up with an awning/portico that suits the house.

Thanks!

Jenny, Welcome!

I'm not sure If I would consider it modern, but that could all change depending on modifications you plan on doing to the house. It looks like a great house with many possibilities. Are you into modern design? Is that the direction you are wanting to go with your new home?

I have always preferred simple designs, great materials, and clean lines. I have not begun to think of my preferences as modern until recently. I suppose if I had been exposed to more modern designs I would have gone that direction sooner, but modernism is pretty rare - actually it's nonexistent - where I grew up.

Anyway, back to the fort...
The simple geometric volumes of the house and the flat roof are (I think) characteristic of Modern or International style. If my house was white stucco instead of stone veneer it would be obvious. I am still hoping to find another house with a similar hodgpodge of architectural themes and some clues to the architect.

I would like to go more modern with our improvements to the house. My husband is thinking a gently arched copper canopy supported by cylindrical metal posts with a few feet of stacked stone at the base of each post. Any thoughts?

That is such an interesting house, modern or not. It almost looks like it had an industrial use previously. If it were my place I would paint the exterior windows and doors black or at least something a little darker than the exterior stone (dark brown or bronze, stay away from gray though). That would give the impression of larger openings. Eliminate the white. It looks really dated. On the interior I'd paint all of the walls and trim the same color (semi gloss on the trim and flat on the walls, but in the same color) and I'd pick a highlight color for the french doors (again probably black maybe a dark brown if you went with tan walls).

The kitchen is interesting. The 1 tiles are really in right now. You could pull down that ruffle above the sink and install new counters, paint the cabinets and add new hardware and you'd have a modern looking kitchen inexpensively. It would at least hold you over until you get some other things done and can get back to the kitchen. Please post updates when you get them.
~mike

You definitely have great bones there. That didn't sound right... Great house though. Not sure I'd say modern, but it could be if that's what you want to go for. Elements that wouldn't be considered modern necessarily are the mutton bars on the windows, the decorative elements on the screen door... But, the kitchen could be very cool/modern with some very simple alterations. Your living room, brought back to hardwoods and some minor modifications to the fireplace. There are really some great elements to your home regardless of style.

Best wishes and please post pics of your progress.

Scott Fletcher
form modern development
kansas city, missouri

I've driven past this house many times, and just love the stone work. If you want to go modern with this house, I think you definitely could, but be prepared for the cost. The easiest thing to do would be to decorate it as what I've heard called a cottage. But if you love clean lines you may dislike the clutter of cottage. Just curious, can you hear the MetroLink go by every 15 minutes? Anyway, I'd think about replacing all the windows and doors, getting rid of any carpet, you may need to refinish the hardwood, replace the light fixtures, gut and renovate the kitchen, and do some landscaping. Just a question, if you converted the garage to living space, could you put a two-car garage elsewhere on the lot?

[quote:ellard_douglas format=text/plain]Just curious, can you hear the MetroLink go by every 15 minutes? [/quote]
The stone and concrete block construction eliminates most of the MetroLink noise and all of the traffic noise from McClintock. In the living/dining room we can hear a very brief whoosh when the trains go by. I had several overnight guests for the holidays and it did not bother any of them. The noise is barely noticable in the front bedroom with the solid wood door closed. Outside the house the noise is pretty distracting, but we plan to add some features to the landscape that should help minimize/mask the sound.

[quote:ellard_douglas format=text/plain]Just a question, if you converted the garage to living space, could you put a two-car garage elsewhere on the lot?[/quote]
Converting the existing garage to living space would not be too difficult. The challenge would be making the floor plan make sense: the garage is only accessible from the rest of the house by going through the kitchen and through the utility room, and then to the garage.

A two car garage could probably be added in the back yard along McClintock, but it would really limit the potential in the back yard. Another option would be to add a driveway off of McKinley along the property line between our house and the neighbors, but it would be very tight. That arrangement would also preclude the addition of any small garden/seating areas outside the French doors in the bedrooms on that side of the house.

We don't plan to finish out the garage or build a new two car garage. We might add an off-street parking spot parallel to the garage in the back yard as part of the complete landscape overhaul we are planning. I'll post the site plan when we get it worked out.

it looks like a vernacular offshoot of modernism... not really classically modern or international, but one of those crazy regional hybrids.

regardless of what it's categorized as, it looks cool.

have you considered some skylights?

if you wanted to have a little fun with the house, consider installing a green roof as well. It'll really help with the heating bills, esp. over the long run.

jspell -

Thanks for taking a look. We have not considered skylights, but we are thinking pretty seriously about a green roof. Right now we are in the researching phase. We found a modular system from a local manufacturer (www.greenroofblocks.com) that we like. Part of the reason we aren't moving forward - besides the budget - is that we don't how to figure out how much of a load our roof can handle. We don't have any blueprints of the roof strucutral system.

I'm also cooking up a crazy scheme for us to get the green roof extra cheap as a demonstration/public awareness project. Everyone who rides MetroLink past our house can see right on to the roof. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I'm still hopeful that we can get someone else to pay at least some of the cost through stormwater/LID grant funding or as advertising for the manufacturer or something.

Also, I'm almost done with a decent rendering of the porch/wall/planting plans. New front steps (with a roof!) and a mass planting of Red Twig Dogwoods - it's going to be fabulous!