With its attractive façade and handsome front garden, this 1923 brick Georgian gives an excellent first impression. However, the home’s greatest charms reside inside, where the owners’ artistry and individuality are powerfully apparent. Immediately upon entering, visitors are treated to custom-designed, stenciled walls in the entry hall and foyer. Immediately to the right is a spacious, comfortable living room with an immense and eclectic art collection by everyone from the owners’ children to Peter Max. Across the entry hall, the dining room is equally diverse, with a custom-made dining room table, stenciled floors and hand-painted walls.

Paintings, pottery, woodwork and other media abound. But over ten years, the owners also have made plenty of structural changes. For example, they combined a small breakfast room and kitchen into a single, large room. The resulting space is the nerve center of the house, replete with curly maple cabinetry, faux-painted walls, painted flooring and a “Philly Fence” ceiling. Of particular interest are the counters, which were redone with Seneca tile “seconds”—pieces deemed inferior by their Ohio manufacturer, subsequently dumped in a field and sold inexpensively to any buyer willing to dig them back out.

Upstairs, they converted a two-room maid’s quarters at the back of the second floor into a large home office. There also is a large glamour bathroom built by the previous residents. This room (originally open space above a now-enclosed sun porch) includes a giant wall of closets where the former owner allegedly kept hundreds of pairs of shoes (Imelda Marcos, are you on the Tour this year?).

Perhaps the most interesting thing is the extent to which the owners have worked with local artists and craftspeople to achieve the home’s unique look. Cleveland-area talents represented in the home include:
ß Kitchen design: John Koncar (John has worked on several Heritage Tour homes, including 1737 Andrews Court and 3027 Corydon Road).

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