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Open-Style Living Expressed In Chestnut Rd. Home

Open-Style Living Expressed In Chestnut Rd. Home image
Parent Issue
Day
19
Month
October
Year
1957
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
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Open-Style Living Expressed In Chestnut Rd. Home

Simplicity, Charm, Comfort Mark House

Ease Of Upkeep Stressed For Family Of Five

By Jack Lewis

Individual bedrooms for each of their three children and a home "easy to move around in” were some of the demands met when Harlan D. Yeager and his wife, Lucille, bought their nine-room two-level at 1119 Chestnut Rd.

The Yeagers for 10 years lived in a country home on 36 acres at 2201 Newport Rd., where they raised animals as a hobby. They were used to open, free-style living space.

This theme is captured in the Chestnut Rd. home of modem architectural styling in Riverside Hills subdivision.

The Yeagers watched local contractor Albert Duckek build the two-level into a three-quarter-acre hillside for a year before Duckek put the house up for sale in July. It was designed by Architect Robert C. Metcalf of Ann Arbor.

Has Terrazzo Floor

Mrs. Yeager today will confirm that the house with its terrazzo tile, carpeted floors and interior decor of modem and traditional furnishings provide "very free, open living and easy upkeep."

“I don’t have to go around a lot of corners,” she said.

The 65 x 26-foot house and grounds have innovations, which include a 20 x 40-foot swimming pool 9 1/2 feet deep at one end and featuring a pool filtering plant and underwater lighting.

Let's take a word "tour" of some of the spaces in the house:

Living room and dining el—Featuring a studio ceiling, the living room has a three-foot overhang of redwood, which conceals lighting that can be dimmed or brightened with a rheostat.

Ceiling-to-floor picture windows along the northside of the 30 x 15-foot living room look out onto a sundeck and scenic wooded view in the distance. A second raised sundeck can be reached from a west bedroom, also with floor-to-ceiling windows.

The redwood overhang becomes the ceiling in the dining el, similarly with a floor-to-ceiling window which looks out onto the patio and swimming pool. Terrazzo tile floors in the dining el and living room add to the open-style theme and simplicity that prevails in the house.

Interior decoration was by Rolland G. Frey of Advance Interiors here.

Kitchen Described

Kitchen—Custom-built equipment in this space features a walnut-type color and grain of formica which is on the interior, as well as exterior, of all cupboard and drawer space. The three exits from the kitchen include one which opens onto the patio.

Recreation room—Wood paneling dominates this 30 x 15-foot room on the first floor level which permits a view of the grounds through a paned area. It covers a considerable portion of the north wall. A fireplace here and in the living room are provided.

A room entered from the play space with its western atmosphere contains short-wave transmitting and receiving equipment used by the Yeagers' son. John, 16.

Each of the Yeager children’s bedrooms is highlighted by furnishings and accessories that express the teen-agers' hobbies and interests.

On Lower Level

John's room and the sleeping quarters of his brother, Richard, 15, are on the lower level. Two other bedrooms are on the upper level. The spaces provide facilities for guests of the Yeager boys and their sister, Carol Sue, 13.

The brick-faced house, with its two-stall carport, has two bathrooms. One of them has a skylight hidden from view by a false plastic ceiling that radiates daylight or artificial lighting over the entire ceiling.

There are numerous “extras" in house, including a built-in inter-room communications system that connects all points of the rambling structure. A microphone and receiver built in near the front door permit family members to quiz bell ringers from any part of the house. Telephone jacks are conveniently spotted about the structure.

Yeager is vice-president of Auto Parts, Inc., of Ann Arbor.

BUILT INTO HILLSIDE: This nine-room Harlan D. Yeager home at 1119 Chestnut Rd. is a two-level structure built into a hillside at a point where there is a commanding view of the Riverside Hills Subdivision. The screening from the sundeck to roof permits family members to look out, but shields floor to ceiling bedroom picture windows from outsiders and sunlight. The sundeck (extreme left) is just outside the living room.

TERRAZZO FLOORS: The Yeagers’ 30 x 15-foot living room and dining el have a brown-tan floor of terrazzo tile, which is also used as a  wall backdrop above the fireplace. mode a wall backdrop above the fireplace. A ceiling overhang of redwood conceals lighting that may be dimmed or brightened with a rheostat. Furnishings are traditional and modern which fit in with studio-type ceilings in the house, achieving a free, open-style plan of living with simplicity the Yeagers wanted.

20 x 40-FOOT SWIMMING POOL: The pool with its own filtering plant is 9 1/2 feet deep at one end and has underwater lighting. The nearby kitchen make the patio (in background) a convenient place for out-of-doors eating, entertaining or lounging after dips in the pool. Dressing rooms are to be attached to the end of the carport (left of picture).

EFFICIENT KITCHEN: The custom kitchen features a walnut-color design of formica, also on the inside of all drawers and cabinets, making shelving paper unnecessary. The house was built by Albert Duckek, a local contractor, who followed a design by Architect Robert M. Metcalf of Ann Arbor.

SKYLIGHT USED HERE: A plastic-domed skylight brightens the staircase to the lower level, where the recreation room, two bedrooms, plus one for a short-wave ham radio station are located. Birch paneling and unique use of tile on open stairs, plus the long television and storage cabinet help "blend" the two levels together.

CHARMING SCENE: The redwood overhang becomes the ceiling in the dining el with its floor-to-ceiling windows that permit a clear view of the patio and swimming pool. The terrazzo floor permits easy upkeep, an advantage seen by the Yeagers throughout their house because of materials used.