Around 9:20am last Saturday, about 70 people started flooding into our driveway on the most stunningly beautiful fall day, getting ready to tour our house. We were upstairs giving the architects that designed our house a private tour; their first since it was completed in 1979. It might not seem that remarkable, especially to those who live in newer builds, but I can’t tell you how incredibly special it was to watch Jeri and his wife, Wylie, see their favorite project for the first time in 44 years.
Being an architect of residential homes is weird. They spend so much time and energy on a project, bringing their and their client’s vision to life, and then when it’s finished, they’re not allowed back inside ever again, unless whoever owns it invites them back. Many people who live in historic homes will never get the chance to meet their architect because, obviously, they’ve passed away. There are so many homes in St. Paul that were built in the 1920s and 30s, and they go all the way back to the late 1800s, which usually means that the architects of the homes in our area have been gone for decades. Last month we were elated to learn that Jeri and Wylie designed our house in their 20s at the very beginning of their careers (according to them it was the first, and best, house they ever designed) and they were not only both still alive, but living about two hours away.
Saturday’s tour was really rewarding. A bunch of Jeri and Wylie’s family members came to the tour, which almost made me cry, and the president of the architectural society that was in charge of the tour said it was their most highly attended event all year, and that they were so pleased with how it went because “they really needed the money,” lol. I believe tickets were around $25 to see both houses–we live next door to a mid-century modern gem designed by the first female architect in Minnesota, Elizabeth Close, and our neighbors are another childfree couple and cool as hell–but the four of us joined the tour on a fully volunteer basis. I won’t lie, it was a little weird having almost 70 strangers come through our house, answering the same questions over and over and overhearing all their thoughts and opinions (most of them good?), but overall I’m glad we did it. It was a truly stunning fall day, having the house so clean really gave me life during my busiest time of year, and it gave me an excuse with a hard deadline to finish some projects which I really needed for my sanity, haha.
Before we get to all the photos I took and a full tour of the house (please know that these are *not* Pinterest quality photos; we didn’t hire a photographer and my DLSR had such a hard time with all the windows and shadows that I gave up and just used my phone), here are the answers to a few of the questions you asked me on my brief return to Instagram a few days ago:
Q&A
Q: Who is the architect of your house? Do you know any other history about the house?
Jeri Zuber and his wife, Wylie Baker, designed our house in 1978/79 for their client, Marion Fry. Marion was a landscape architect who lived in the mid-century house next door, which she commissioned in the 50s. Apparently the project didn’t go super well (even though our neighbor’s house is perfect??) and Marion ended up suing the architect, which is apparently why she didn’t go back to Elizabeth Close when she wanted to subdivide her huge lot and build a new house 20ish years later. We’ve heard a ton about Marion from a neighbor who has lived across the street for 50 years and apparently she was just a huge bitch???? So that’s kind of disappointing, lol, but she was clearly a visionary because both of her houses are so fucking cool, and she had a heavy hand in the design of each.
Jeri was 28 years-old when Marion approached him to design her second house, and at that age he was comfortable taking a ton of risks to give her exactly what she wanted, which was a treehouse designed around an elevator that removed as few trees as possible from her heavily wooded lot. Marion’s husband had just died when she commissioned the house, and she was beginning to have issues with her own mobility, so she wanted a house with no internal staircase that was designed just for her to age in, with live-in nurse’s quarters that were attached, but very separate. Marion lived on the top level, which has two bedrooms and one bathroom, and her nurse lived on the middle level, which was designed to essentially be a studio apartment with a separate entrance. It’s missing a full kitchen, otherwise you might be able to call it a duplex.
Marion ended up suing Jeri, too, over the design of the driveway. Our house is built into the side of a hill, and Jeri insisted it was too steep to just go straight up the hill from the street (not an issue in the summer, but hello, half the year in Minnesota is winter?), but Marion said she didn’t care, because she didn’t want to remove any more trees from the lot. After one winter living in the house, Marion called Jeri up and sued him for designing a driveway that wasn’t actually viable. After Jeri reminded her that the design of the driveway was her idea, she pursued legal action, and from what we understand, they settled by redesigning and rebuilding the driveway for free. So, our driveway now has a switchback which makes it possible to get up and down during the winter (although it’s still awful).
Jeri told us that our house is still his favorite thing he’s ever designed that was actually built, and he and Wylie actually considered buying it when it went up for sale after Marion moved to California. It was truly a joy to see them experience the house again after four decades. We asked what it was like being back in the house, and to our delight, Jeri said it was just as amazing and he remembered (Wylie said she was surprised because she didn’t remember how beautiful it was), and they both agreed that the changes that were made since 1979 were all improvements. 🥹
Q: How did your house get on the map for architecture lovers?
We were told by the previous owners that our house was designed by Elizabeth Scheu Close, the architect who designed our neighbor’s house for the same client in the 50s. In the spring, Paul heard that the Minnesota chapter of the Society for Architectural Historians was hosting a presentation on Elizabeth’s work, so we went. We made friends with the presenter, Jane, and the group’s president (a lovely guy named Rolf who is in his 70s with big grandpa energy) and kind of casually mentioned we would be happy to invite everyone over to see our house, and they were so fucking psyched that we (Paul) actually made it a reality. When Jane figured out our house wasn’t designed by Elizabeth after doing a ton of research, we were momentarily disappointed, until we tracked down and got in contact with Jeri, who agreed to come to the tour on the spot. So much cooler!!
Q: Did you use a decorator or was it all you?
Omg I’m flattered by this question? Everything in our house was chosen by us. The name of the game was really to combine everything Paul and I already had, and then fill in the gaps where necessary. So much of our furniture and decor is stuff Paul and I had before we met, and we’ve bought quite a few things specifically for the house as well since we both lived in one bedroom apartments before moving in.
Q: What was your favorite part to design/work on?
Gosh, everything, but I think my favorite project has been the middle level bathroom. It’s truly the biggest before and after which is so fun. I took the one element I didn’t want the hassle of changing–the floor–and designed around it. It was a long project and that was less fun, but I love how it turned out.
Q: How do you think through colors for a cohesive look?
That’s actually a great question. I really like the way blues, greens, and dark pinks/purples look together, and I love how they look with wood and plants, two things I need in my living environment. Those are the colors we leaned heavily on, plus black (which you can also see in my L.A. apartment).
Q: How do you budget for decor?
Time. We have bought things pretty steadily over the past two years, so we have been able to pay for everything slowly as we go. We also opened a joint credit card that had 18 months of a 0% APR so we could pay everything we bought for our house off over time, which we ABSOLUTELY used. It’s the Capital One ‘Savor’ card if anyone’s in the market.
Q: How did you know where to save/splurge?
Shopping around A LOT! I’m a huge research person; I like to get an idea of a price range for more expensive pieces before I buy something so I know exactly what you’re paying for and what the alternative options are. Then I like to weigh the options and decide kind of based on a gut feeling when it’s best to splurge and save. If there’s something we love aesthetically that is also comfortable and in our price range, that’s the trifecta. I don’t think I always get it right with design decisions, but I like the approach of buying things slowly over time so I don’t make mistakes just because I’m trying to save money or get things done quickly.
Q: How does having a unique house make decorating challenging?
We really want to honor the house and do things that feel right for it, if that makes sense? So sometimes that means choosing something because it feels like it fits the style of the house, rather than because I love it so much. Or leaving something that’s already there that I would otherwise want to change. Our kitchen has a yellow tile backsplash that everyone seems to love but me. I want to change it to a relaxed shade of green, but every time I mention it, people (including Paul) are like, nooooooooooooooooooooooo. So I’m having a hard time with it. I really hate it. But I might have to just live with it because that’s what the house wants? I wish I could ask it.
Q: How do you handle having all the shoes in the house?!
Everyone had to wear little booties over their shoes for the tour! But shoes in the house don’t actually bother me. Not sure why.
Q: I remember you saying that your house wasn’t for sale when you bought it. I am so curious how Paul got the non-sellers to sell–it seems like magic was involved!
Omg, so much magic. I started writing the answer to this question and it got so long I decided to make it a separate issue for paid subscribers next week! I’ll tell you the story of how we bought a house that wasn’t actually for sale with all the details, including all the numbers.
Now! On to the tour, starting where you enter at our front door: