This house is a 4/3, with 140 feet on Lake Michigan, a great beach and stairs, with beautiful decks and porches all around. But the rest of the story is this: it is a Carl Hoerman house. Carl Hoerman (1885-1955), so it says in Painting the Town: A History of Art in Saugatuck and Douglas by Kit Lane, a book from 1997 which is the standard history of art and artists in a community that has had more than its share, was born in Bavaria, studied art in Munich, and came to the United States in 1904. He studied architecture in Chicago, opened his own office there. In 1919 he gave up his Chicago practice and moved to Saugatuck, where he became, if not our most renowned painter, at least, one of the several we think captured the unique light and landscape of this area. Several buildings of his still stand. We love this one. The earliest parts of it are from 1936, we are told. It is just down the street from the Pier Cove beach and community, founded by landscaper O.C. Simonds early last century, which still preserves the special plants and landforms that the Lake Michigan shore boasts.
We were sitting in the living room with the homeowners during an an open house the other day and we noticed the coffered, cathedral ceiling. We'd never looked closely at it before. To the casual observer it is a nice room, with a cathedral ceiling and a huge mantelpiece, very much of the native style of Carl Hoerman's Bavaria. A large room, and so therefore impressive, but not out of scale in such a way that the visitor feels insignificant. A really human room, though Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland in The Adventures of Robin Hood might have been comfortable there. But what Carl did with the ceiling was, he painted a grey frame around each of the coffered panels, which provide the impression of a shadow, even when a shadow is not cast by ambient light. A very clever idea, and one that makes the ceiling stand out, but in such a subtle, understated way that most viewers would not even notice. It might not have been Carl who did this, but we like to think that it was -- it shows his eye and insight.
The exterior provides a characteristic example of Carl's use of contrasting vertical and horizontal siding, often with color contrasts as well. Here is a picture of Carl's studio on Pleasant Street, in Saugatuck, which is painted in red and in multiple greens,
and a picture of the 2236 Lakeshore Drive house.
We think it's great. It is a perfect house for its spot. It wants someone who can appreciate its location, and its intrinsic uniqueness. Is this the place for your family to spend time together at their own Lake Michigan place? We certainly hope so.
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