Mississippi River Bluff Home
The house’s footprint was predetermined by the 60s rambler that used to occupy the 1.14-acre site. After razing the house, the team built on top of the large, rectangular foundation. Hansen based the simple, gabled exterior forms on vernacular midwestern farm-style houses and barns. He used recycled Douglas fir for the post-and-beam structure, which varies in height along the length of the home. Stained cedar shingle cladding, and pitched fiberglass shingle and metal standing-seam roofs lend the exterior a traditional look.
Sleek and minimal, the generous interior spaces, on the other hand, were designed to express warmth as well as Modernism. The two-story house has a 1,911-square-foot finished basement level, which houses a bedroom and a stepped, circular conversation pit and black-brick fireplace salvaged and reconstructed from the existing house. The main floor has a 1,047-square-foot open area containing the kitchen, dining, and living spaces. Organized along the bluff line, those spaces contain service areas “hidden in plain sight” behind a wall of cabinets and a large mirror (“an homage to Adolph Loos,” says Hansen about the mirror). Along with the abundant windows on the house’s north side, a “light monitor”—more windowed cupola than skylight—illuminates the space. The 660-square-foot master suite is also located on the main floor, as is a guest bedroom, with the remaining two bedrooms on the second floor.
Throughout the house, the natural color of the woods used—such as cherry for stair railings, reclaimed Jarrah (an Australian hardwood) for the majority of the floors, and the cork flooring used in the family room—brings warmth to the large open spaces. Slatted barnlike interior millwork on ceilings and walls provides texture. Lighting is soft and low, and in the living areas especially, where lighting was mounted on wires strung across the space, an intimate feel belies the large expanses.
“Although this was very much a collaboration, my partner really wanted this one house to be more modern than what I usually go for,” says Ray Miller, Millerville’s owner. “We were able to inject more of a serene, Scandinavian look into this home than in the others on the lot,” agrees Hansen. Examples can be found in rooms such as the master bathroom, where the architects used back-painted, sand-blasted sheet glass in lieu of tile. “Some visitors have commented that they see an Asian influence, as well,” he says. “We tried to make each space warm and inviting, while sticking to the goals of using the existing footprint and taking advantage of the site.”
“I pulled the reins back on the other homes, which are more traditional, with more painted millwork, color, enamel, tile, etc. Still, this is the one that gets such an incredible response. But there’s always a risk in this business,” he says. “There’s just a smaller population that’s interested in something this contemporary. A buyer will come.”
