Houzz Tours
Houzz Tour: A Commercial Laundry Gets Recycled Into a Dramatic Home
See how this 1923 behemoth becomes the ultimate home for entertaining and more
For years, this former commercial laundry and warehouse building stood vacant at a busy intersection in downtown Fargo, North Dakota, awaiting a new vision and purpose. After traveling the world and spending a lot of time in New York, a local businessman decided he wanted his own urban loft. This 1923 terra-cotta and brick laundry, with its sturdy industrial timber framing, was ideal. The owner brought in architect Chris Hawley to transform the behemoth into a three-level home for entertaining, living and playing.
The project consisted of taking a former commercial laundry, built in 1923, and adaptively transforming it into a private residence, saving the structure from demolition and preserving a piece of Fargo history. The project included restoring and cleaning the terra-cotta and glazed brick exterior, and installing tripled-glazed, low-emissivity windows for energy efficiency.
Hawley divided the home into three zones. The first zone, or main level, is primarily for entertaining and hosting local charity events. Here, the architect designed a curved bar of steel, poured concrete and Douglas fir. Hawley also created specific areas for group activities, such as playing pool. Adjacent to the bar, through a doorway of white-painted beams, is a spectacular sunroom.
The sunroom off the main level’s bar showcases an enormous window original to the structure, which was cleaned and refabricated into a door reminiscent of an airplane hangar. Throughout the structure, Hawley retained such original features, as well as the brick walls and Douglas fir doors and trim. The whitewashed beadboard came from the ceiling on the second level of the laundry.
Another entertainment area on the first level is the sit-down lounge for watching television and movies. Hawley embedded the large-screen television and speakers into a wall assembled out of cedar blocks. A pair of sectional sofas and tables for drinks and snacks beckon visitors into the Cedar Room, as Hawley calls the space, for a relaxing evening.
Next to the bar on the first level are stand-up tables for sampling and enjoying beverages, as well as a wine room Hawley designed. The wine storage area was constructed using old windows from the laundry, which Hawley repurposed to create a signature space that’s simultaneously transparent and inviting. The space is climate-controlled to protect the wine.
Sitting areas of all types abound on the first floor. Here, comfy sofas for conversation are in a space with the original exposed-wood ceiling and timber-beam framing. Behind the sitting area, a custom-designed zigzag stair leads to the second zone, the couple’s living area.
The first-level sitting area includes a smaller flat-screen TV and sound system set into a wood backdrop wall, and a steel fireplace. The furniture here, Hawley says, can be easily moved for dancing. The doorway to the right leads to the guest suite.
The guest suite on the first level includes a bedroom, bath and kitchenette. “We wanted the guest suite to feel both rustic and comfortable, yet elegant,” Hawley says. “It’s different from the rest of the residence, which is warehouse modern.”
Not seen here are a large door and foyer that can be closed off to separate the guest quarters from the rest of the first level during late-night parties.
Not seen here are a large door and foyer that can be closed off to separate the guest quarters from the rest of the first level during late-night parties.
The steel stairway, to the right, leads from the first zone to the second zone, or level, which is the couple’s living quarters. The stair, Hawley says, “is an engineering marvel. It floats. There aren’t any columns underneath. The client is in the farm-machinery business and didn’t want a straight stair, so it zigzags.”
On the second level, the master suite for the couple is on one end, and the two bedrooms for their sons are on the other end. The living, dining and family gathering areas are in the middle.
On the second level, the master suite for the couple is on one end, and the two bedrooms for their sons are on the other end. The living, dining and family gathering areas are in the middle.
Hawley had to peel off a leaking white beadboard ceiling on the second level (some of which he repurposed in the first-level sunroom). While much of the original exposed timber-frame ceiling remains, certain areas were covered up.
“The client said that anywhere he’d be brushing his teeth, making food or sleeping, he didn’t want any dirt falling on him,” Hawley says. “Old warehouses tend to be dusty, so in those locations, we treated the ceiling so it wasn’t exposed.” The second level includes a kitchen, concrete-block pizza oven, dining table and sitting area with a linear fireplace.
“The client said that anywhere he’d be brushing his teeth, making food or sleeping, he didn’t want any dirt falling on him,” Hawley says. “Old warehouses tend to be dusty, so in those locations, we treated the ceiling so it wasn’t exposed.” The second level includes a kitchen, concrete-block pizza oven, dining table and sitting area with a linear fireplace.
The second-level master suite combines a covered ceiling constructed around the timber framing over the bed, as well as exposed brick and sliding barn doors.
The couple decided to locate the living spaces on the second level “because they were concerned about being closer to the ground,” Hawley says. “The laundry is in a very urban setting at a busy intersection. They didn’t want the noise or people looking in. Plus the views are fantastic.”
The couple decided to locate the living spaces on the second level “because they were concerned about being closer to the ground,” Hawley says. “The laundry is in a very urban setting at a busy intersection. They didn’t want the noise or people looking in. Plus the views are fantastic.”
The second-level master suite includes a wall Hawley constructed to house the TV and a fireplace near a comfortable sitting area. The bedroom windows include original operable transoms to let in breezes.
On the laundry’s lower level, or third zone, Hawley designed workout spaces for the couple. Here, the building’s sturdy timber-beam framing and brick walls are fully exposed. Hawley fitted the workout machines between existing columns and mechanical equipment. “We left all of the original finishes here,” Hawley says. “We’re just letting the space be itself, unapologetic.”
On the lower level, Hawley maximized the location of the original loading dock by retaining the large warehouse doors and brick walls. Here, he inserted a resistance pool for lap swimming into the existing wood floor.
One of Hawley’s rules for the project, he says, “was that we’d expose any column and beam connections no matter where they showed up,” even if that meant cutting a hole in a drywall ceiling around a column. He adds that, from initial schematics to completion, “the design actually didn’t change. The client didn’t want us to dance around the old building, but embrace it. And we did.”
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One of Hawley’s rules for the project, he says, “was that we’d expose any column and beam connections no matter where they showed up,” even if that meant cutting a hole in a drywall ceiling around a column. He adds that, from initial schematics to completion, “the design actually didn’t change. The client didn’t want us to dance around the old building, but embrace it. And we did.”
Browse more homes by style:
Apartments | Barn Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Floating Homes | Guesthouses | Homes Around the World | Lofts | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Small Homes | Townhouses | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | Vacation Homes
Who lives here: A couple, plus their two adult sons when they visit
Location: Fargo, North Dakota
Size: 19,000 square feet (1,765 square meters), including a master suite, guest suite and two additional bedrooms
Designer: Chris Hawley Architects
Hawley designed a dramatic new entrance for the residence by uncovering a blocked-off former foyer. The high ceilings, enormous door, poured concrete floor and tremendous amount of light through walls of windows make for a theatrical entrance into the home’s main level. “Nobody was going in the original entrance anymore,” Hawley says. “One thing that drove the plan was forcing people to come through that door.”