Houzz Tours
Houzz Tour: A Prairie-Style Home in Minnesota Conveys Quiet Elegance
An artful composition of ‘stepped boxes’ in natural materials fits the owners’ refined but casual aesthetic
The owners of this new home in Minnesota have always admired the Prairie style, love the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and are avid supporters of the arts. Designer Steve Kleineman says their passions are reflected in the design of the home. “The house itself and every aspect within it are functional works of art,” he says. “Every detail, every stair, every built-in was designed for their lifestyle and to work for them. They’re quiet people and appreciate the finer things. The creation of this house wasn’t about using expensive materials, but [instead] durable, practical ones that reflect and support the thoughtfulness behind every aspect of the design.”
Photos except where noted by John Magnoski Photography
The home and garage form an L, with the garage on the right side, a parking court in front, and the home farther back from the street and closer to the wetlands in the back. “This organization gives the house a grander feel while maintaining privacy,” Kleineman says. The arborvitae hedge screens the front of the house and hides cars parked in the front court from the street.
The home and garage form an L, with the garage on the right side, a parking court in front, and the home farther back from the street and closer to the wetlands in the back. “This organization gives the house a grander feel while maintaining privacy,” Kleineman says. The arborvitae hedge screens the front of the house and hides cars parked in the front court from the street.
At the back of the house, the grade falls off to a natural environment that includes wetlands and ponds. An outdoor spiral staircase leads from the grounds to the husband’s office on the main level, which has an outdoor deck. Rain chains artfully direct rainwater down into the earth. “Rain chains are like jewelry for controlling water flow,” Kleineman says.
Low overhangs create a horizontal feel, a signature of the Prairie style, while elements such as piers and columns add verticality. “There aren’t any sloped angles or lines,” Kleineman says. The roof pitch is relatively flat, “which gave us the opportunity to integrate gutters into the design of the roofline, although you don’t really see them.”
At the front entrance, Oklahoma brownstone piers are topped with Prairie-style planters. “Those piers are something of a trademark for me,” Kleineman says. “I’ve located them around the exterior, using higher ones farther from the entrance and shorter ones at the entrance to demarcate the spaces as you approach the house.”
Kleineman describes the home’s design as based on a composition of “stepped boxes,” which can be seen in the pattern of the Arts and Crafts-style front door.
Inside the front entry, the window trim was integrated into a welcoming bench. “Everything is built in,” Kleineman says, “and there’s a designated place for everything.” The homeowners found the stained glass, which they had refurbished and installed over the bench and in the doors of the cabinets on either side. Throughout the home, the floors are Brazilian walnut.
The entry opens to the dining room, which opens to the kitchen on one side and the great room on the other. A ceiling height change from 9 feet to 11 feet helps define the dining area. Soffits on the exterior of the house were carried inside and accentuate areas of the open-plan first level with help from wood accents and indirect lighting.
The dining room opens to a porch where outdoor and indoor living merge throughout the seasons. The attention to detail carries through, as well. “They love wood,” Kleineman says. The interior wood is finished to convey a refined yet casual elegance.
In the kitchen, the cabinets have wood accents that divide their faces and function into boxes. The box, or soffit, overhead, which has rectilinear detailing, houses ventilation for the stove, embedded in a Cambria-topped island. Pendant lights provide soft but functional task lighting over the island. A flower detail in the tile backsplash was designed by the homeowner. The kitchen looks into the dining and great room, while a window on the opposite side that’s 7 feet wide pops out to overlook the ponds and nearby Lake Minnetonka.
The stone that wraps around the house continues inside as a backdrop for the horizontal fireplace, television and cabinets on either side. “The stone drives right through the wall and is tight to the windows,” Kleineman says. The horizontal lines accentuated on the home’s exterior also present here in the wood soffits that frame windows 8 feet high and the clerestory windows above. Ceiling heights in this room reach 14 feet, while the windows and walls bring the room down to human scale.
“We contemporarized a lot of the classical elements in Prairie and Arts and Crafts architecture,” Kleineman says. The linear fireplace — accentuated by linear stone detailing — “is all about playing with rectilinear forms,” he adds. The composition of lines, glass, fireplace, television, stone and detailed cabinetry, he says, “is functional art.”
The detailing continues in the master bedroom with the built-in bed, nightstands and window seat. The trim is detailed all the way up to the ceiling. The result is a rich elegance that refrains from “being glitzy or showy,” Kleineman says.
The mahogany extends into the master bath, where built-in cabinets provide plentiful storage. The rich color of the wood contrasts elegantly with the ivory walls.
On the main level by the front entry, a stairway leads downstairs to the exercise room and upstairs to the homeowner’s office. “Here we used the stacked boxes again,” Kleineman says, “and introduced an abstract flower into the design of the rail, which is powder-coated with a metallic finish and matte coating that gives it depth.” The stair is, once again, “a more modernized interpretation of Arts and Crafts architecture,” Kleineman adds.
At the top of the stair is a small gallery space where the homeowner displays his own photography and photography he collects. A built-in shelf and columnlike details along the walls frame the gallery’s wall space. The gallery leads to the office.
The office includes built-in cabinetry and bookcases of stained walnut and mahogany, to create a two-tone aspect. Off the office is an outdoor sitting area where the couple can view the ponds and watch the sun set.
The stacked-boxes effect is fully realized at the back of the house. The stone was set deep into the earth so that the house appears to “rise up out of the ground as stone,” Kleineman says. With this house, he adds, “it wasn’t about designing big, but about designing well. It represents the homeowners very well.”
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Houzz at a Glance:
Who lives here: A professional couple
Location: Wayzata, Minnesota
Designer: Steve Kleineman of SKD Architects
In addition to admiring the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, the couple enjoy Arts and Crafts period details. Both styles dovetail beautifully in the detailing of this home, inside and out. “They were looking for an organic flavor,” designer Steve Kleineman says. “Big overhangs, glass and wood, Oklahoma stone that’s very organic and rustic, lots of ledges integrated with the stone.”