Covington homeowners Fritz and Judith Kuhlman believe serendipity was involved in finding their gem of a home eleven years ago. Looking at the Florida-style ranch wasn’t really in their plans when they saw a realtor
putting a For Sale sign in the front yard. On a whim they decided to look at the home that provided views of a nearby park. Built in 1955, the house had been built by the owner, a builder and WWII combat engineer who also built four other homes on their cul-de-sac.
“We’re lucky that the builder of the house wasn’t interested in building a run-of-the-mill ranch home,” explains Judith. “He obviously had studied architects like Frank Lloyd Wright,” agrees Fritz. “He had good instincts and without professional training just gave himself the freedom to mess around with it.”
Fritz, an architect, and Judith, an interior designer, fell in love with the house. “This house practically dictated the style from the moment we saw it,” exclaims Judith. “Nothing else would have looked right in here to complement the sleek lines of the architecture. This became our child,” she continues. “With both of us in the arts we couldn’t help ourselves. We needed to create structure and improve on the bones of the house. We feel like we’ve just enhanced the house. Now it’s closer to our ideal, but kept true to its roots.”
Fritz agrees. “There was a serendipity to the whole thing. He had good instincts, and we’re highly trained. We came together and now the house is even better than we thought it could be. The architecture is classic ranch with touches of the Frank Lloyd Wright prairie school. We’re both big fans of the era and the streamlined look.”
The home has a lower level walkout with a covered porch, a very unusual feature in homes of that age. It features one-and-a-half stories in the front and full two stories in back. Inside and out the home is integrated with the beauty of the lot. The back of the house is completely open to the woods, and very private. “It brought the clean lines we were seeking, and we saw its real potential,” explains Fritz. “We knew it would be a ten-year project, but now we’re in the ‘happy zone.’”
Inside the home furniture, furnishings and collectibles all come from the mid-century modern design trends introduced between the First World War and the Computer Age. From the mod metal and chrome designs of the 50s, it’s the most recent period to become historic. “It’s as classic and wonderful to us as 18th century furniture collecting may be to someone else,” offers Judith. “It captures the period of time in the 50s when life was optimistic,” agrees Fritz. He began collecting mid-century modern pieces when he was 16.
They bought the home in 1997, and did some immediate remodeling. In 2000 another round of major remodeling took place, and last year the couple completed the final phases. Most pieces are vintage with a few reproductions according to Fritz.
The couple has actively repurposed materials in their home from the turquoise repainted metal kitchen cabinets that now hang in the laundry, to the bottled glass from a neighbor’s home that now provides a flood of “borrowed light” to the lower level workout room.
Frank has repurposed other items from neighbors including the lamps on either side of the master bedroom, porch spotlights, and slate from a neighbor that now provides an interior pathway on the lower level. “The original foyer in our home had a dark red slate floor,” he explains. “We repurposed a neighbor’s slate when they were discarding it. It was an intricate puzzle that took hours to do.”
Another favored room is the gray master bath. It’s the size of a small bedroom, unheard of in the 1950s. The room has a cove ceiling, a 1965 heat lamp, an old Nutone fan, as well as a nine foot countertop mirror that extends to the ceiling.
The first floor offers cooler tones. Sprinkled throughout are furniture groupings that include a Saarinen womb chair, Eames wood lounge chair, an original butterfly chair, and case goods by Paul McCobb. All artwork in the home is original including Cindy Nixon, local artist Charley Harper, and works by Fritz’s son.
The home’s red lower level is one big room, what Judith calls a warm, cozy environment. It includes a handmade curved-metal bar with no internal supports that Fritz built. The bar sits on a faux finish wall with subtle texture in a biomorphic pattern that neighbor, Diane Grady, of Icing, painted.
Collectibles fill the home and give it personality. Judith is an avid collector of mid-century enamel dishes, vintage McCoy pottery, and Blenko glass. A brown monkey wearing go-go boots rides a red lizard in the living room, an accent piece of folk art given to Judith by a friend.
The couple is active in the local group Cincinnati Form Follows Function, an offshoot of the Cincinnati Preservation Association, aimed at preserving mid-century architecture in the area. “We’re doing our share to use recycled materials,” Frank explains. “We’re both interested in historic preservation from the mid-century, when local architecture was self consciously designed and thoughtful. Its an interesting style to study,” summarizes Fritz, “coming out of the end of WWI. It embraces science combined with the arts.”
Perhaps that’s why they chose this home at just this time. “It’s uniquely ours,” Judith agrees. “It speaks to who we are, and we’re very happy here.” She understands that not everyone would like the 50s style. “A lot of people like it, and others don’t. It’s not kitsch. It’s classic ergonomic design that we truly embrace and support.”
The real serendipity is whether they found this house, or it found them.