Timely and Timeless
Past and present merge in this newly built Lincoln Park home.
In the family room, the palette takes a tonal cue from a painting by artist Isabella Innis. Blush pink fabric on sofa by Kravet.
Lincoln Park may be chockablock with desirable homes, but, sometimes, you just have to start from the ground up. That was the case for one New York family relocating to the Windy City. When they couldn’t find exactly what they were looking for, they turned to Savane, the design build firm that has been creating stylish single-family residences in Chicago for over 20 years. “They had looked at a lot of new builds and thought they were just little too standardized,” shares Winnetka-based interior designer, Alexandra Kaehler, who worked on the project from the get-go. “The goal was to build what we call a ‘new’ old house.”
Left: A custom table, antique chairs, and a vintage pendant give the dining room an understated elegance. The mural wallpaper, by Iksel through Schumacher, brings the outdoors in.
Right: The window fabric in the breakfast room is Oscar de la Renta’s Sameera, through Kravet. A custom banquette and vintage chairs surround the midcentury-style table.
Taking a cue from historic homes in the neighborhood, the team opted for brick construction, detailed with ironwork and limestone. Inside, carved marble fireplaces and substantial crown molding give the home a solidly built aspect. When it came to furnishing the house, Kaehler took inspiration from the Manhattan residence of the late Bunny Mellon. “Of course, that is a sprawling home, and this house is more vertical,” notes Kaehler, “so we wanted to maximize impact in this narrower, more compact space. For example, the primary bedroom is not oversize, but we papered it with Gracie’s lovely Celadon Mist, a hand-painted pattern of flowering bushes, birds, and butterflies.”
The kitchen island, deeply recessed to accommodate barstools, is capped in soapstone. A rustic-but-modern pendant light continues the palette with shades in deep green. Glowing fixtures by Waterworks, refrigeration by Sub-Zero.
While not the size of Mellon’s 40-foot-wide, 11,000-square-foot manse on the Upper East Side, the home is a considerable upgrade from the owners’ three-bedroom New York condo. “This is not a small house, so we did not have to worry about maximizing every inch,” says Kaehler. “Instead, we were able to focus on what the client wanted—a comfortable family home.”
Gracie’s Celadon Mist, through John Rosselli & Associates, brings an utterly tranquil air to the primary bedroom.
Color was key to achieving that goal. But not explosive pops of it, or all-enveloping hues. “We went for a muddier palette of green and browns and blue tones that bring in a lot of depth,” relates Kaehler. The dining room walls are covered in an Iskel paper of bucolic vistas. In the kitchen, touches of dark green in the La Cornue range and the backsplash above it, break up the whiteness of the cabinetry; the adjacent family room sports a pink sofa set against a wall papered in zigzagging green stripes from Soane.
Left: The wood-paneled office is elegantly cozy. An armchair with a modern profile is covered in chocolate velvet by Schumacher to match the adjacent living room’s sofa.
Right: The inviting seating in the solarium is covered in a floral Lee Jofa fabric, through Kravet.
Although the homeowners started from scratch when it came to dressing the house, Kaehler’s choice of furniture and fabrics generate that always wished for, accumulated-over-time air. In the formal living room, an inlaid Indian occasional table keeps company with a richly tasseled custom sofa upholstered in a downright delicious, deep brown Schumacher fabric. The custom midcentury-inspired table in the breakfast room is partnered by a trio vintage of rush chairs and the stylish, yet simple backless stools at the kitchen island look as if they’d been there forever.
Left: The living room sofa is upholstered in chocolate Schumacher fabric with a Samuel & Sons trim.
Right: A simple garden table anchors a corner of the solarium, while a large-scale image by photographer Paul Lange entitled Paloma, hangs above the solarium bar. Fixtures by Waterworks.
A renowned gardener, Mellon was said to have opined, “Nothing should be noticed.” It’s a dictum she applied in her homes, as well. And not an easy rule to follow. But Kaehler has clearly mastered this approach. And of course, we do notice.