1737 Andrews Court (2000)

George Mayer, a Cleveland architect who was an associate of Frank Lloyd Wright and was himself responsible for a number of homes in the Oak Park suburb of Chicago, designed this home in 1939 for Jack and Frances Lang on wooded land purchased from the Oakwood Club. Built of blonde sandstone, reportedly recycled from an old East Cleveland railroad station, the house is quintessentially Wright -- except for its reasonably high ceilings and adequate closet space.

One of the remarkable things about this remarkable house is its setting. Most striking are the views of the golf course, visible from windows looking north and east, and "beautiful every time of the year." A fox has been sighted in the nearby woods. And twice a day every day, at precisely ten in the morning and four in the afternoon, a pair of hawks circle overhead. Porches and terraces on both the first and second floors take full advantage of the view

The present owners, who have been in the house for only three years, have successfully restored (not renovated) it to recapture its "mid-century" quality. On the first floor, the new owners removed the carpeting and stained the oak floors, and removed layers of wallpaper and repainted. They recarpeted the stairs and upstairs rooms. One of the owners designed the freestanding sofa and chairs in the living room, the console and table in the dining room, and the mirror in the vestibule. An open elevator, complete with telephone, was installed in 1985 but is not currently used. Its folding doors are recent additions. In the kitchen, the new stainless steel counters have been re-positioned under the windows rather than against the wall. The 1940s-vintage light fixture was discovered in a shop on Lorain Avenue. In the master bedroom, the vinyl wallcovering, the result of a special photographic process, matches the African mahogany (anigré) of the living room and truly fools the eye.

The many original features throughout the house include the copper light fixtures as well as other period light fixtures and hardware; the cabinets and closets; the African mahogany sofa and chairs in the living room; the double-hung windows with horizontal mullions; the vitrolite glass walls in the upstairs bathrooms, the specially designed sofa on the porch off the pantry; and the bookcases in the living room, which have however been reconfigured to fit the TV, which is hidden behind matching doors. At the front entrance to the house, there is a Frank Lloyd Wright reproduction of a geisha, and a pool by the rear patio is stocked with golden koi, a type of carp that is both aggressive and quite tame.