12600 Cedar Road (1985)
One of what was originally a row
of nine impressive homes set far back from Cedar Road, this house was designed
in 1914 by Meade and Hamilton for the family of Paul L. Feiss, the clothing
manufacturer. Baronial proportions and effective use of brick and half timbers
in seventeenth-century fashion create an exterior of grandeur awaiting the
visitor up the long drive past the deep wooded front lawn. An L-shaped central
hall of silvery and gold tonality and light woodwork, perhaps refinished in the
1960's, leads through folding doors to a huge library (the original Feiss
collection is now owned by Kent State), living and dining rooms.
The original living room wood
mantel was removed in remodeling to make way for opaque mirrors. The high
leaded glass windows of these rooms, combined with the stunning opaque stairway
windows, are among over seventy-five leaded windows in total. The dining room
has traditional grape leaf motif moulding and beams, and its
Regency windows overlook the
extensive rear garden area originally designed by A.D. Taylor, as the master
bedroom above. Also facing that area and its reflecting lily pool, as
enchanting as the Garden Center's, are living room, porch and conservatory,
with traditional ceramic tiles and stone sculpture.
Upstairs bedrooms are few in number but spacious. There is elaborate wardrobe space with original mirrored doors. A former ballroom, built at the end of an era, encompasses part of the third floor. The house has other features common to houses of this period and calibre: an in-house phone system, bells for each room, a master light switch in the master bedroom. On the grounds are also a servants' wing and a coach house, itself a most picturesque structure. Its Arts-and-Crafts exterior stairway railing echoes the main stairway of the large house.