HISTORIC CHICAGO LOFT REIMAGINED AS MODERN HOME
Many original elements were retained to establish character of two-storey space
Many of the century-old structures that formed the backbone of Chicago's River North neighbourhood have long been replaced with steel and iron columns, making it fairly unusual to find an apartment with 100-year-old original timbers and floors. To find two in the same building is especially uncommon.
But it was just such a rarity that architects at Moss Design were asked to combine into a 2,200-square-foot loft for a Chicago trader, family therapist, and their toddler.
A wide-open main floor was carved into dining and living space, as well as a library area that functions for work/school and a cool, contemporary kitchen framed by old timber. A handsome wood wall that houses cutting boards also acts as visual divider between kitchen and sitting space.
Up a custom staircase, there's a large master bedroom with space for lounging and bathing, and three smaller bedrooms.
Chicago-based Gil Melott of Studio 6F was given the design task of making the large space feel like a cohesive and communal family home.
“It's hard to make an open space feel intimate, usable, and not cavernous,” he says. “But I think we met those goals.”
Keeping exposed brick and original timbers and floors was key to establishing the character of the space.
“It would be sinful and wasteful to cover it, and it goes against the purpose of buying such a place,” says Melott. On the other hand, he adds, nobody wanted “a caricature of a loft.”
Sleek, comfortable, flexible, user-friendly furniture was foundational. In the living room, that takes the form of a sleek sofa from Casa Spazio that can be reconfigured to suit the social situation.
“It allows conversation to shift,” says Melott, adding swivel chairs from American mid-century designer Milo Baughman can either cosily front a fireplace or turn and face a conversation.
The palette evolved out of conversations with clients about their love of cooking.
“They wanted colour but not colour in quotation marks,” says Melott, who used burnished spicy shades — nutty, earthy browns, touches of golden yellow, and claylike red in textiles — often textured — and accessories.
Being collectors gave the homeowners another bond with Melott, who says his designs typically begin with art.
“Some designers start with a rug or a sofa, but I tend to start with art as inspiration — whether or not it's the art we end up with,” he says. “I want the client to think of art as (an important part of the whole) and not as an afterthought.”
In the master bathroom, organic tones are echoed in a sophisticated animal-print chair Melott custom-designed. The owner wanted a piece that “felt luxurious, but not pompous — something really comfortable and low to the ground for when her child was there,” he explains.
An area that had been a dark space where strollers, toys, and boxes collected was repurposed as a kid-friendly library/study/ activity area.
Below bookshelves there's a credenza fashioned from a 1940s card catalogue from a U.S. naval academy on Lake Michigan.
Now, it's used for storage and as an exploratory play area, where items can be found by, and hidden for, the child.
The space was finished in late 2019, taking just four months to go “from signing an agreement to putting the last thing on a shelf,” says Melott, who says his “aggressive” approach to scheduling is a result of numerous childhood moves caused by his father's frequent business relocations.
“We learned how to move into the property, make it our home, and quickly get settled.”
Those experiences, he thinks, are also why he's “unapologetic” about bringing disparate design elements together in his spaces.
“When they come into a new space, people bring the things that have value to them. Whether those things are `of the moment' or of a certain pedigree — that's irrelevant to me. If it's beautiful, it's beautiful.”