$3.9M lakeside compound is perfect for Michigan summers
Up a long curving driveway, past a pond with a fountain, this Nantucket-style house has a nine-sided rotunda for a panoramic view of Cavanaugh Lake.
Next door, its two-story guest house also doubles as the pool house, where guests can pop in for a beverage or upstairs to sleep. The wide porch steps here lead straight down into the pool.
This is a two-building compound built for celebrating summer on the lake with friends. It’s full of details to facilitate this, even a second laundry room behind an outside door at the pool house. You can come out of the pool and toss your towel straight into the washer.
It’s designed to point views toward the pool and lake. The two handsome houses border two sides of the pool. On a third side a stone colonnade and pergola run down the length and spray waterfalls from three fountains. An outdoor fabric stretched over its top makes shade for those who seek it.
The effect is a pool just outside your window, wrapped in a three-sided courtyard.
Inside the main house the living space opens up under a very high ceiling. It flows from the kitchen with its breakfast space to the dining room to the rotunda and then to the living room and bar. A large number of guests can circulate here and step out to the terrace and pool.
The rotunda is the focus, a circle of a room marked off with pillars and ringed with windows. It rises to a second story with a second ring of clerestory windows, wood braces and lamps.
At its top, Nantucket style, is a cupola with a light that goes on at night — a beacon across the lake.
Another focus is the squared-off, three-story staircase. Kids in the house liked its big rectangular landing for staging talent shows, said designer Todd Mathews, who spoke in place of the owners. He designed both structures and interiors as president of Momus Inc., an Ann Arbor design firm.
The kitchen is especially striking with its big Wolf range, built-in ovens and oversize, glass-front commercial refrigerator. Because these owners liked to hold big buffets, it’s wrapped with 55 lineal feet of counters, not counting the two islands.
The main floor also has a guest wing with two bedrooms and a bath. The owners’ suite is upstairs, with a walk-out balcony, along with two more bedrooms.
Throughout the house, including the kitchen and baths, all cabinetry was hand-built by Lewis Fine Carpentry and Millwork in Concord, Michigan.
“The finishes are the highest quality,” said Realtor Elizabeth Brien, “and the setting is one of a kind.“ Often such lots are up a hill from the lake, she said. “There’s no hill here. You’re walking straight to your beach.”
With Mathews the owners traveled to Venice to pick out chandeliers and mirrors from Italy’s famous Murano glass.
The list of special details goes on.
The combination pool house-guest house seems to have a kitchen, but look closer and you’ll see no stove. That whole wall of cabinets is built to work as a bar beside to the pool. Under the counter it’s all freezer drawers for Popsicles and half-fridges for drinks.
Both buildings have long, pillared porches, an invitation to rocking chairs. A sheltered spot between them holds a grilling kitchen.
The stone work inside and out both houses is real granite, a light-hued mix called Beach Blend. A tunnel runs between the two buildings and leads to a work-out room below the guest house.
The lot has 156 feet of lake frontage with a sunset view. The extra-long dock has berths for two boats plus a pontoon raft. Cavanaugh Lake covers 113 acres. It is an all-sports lake.
Chelsea lakeside compound
Where: 423 Glazier Road, Chelsea
How much: $3,900,000
Bedrooms: 5 plus 1 in the guest house
Baths: 3 full plus 1 half in the main house, 1 full in the guest house
Square feet: 6,120 on the main floors plus about 1820 in the finished lower level
Key features: Unique lakeside compound has handsome main house plus combination guest and pool house, pool with automatic cover, colonnade, numerous special features and finishes, including Murano glass chandeliers and all hand-built cabinetry. Nine-side rotunda gives panoramic lake views.
Contact: Elizabeth Brien, Reinhart Realtors, 734-645-4444.