National Treasures

March 1, 2015

Dramatic renovation of earl Young Home Prompts talk of Preservation

The renovation of an Earl Young home on a block filled with the celebrated mushroom houses has people talking in Charleviox. The once low-slung home now rises over the Park Avenue block. A modern addition is sandwiched between Young’s original first floor stone walls and a fantastical, flowing roof that’s being hand woven by a Scottish thatcher.

"The renovation that’s underway now is something that I’m going to have to live with for a while before I make a decision. The character of the original house is lost," said David Miles, director of the Charlevoix Historical Society and the town’s unofficial Young expert. "It overpowers the neighborhood. It overpowers the house itself. But, I think we’re going to have to give it a chance."

PRESERVATION HOPES ENERGIZED

Miles hopes the renovation will motivate residents to create a historic district encompassing Earl Young homes this year. If nothing else, he said, the renovation should remind residents that Charlevoix’s beloved Earl Young homes lack any protection.

"I’m hoping that this will be the impetus to tell people, especially the house owners, that if we want to preserve Earl Young as he was, we’ve got to do something, and do it fast," he said. "We don’t want that to happen again to any other house."

Without historic district protection, some believe the future of any of the hous es could be in question. For instance, what would stop a person from purchasing one of the houses that is for sale today, bulldozing it, and building an entirely new home?

"Nothing," Miles said. "That’s why we’re working diligently now to try to get it up and passed this year, because we realize what’s going to happen if we don’t."

Miles said that at least 50 tour buses filled with people eager to see the houses visit each year. He believes that, as word spreads, the houses become a larger and larger draw.

"When I give my presentations about Earl, I always end with one sentence: "˜how can one town be so lucky that he was here?’ He had this preternatural ability to look at a stone and it spoke to him.’" Young, an architectural school dropout with a fanciful imagination and an uncanny ability to place boulders one on top of another to create structures that seem to have sprung organically from their environment, built dozens of buildings around Charlevoix beginning in 1918.

His signatures were boulders from Lake Michigan and undulating roofs. He told a newspaper reporter in 1971, "I always build the roof first, and then shove the house under it."

A PUSH THIS SPRING

Charlevoix City Planner Mike Spencer said a preservation commission has been working with the nonprofit Michigan History Preservation Network to file paperwork to the State Historical Preservation Office to create a historic district. There will be a public hearing in late spring or early summer and the city will poll Earl Young property owners.

Once the language of the historic district is drafted, the City of Charlevoix must approve it.

The last time establishment of a historic district was attempted, some owners opposed it, citing property rights concerns.

The city declined to approve a district when the matter was brought up in 2012 amid opposition, primarily from commercial property owners.

Spencer said that if Charlevoix creates a district, the city will approach Charlevoix Township to see if its officials wish to include a group of Earl Young homes in Boulder Park just south of the city.

At least one Earl Young house owner is an outspoken supporter of preservation. Jeannine Wallace has lived in a home that people call "the mushroom house" for four decades. The last time around, eight of the 10 Earl Young homeowners who live on her block supported the creation of a historic district.

Opposition to a historic districts stems from the burden it would thrust upon property owners, City Councilman Jeff Porter said.

"It gets complicated because if you create a historic district, there are pretty severe restrictions put on those houses," Porter said.

"That would be my concern."

Porter believes a preservation district will require the support of an overwhelming majority of the home owners.

"If there are 25 houses and, say, two people object, I would say you can go ahead with the district, but if 12 object, then I would say it might not happen," Porter said.

Owners’ self interest will preserve the homes, said Sidney Feldman, an Earl Young homeowner. He is one of the owners opposed to a preservation district, even though he believes the renovated house no longer fits in with the other Young homes on his block.

"Under no circumstances would I agree to put my name to a document that takes away my control over property I own outright," Feldman said.

NATIONAL TREASURES

The last effort to create a preservation district failed amid opposition from owners of three Earl Young commercial properties in the Weathervane complex. This year, the Historical District Commission hopes to improve their chances of success by removing the hotel, condos and restaurant from the proposal.

"Those [commercial] owners all voted against it. I think that was the tipping point," Miles said. "I think that they are hoping, now with the three commercial properties out of the picture – they’re just going to house owners themselves – that this will turn the tide."

A preservation district could allow the city to regulate renovation and prohibit demolition of structures deemed to be historic. It would be up to the city to decide how strict requirements would be, said Dr. Ted J. Ligibel, director of the Historic Preservation Program at Eastern Michigan University.

Ligibel, who brought students to Charlevoix to study historic buildings last fall, said the Earl Young houses are worth preserving.

"These are national treasures," Ligibel said. "When you look at the grouping of them, there’s really nothing that we’ve been able to find like them."

SPIRIT OF EARL YOUNG

Some see the spirit of Young in the renovation that’s underway. The thatched roof might have come from the same fairy tale as an Earl Young fireplace. The thatching has been in progress for a couple of months, the work of Scottish thatcher Colin McGhee who travels the country working on one-ofa-kind projects.

Builder Ron Way said he attempted to work with the historic commission – even though he was under no obligation – but, in the end, was unsure what the group wanted.

"I wanted them to be aware of what we were doing," Way said. "When I left the committee meeting, I was very confused."

Way said that he’s heard a descendant of Young has complained about the renovation. Otherwise, he said he has received a lot of compliments. Prior to the renovation, the house was dilapidated and in desperate need of repair.

"From the feedback I’ve had, everyone’s very positive about this project," Way said. "I think it’s stirred up a lot of conversation."

The design is primarily the work of the homeowner, a South African who plans to live in Charlevoix part time. The owner made sketches that Way turned into workable plans.

Despite the fact that some people feel the renovation looks Earl Young-inspired, Way said it was not. He explains the homeowner was more inspired by sights seen during his European travels.

"I don’t think he was really trying to copy or mimic an Earl Young design," Way said. "I feel it complements what’s here. There certainly are a number of ways someone could have went with it and I feel this is in keeping with what’s in the area."

EARL DID THINGS DIFFERENTLY, TOO

If there is a consistent reaction to the renovated house, it’s a complicated one.

"It’s organic. It’s even more rounded than the original house was because the original house was flat. It was arts and crafts style and it was horizontal. They had the exposed rafter tails," Miles said. "He’s keeping some of the old motifs, but they actually doubled the size of the house."

The reaction for and against the project around town has been nearly split, Miles said.

"Some people think it’s really neat, some people think"¦ something had to be done to the house to save it. It was in deplorable condition. It’s just that it’s been saved the way it has," he said.

Wallace believes the new house that rises above her low-profile mushroom house retains the spirit of Young.

"It’s pretty spectacular," Wallace said. "It’s very different, but then, Earl originally did different things, too."

Wallace brings the construction crew treats each Monday. Yet, she also believes the renovation is proof that a preservation district is needed as soon as possible. It’s proof that anything could happen to any of the Earl Young houses.

"That’s what our concern is all along," Wallace said. "I think it’s a shame to allow things to be torn down or changed when they have been such a valuable asset to the city of Charlevoix. It’s what makes Charlevoix so different from all the other towns on the water."

A FAVORITE FOR OUT-OF-TOWN GUESTS

Young faced controversy when he originally built his houses. Some people didn’t understand his vision. Wallace recalls that, when the house she now lives in was under construction – years before she ever dreamed of owning it – she sat with a friend and gazed over at the new home.

She liked the strange house; she thought it looked cute. Her friend didn’t agree.

"My friend said, "˜I never saw anything so stupid in my life! Look at that stupid house he’s building!’" Wallace said she knows that the Charlevoix City Council members realize how beloved the houses have become.

"They are vital to this town. It makes it unique," Wallace said. "I want to say to every one of them [city council members], "˜when they have out-of-town company come to town, they take them on a tour of these houses. I’ve seen them.’" Given the significance of the homes to Charlevoix, Wallace doesn’t understand why historical preservation wasn’t ensured long ago.

Miles agrees. "To be perfectly honest, I don’t know why it’s never happened," he said. "When all the dust is settled, look what he left to this town. It’s a world-class attraction."