A Cottage Fit for a Mayor: Margaret Dodd‘s New Home Blends the Past with the Future

Feb. 23, 2005

Margaret Dodd’s new “cottage” home looks more like a four-story mansion than a humble lakeside dwelling. But that’s what Cottage 20 has always been referred to, dating back 120 years to the construction of the state hospital which once occupied this sprawling landscape on the west side of Traverse City.
Today, Cottage 20 is the first phase of the redevelopment of Building 50 and dozens of other buildings at the new Village at Grand Traverse Commons, a massive, 36-acre undertaking which ranks as one of the biggest preservation projects in the country, if not the world.
The former mayor of Traverse City, Margaret is looking forward to having one of the first condos in the Village -- a walkable community which will include a mix of condos, retail stores, restaurants, offices and more.
“Instead of having to move somewhere like Florida, I’m looking forward to being able to spend my winters here where it’s all happening, with all of the services I need only 20 feet away,” Dodd says. “I’ll be able to get coffee, go to restaurants and stores -- all without having to be shuttled somewhere else.”
Constructed in 1885, the 388,000-square-foot Building 50 and its adjacent cottages once served as a therapeutic farm-home to thousands of state residents during its heyday as the Northern Michigan Asylum. Today, the Victorian-Italianate Building 50 is being renovated as the heart of the project, and will include what Dodd calls, “a quarter-mile long indoor street,” filled with services, restaurants, shops and art galleries.

HIGH CEILINGS
Dodd’s 1,100-square-foot condo offers a number of amenities which reflect the building values of the past. It has 13-foot-high ceilings for instance, and 18-inch-thick brick walls. The original transom windows are still in place along with the woodwork created by skilled craftsmen 120 years ago. She will also share a balcony more than 20 feet long with her next-door neighbor, one of four condo owners on the floor. Plus, there are hundreds of acres of fields and forests just outside her door, riven with hiking and ski trails. “Who else can live basically downtown with a 360-acre park with its own deer herd?” she notes.
Her own updates on tradition will include a 4’x4’ Japanese soaking tub in the bath, an office/bedroom, and a new stained glass panel at the entryway as a complement to an original window in the living room.
One turn-off for Dodd is the fact that utilities such as water pipes and heating ducts are exposed at the ceiling level. The pipes can’t be run through the brick walls as in most homes. The alternative would be constructing a drop ceiling.
But in the main, Dodd is thrilled with her condo-in-progress and is looking forward to the day when she can move in. Sweetening the deal is the fact that the Village at Grand Traverse Commons is a state renaissance zone, with no property taxes to pay for 15 years. If only every “cotttage” owner was so lucky.