The genesis of this amazing house is almost (but not quite) as interesting as the house itself. For 40 years, the owner and her architect husband lived in a 5,500 square-foot home on Devonshire Drive. In 2004, 11 years after his death, she completed what had been a long-time dream for them both: a contemporary home in the backyard of the Devonshire residence. The original property was subdivided and a fruitful three-year partnership undertaken with Kent architect Thom Stauffer and Parkman builder Tim Yoder. The result is a stunning 2,400 squarefoot home which, according to Stephen Litt who profiled the house in a 2005 Plain Dealer article, “resembles a stack of blocklike, interpenetrating geometric forms slightly offset from one another to accentuate their separateness and to create visual dynamism.” Throughout the home there are almost no right angles.

Entering via a “hingeless” front door, most people’s first impression is of the home’s great openness and its ability to capture external light. This, of course, was wholly intentional. “In our previous residence,” the owner explains, “we had an extremely large living space. I wanted a singular open area that was reminiscent of that.” Her desire for sleek simplicity also was met by the house’s high number of built-ins—from the maple storage cabinets, drawers and closets to a dogfood dispenser and paw cleaner. One storage unit separating the dining area from the kitchen actually serves the house’s upper and lower levels: a coat and storage closet on the main floor continues upward to become part of the second floor office’s desk unit. Embedded in this same piece are heating and cooling ducts.

Simplicity also rules in the kitchen, where again everything is built in. There are no upper cabinets to compromise the interior views. Baseboards, as in all the rooms, are flush with the wall.

Further accentuating the interior’s sleekness is a magnificent fabricated steel staircase—a single piece that, according to the owner, took 14 men to bring in and install. The stairway’s graceful lines and adjustable marine cables are the perfect modernist complement—pulling the eye into the house and simultaneously up to an open second floor that is largely visible from the lower level. Upstairs there are two main rooms: a master suite and up a ramp a study that overlooks the living area below.

Struck by the natural light and surprisingly warm modernism, visitors might overlook another unique feature: the home’s artful yet utilitarian use of materials. All countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms are soapstone finished with an akemi sealant and color enhancer. Floors in every room are the same glowing maple that was used for the cabinetry. And the thoroughly unique exterior consists of white stucco, gray stained cedar siding and, on the house’s “upper module,” lead-coated copper that wraps around into the house’s interior.

Watch for:

• A particularly dramatic view from the window of the lower bedroom: multiple angles and corners through to the living room and to the outside are visible from a single vantage point
• A jewel chest in the master bedroom made by designer George Nelson, well known for his 1950’s furniture and “bubble lamps”
• “Grasshopper chair” and tables by international designer Eero Saarinen in the bedroom and living room
• Pottery by Bill Broulliard and Clevelander Leza McVey
• Various silver pieces by the owner
• Chairs in the study and living room from Swedish designer Bruno Mathsson.