Landmarks  ·  2000s

Asian Garden

Metro Detroit · Lou DesRosiers

A hand-layered copper roof, bronze windows, grain-matched mahogany

The entry at dusk: a lit portico under the layered copper roof, and a stone-paved court

When this house was finished, Lou DesRosiers said the workmanship was the most finely executed of any home he had designed to that point. Several things in it had not been done before, by us or by the trades who did them.

Outside: a hand-made layered copper roof, alternating cleft and smooth limestone veneers, and custom bronze-clad windows. Inside: a fireplace surround carved by hand; a marble primary tub and several sinks formed, carved, and finished locally; a bronze handrail in the dining room designed, fabricated, and assembled by a local artist; and mahogany paneling throughout, grain-matched, color-matched, and sequenced so that the figure of the wood runs continuously from room to room.

It is a marriage of design and craftsmanship that is rarely seen, and the people who made it were, almost without exception, from here.

The hand-carved limestone fireplace surround, set in grain-matched mahogany paneling
The bronze handrail, designed and made by a local artist, with the dining room beyond
The curved bronze-clad window bay over the limestone piers, in autumn
Cleft and smooth limestone courses under the copper eaves
The entry portico: limestone columns, copper rain chains, and the carved copper fascia
The entry hall: granite piers, mahogany, and a lit coffered ceiling
The hall looking through to the living room and the lake
The kitchen: cherry cabinetry, green granite, and a stainless cooking alcove
The primary bedroom beneath a gilded Japanese screen
The covered terrace, with a stone figure and the lake through the pines
The media room, paneled in cherry with louvered doors
The bedroom fireplace and window seat, in cherry

Architecture by Lou DesRosiers.

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