From Ballet Studio to Beautiful Family Home

 

 

The living room, with its matching Empire-style sofas, antique side tables and cozy fireplace was once a dance studio. Photo by Rod Woolcock

From Ballet Studio to Beautiful Family Home

By Melissa S. Labberton

Photos by Rod Woolcock

Many Yakima residents remember the large Craftsman-style house at 2215 Summitview Ave. as St. Clair’s Dance Studio. From 1950 to 1992, Vera and Stanley St. Clair taught hundreds of local children and adults how to dance in their first-floor studio. However, all the plies and pirouettes became a whisper within the house’s old walls when Vera St. Clair passed away 17 years ago.

Today, Dennis Richardson and Julie Picatti-Richardson own the beautiful, 4,810-square-foot home.  Together, they’ve worked hard to bring the 1919 farmhouse that W.H. Strausz built in the middle of his cherry orchard back to its former glory.  Finding the original blueprints drawn by H. Weatherwax, one of Yakima’s earliest architects, provided the couple with many helpful clues.

Summer Hahn, archivist for the Yakima Valley Museum, explained that around the turn of the 20th century, the Craftsman house design became very popular in the United States — families could actually order one from the Sears and Roebuck catalog.

“I consider the Strausz home a High Craftsman style, because you couldn’t buy it in a catalog,” he (cq) said.  Hahn explained that Richardson’s home is a larger version that was custom built and became popular with the upper class in the 1910s and 1920s.

It was the home’s custom woodwork, 10-foot ceilings, large rooms and simple elegance that first attracted Richardson when he bought it as a bachelor in 2002.  He became fascinated with the home’s history and loved discovering the original, turn-of-the-century features that still exist.  For instance, the house was built with the kitchen in the basement, but sometime before 1950, the family moved it to the main floor.

 

 

 

 

Dennis said a servant’s buzzer still remains in the basement, designed to alert those upstairs that dinner was being delivered by the dumbwaiter, which is behind a door in the first floor stairwell.  For decades a second floor chute has sent dirty clothes to the basement laundry room, and a pre-refrigeration icebox awaited the arrival of an ice man in the hall by the back door.   A favorite spot for the couple is the original kitchen nook, featuring a flip-up table for easily sweeping out crumbs.  The couple converted a   hidden ironing board into a handy spice cabinet, and they converted the second floor maid’s quarters into a guest room with a bath.

Spreading out the 90-year-old blueprints on the dining room table, Dennis pointed out that several owners since 1992 have played a part in the remodeling of the old home.

“Bob Page restored the molding and took down a lot of wallpaper,” Dennis said. “He did a lot of renovation on the main floor.” Page and his wife, Carol, enlarged and modernized the kitchen, without losing its vintage feel. They pushed it out to make a seating area and installed a new stove and refrigerator that resemble 1920s appliances.

 

 

 

 

Dennis and Julie married three years ago, but even while dating she played an active role in the home’s restoration.  The couple also enlisted the help of Seattle interior designer Carrie Hayden, owner of the Great Jones Home Store in Belltown.  Hayden has helped them find furniture, wallpaper and custom shades that have enhanced the style of the house.  The couple love to entertain friends and family, and the large L-shaped dining and living area offers a perfect backdrop for cocktails in front of the fireplace and  dinner at their antique mahogany table with its cozy banquet sofas.  The simple sophistication they’ve achieved complements the understated elegance of the Craftsman design.

Modernizing without destroying the integrity of the house has been the couple’s prime concern. Besides restoring four upstairs bedrooms, they added a Southern-style sun porch and installed a delightful powder room on the main floor. The second story now boasts two new full baths and a remodeled original bathroom. The use of exquisite Italian limestone tiles and high-end fixtures has given all the bathrooms a luxurious old-world feel.

For Dennis and Julie, there are projects yet to be done, but their immediate focus is on preparing a nursery.   Even with twins on the way, their home is fit for the whole family.