The interiors sometimes featured unexpected elements, such as this home’s dramatic curved steel ceiling installation located in the living room. Stenger’s signature style included low peaked roofs, stone walls and fireplaces (the rocks were always quarried on-site), wood and other organic materials, open-plan communal rooms, and carports. Today, a number of architects live there.” “It’s like a midcentury time warp, tucked away amongst all these trees. Known as the Stenger Addition, the neighborhood was located outside of the city limits in the 1950s, allowing Stenger the freedom to build freely. The house was the second residence that Stenger, a contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright and Joseph Eichler, built in what became a midcentury enclave of his work in Barton Hills. “She let me feel like I was in the driver’s seat making choices while she designed the course,” Tompkins says. On the advice of a friend, the couple met with architect Candace Wong, principal at Candace Wong Architecture + Design, and hired her to oversee what they thought would be a straightforward renovation. It wasn’t long before Tompkins’s husband, Trey Tschoepe, came around. Not everyone can see the potential in a derelict property, but Tompkins-who was five months pregnant with her first child-was unfazed by the 1,900-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath home’s teal exterior, poorly renovated interior, and overgrown back patio. It just spoke to me as the ideal midcentury home.” It had such crisp lines from the street, and I loved the rock walls. “It was in really bad shape, but I loved it. “The ceiling was literally dripping water on us, and the entire place smelled like mold,” she says. “But my husband’s reaction when we opened the front door was, ‘No f***ing way.’” “I was already a midcentury fan and a lover of Stenger’s work,” she says. Stenger–designed dwelling that would become her family’s forever home, she overlooked its obvious neglect. When Holly Tompkins first walked inside the 1951 A.D.
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