Before Colin Brandt began work on designing a house overlooking Washington state's Puget Sound for Barbara and Peter Bradfield, he spent an afternoon on the Bradfields' boat. Brandt, his wife, and another architect from his Seattle-based firm, The Brandt Design Group, joined the Bradfields on their 1940s restored wooden cabin cruiser, lolling about on Seattle's Lake Union. They ate dinner as the sun set, and the guests had an opportunity to learn a little more about the couple.
Beyond empty billboards, lonely highway overpasses, and overgrown vacant lots is Ferry Street, a block of renovated historic brick Victorians in the heart of Detroit. Well-kept lawns and shade trees adorn this neighborhood two miles north of the Detroit River, mostly because of the work and dedication of one builder.
FERNDALE, MICH., IS A NEIGHBORHOOD of 100-year-old houses, mostly bungalows with coved ceilings, plaster walls, and gabled roofs. It offers a small downtown with vintage-clothing shops, ethnic restaurants, and alternative music and is one of Detroit's most welcoming 'burbs for gays.
Small builders who typically erect 10 to 12 houses a year, Tumolo Building of Saline, Mich., and Fenton, Mich.–based Majestic Partners are working together on Mystic Ridge with the slightly larger Ann Arbor Builders of Ann Arbor, Mich. To do so, they must drop a formerly competitive stance. By working together, they are creating a brand, doing more marketing than each could otherwise afford, and assuming a new way of looking at what they do.
