Private Residence, Iowa City

Custom Home / 3,000 to 5,000 square feet | Grand Award

2 MIN READ

There’s something special about this modern Midwest farmhouse: “Clean, restrained, and with a detailing modesty that reinforces the memory of the rural vernacular,” said one judge. Built on an 1880s-era working farm, the home achieves that often-elusive blend of innovation and inevitability. Architect Keith Monson designed the plan around two gabled volumes joined by a central circulation spine that works both horizontally and vertically. The glassy link accentuates the site’s bucolic views and contains a see-through stair. “The primary rooms themselves are more enclosed, nestling around you without feeling closed in,” Monson says. Upstairs is a bedroom in each corner, two with a loft containing a small window that overlooks the room.

Project Credits

Entrant/Architect: Neumann Monson Architects, Iowa City, Iowa; Builder: Smith & Wood Construction, Iowa City; Landscape Architect: Genus Landscape Architects, Des Moines, Iowa; Living Space: 3,420 square feet; Site: 215 acres; Construction Cost: $290 per square foot; Photographer: Farshid Assassi/Assassi Productions

Resources: Bathroom fittings and fixtures: Kohler; Cooktop: GE; Countertops: DuPont, Hanwah; Dishwasher: Bosch; Doors: Eggers Industries,Marvin, ThermaTru; Exterior siding: HardiePlank; Garage doors: Clopay; Garbage disposer: InSinkErator; Hardware: Sargent; HVAC: SummerAire; Kitchen fittings: KWC; Lighting fixtures: Capri, Day-Brite, Omega; Paints/stains/wall finishes: Sherwin-Williams; Refrigerator: Sub-Zero; Roofing: Rheinzink

White lap siding, wraparound porches, and gable ends measuring roughly 18 feet wide acknowledge turn-of-the-century farmhouses. “Everything was about simplicity,” Monson says. But simplicity often is deceiving, and here it hides playful complexities and high-tech touches. The south-facing front porch has a glass floor, creating a light well for the lower-level rooms. And a retractable stair in a third-floor study goes up into one of the chimneys and out onto a hidden roof deck with a hot tub. “You’re getting away from the bugs, celebrating the stars, rolling hills, and harvest moon in a high, special place,” Monson says. “There is no light pollution, and you can see the Milky Way on a clear night.”

On Site

In this modern take on a farmhouse, there’s nowhere to hide: no overlapping trim to cover joints at the doors or windows, no baseboards to cover the joint between wallboard and base, no head or jamb trim on the doors. Key here were well-documented construction documents and the craftsmanship of builder Mark Smith and his great team of subs, says architect Kevin Monson, who adds, “It’s the best quality I’ve witnessed in my 40 years as an architect.”


About the Author

Cheryl Weber

Cheryl Weber, LEED AP, is a senior contributing editor to Custom Home and a frequent contributor to Builder. 

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