Old mansion gets makeover

Akron's M.A. Knight house, built in 1913, receives updated look from design professionals. Manor open to public during special event

POSTED: 11:52 a.m. EDT, May 08, 2009
By Mary Beth Breckenridge, Beacon Journal staff writer

A window area in a bedroom designed by John C. Antro Interiors. (Karen Schiely/Akron Beacon Journal)

Driving past Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, it's easy to miss the hand-painted ''711'' address sign on the opposite side of Portage Path.

Those who do notice have been left to wonder what's back there, tucked away in the woods.

Now they know.

View more photos [including one of Pamela's three bathrooms].

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Participants in Designer ShowHouse 2009

The M.A. Knight house, an elegant but reclusive brick mansion, is the site of the Junior League of Akron's Designer ShowHouse 2009, which opens to the public today. The event is a coming-out party of sorts for the shy beauty, which has been dressed for the occasion by interior designers, decorators, landscapers and other professionals from across the area.

The 8,100-square-foot mansion was built in 1913, while its neighbor, Stan Hywet, was under construction. It was built for Harold Joy, general superintendent of B.F. Goodrich, but his wife reportedly vetoed the move because she thought the house was too far out in the country.

Instead, Joy sold the house to Maurice Knight, founder of the Maurice A. Knight Co., a manufacturer of acid-proof chemical stoneware. He also was the son of Charles M. Knight, who started what is now the University of Akron's chemistry department.

Maurice Knight, his wife, the former Lulu Weeks, and their five children were the only people to live in the home. Its last occupant was daughter Lillian, who lived there until her death in 2006 at age 82. The house is now owned by her heirs, who have been trying to sell it.

Before the designers took over, the mansion was gracious but faded. Its wood floors were worn, its grasscloth and silk wallcoverings were crumbling and its paint was peeling. But the extensive woodwork still wore its original finish, and the massive leaded glass window above the stairway landing still let sunlight glint through the grime.

Today that graceful frame wears an updated look. Altogether, 29 rooms, porches and other areas have been revitalized, as well as the landscaping.

Some of the spaces retain the home's vintage charm. In the tiny first-floor powder room, for example, designer Bre Zapytowski from Cabinet-S-Top in Granger Township took pains to choose handmade white tiles in styles that were appropriate to the house's Arts and Crafts detailing, although she set them off with accent tiles in a subtle celery that gives the room a bit of contemporary flair.

Similarly, the den's new decor harks back to the early 20th century, with oversize crystal chandeliers and red silk on the walls. But the designers from Akron's Jones Group kept it from feeling stuffy by adding some glittery accessories and a bit of whimsy, such as a pillow covered in seashells.

The room was zoned to keep it intimate, explained Eric Jones, the Jones Group's vice president of design. Facing armchairs with an ottoman between are ideal for conversing or reading the paper, a round table could support card games or computer work, and a grouping of a sofa and chairs is Jones' idea of the perfect setting for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.


Jackson Township designer Dan West also retained the home's original elegance in decorating the living room, a sprawling space flanked by windows and topped with a coffered ceiling. But the 20-by-30-foot room also had features that West found to be challenging, notably bookcases in each corner that emphasized the room's stiff symmetry and a fireplace faced in plain brick.

West's solution was to create a gathering area in the center of the room, anchored by a curved, green cotton velvet sofa and striped armchairs, and to surround that with activity areas around the room's perimeter. A Steinway piano now occupies one corner, for example, and a writing desk, another.

West hung a massive mirror framed in chenille over the fireplace to cover the brick, and he tucked a bowl of magnolia branches in the firebox. A pair of Art Deco torchiers offsets the ornate French and English furniture, because ''you like a little edge in a room,'' he explained.

At the opposite end of the design spectrum is the bedroom decorated by the design team at Distinctions in Bath Township, which turned the former nursery into a lady's sitting room with a contemporary edge.

Wallpaper in an oversize, black damask print on dark gray, along with black-and-white striped rugs, set a dramatic tone for the room. But crisp white trim, light cream curtains and mirrored furniture keep the room open and bright.

It's not all modern, however. The designers hung photos of architectural features and scattered a few replicas of ruins in the room to lend a hint of antiquity.

Green designer John C. Antro took a different approach to contemporary in the bedroom he decorated. Antro created a dramatic focal point by painting the walls of a window nook black, framing the window with copper silk draperies and hanging a simple branch in the window above a statue of Buddha, all accented by track lighting.

Antro anchored the room with a black leather shag rug and scattered animal skins on the bed and floor. The wire-mesh rhinoceros head that hangs on the wall above the bed is a tongue-in-cheek nod to a manor house, and the framed Interview magazine covers - all portraits of stars done by Andy Warhol - are a conversation starter.

Joel Wolfgang of Studio W Interior Design Group in Bath took an eclectic approach to the dining room, a room he described as dark and frumpy before its makeover.

The room mixes a host of disparate elements - bold-colored silk linens, abstract art from the '60s, natural elements such as seashells and teak root balls, drawer hardware found on eBay and resin eggshell halves, gilded on the inside and stuck to the wall and ceiling. His favorite accent, a print of a smoking monkey, is strictly for laughs.

Wolfgang knew many of the ShowHouse rooms would be highly traditional, and ''I didn't want to take this room so seriously,'' he said. His goal, he said, was to make it usable every day, but also an appropriate setting for gracious entertaining.

Bath Township designer Cynthia Whitford's goal was to retain the charm of the kitchen, a utilitarian space that still has its original tall cupboards and icebox.

''A lot of people want an old-fashioned kitchen,'' Whitford said.

So instead of replacing the cabinets, she had them painted and glazed, had their bronze latches cleaned and buffed, and added crown moldings to give them more presence. The brass hardware on the icebox got a new shine, too.

She covered the tired linoleum with Marmoleum and added quartz countertops and a period-appropriate apron sink imported from England. The ceiling was decorated with subtle green stenciling on a buttery yellow background, and the lace panels and black-and-white gingham in the windows are sweetly nostalgic.

The kitchen, like the rest of the house, represents a blend of old and new, a respect for the home's architectural beauty paired with an effort to make the home livable today.

All that with a good dose of glamour.

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Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com.

Details

Designer ShowHouse 2009 is open today through May 24 at the M.A. Knight House, 711 N. Portage Path, Akron.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.

Tickets are $15. They may be purchased at the door, at all Acme Fresh Markets in Summit County or on the Junior League's Web site, http://www.juniorleagueakron.org. Discount tickets are available at $13 each for groups of 10 or more.

Proceeds benefit the Junior League and support programs in its focus area, Strengthening Families for a Better Tomorrow.