Tasteful Friends: mid-century modern in Akron, OH

Ohhh… I like it a lot. That built-in skylight in the kitchen is gorgeous.

The property looks nice too. Low price is suspect. What are they hiding?

Structure is probably moist and gamey.

[quote]What are they hiding?

They can't hide the most important defect: It's in Akron.

Could use a few more bricks

Two different color bricks?

Looks very dark. I like porches but they do make the interior dark.

OMG They took one of Wright's 'sprites' and painted it!!!

Is this a Frank Lloyd Wright house?

It's "A Little to the Wright" house.

I love it, personally. Nice leafy neighborhood too.

R2 I don't think they're hiding anything it's just tiny.

And old

(That was supposed to be a link to the street view, but you have to scroll down to it.)

What is in that vast pit open to the air, under the house?

In theory I like the swimming pond but I wonder what could grow in it and if one can keep dangerous things out of it. For example snapping turtles, moccasins, bacteria.

The interior is too dark and though the kitchen has the skylight, it is claustrophobic. As is the windowless bathroom.

Does the lanscaper come with it?

The house could be saved by adding an extension that is airy and opens to a deck (no roof) and contains a big sunny kitchen. The existing kitchen could be made into a large bathroom with a tub under the skylight, which could be modified perhaps to open? Roof windows are a risk point for leaks, however.

There aren't enough bricks.

The price doesn't seem shockingly low considering it's in Akron. The median home sale price in Akron is $130,000 as of August 2023. In late 2021, the Wall Street Journal cited a report that put Akron among the most overpriced markets in the country (by 27% according to the cited study.)

I want to like the house, for its geometry mostly, but it's so goddamned brown and ugly. And the relief of a band of red brick in the kitchen backsplash and shower interior only uglifies things more than had it stuck to monotone. And the central space that is the highlight is a little mean in dimensions. It's too tight and that behemoth of a central fireplace with the ugly brick corner treatment is wrong, even as a 'hearth and home' central point. I do like the skylight in the kitchen, and elements of the dining area along the window wall.

Visually, it could be much improved by a good floor of flagstone or some non-brick, non-brown material, and good colorful rugs and furniture -- and I would say art but there is little space to hang anything and what opportunity there is is in the short spans of brick wall. It's just all a bit dreary and doesn't feel like 2000 square feet but something more like 1200.

Externally it seems to have one good perspective, from the driveway looking to the garage and house; the rest is unfocused. The setting with its sloping lawn and trees is nice.

akron, where you can live next to navy grey, marilyn Manson AND De-Vo!

Unappealing street (per Google street view), particularly for families with young kids, and the lot is poorly situated; I would expect costly drainage and structural issues.

I love it. I wish it weren't in Akron, OH. If I had money to buy it and still live in LA I would snatch it right on up.

I bet that joint is cold as charity in winter. Some ugly shaped rooms with small windows as well.

Why not paint some of the brick? Interior walls, here and there? We always did it in New York City. They have high-tech breathing paint now, so it probably wouldn't damage the structure.

R19 It has access to a pond, for families with young kids.

Isn't Akron near the Blossom Music Festival in Cuyahoga Falls, summer home of the Cleveland Orchestra and featuring a lot of pop/rock concerts?

[quote]It has access to a pond, for families with young kids.

The pond would be a dealbreaker for some, depending on how young and adventurous the kids are when unsupervised. Same with the front yard's proximity to the road.

But the biggest problem for the average buyer would be the cost of upkeep. With significant runoff heading toward the house from three directions, and especially with that much brick, you'll be playing Whac-A-Mole with repairs and maintenance. It's a house for experienced owners with deep pockets, despite its inviting purchase price.

The bright red brick in the kitchen (backsplash) and showers is hideous and nightmare-inducing. I also think it's some type of plastic laminate. That would be the first thing I'd change, as far as cosmetic stuff. Awful.

Thank you, R4. If the Taj Mahal was located in Akron it would lose value. ugh.

For a fake Frank Lloyd Wright it's very well done, and in some ways nicer than some of his later homes.

The big miscalculation was the choice of brick, if they had stuck with a smooth, solid "Cherokee Red" type brick Wright used in the SCJ Headquarters and other brick homes in the 30's it would all look much better now than that rougher, 60's variegated brick they built with -- likely because at the time it was in style and looked "more modern". Wright not only used smooth brick, but tinted the mortar and often used flush joints - so his interior brick walls are much less busy.

I actually like the glazed red bricks used in the backsplash and shower - they are very of the period as well, like in Philip Johnston's renovation of the 49th St subway station. But they don't really work here, nor would they have worked if the house had used a more FLW style of brick either. If this were my place I'd keep the red brick and give all the brown brick a light greige / putty coat of paint.

It would be like living inside a bundt cake pan.

[quote] It has access to a pond, for families with young kids.

That should work out well for them.

I just love a water feature

Akron had Big Tire money.

Where are the bodies buried?

R31 THAT’S what it reminds me of!

Oh, it’s cute. Lots of windows. Does it come with that 40 foot sofa or do you have to buy your own 40 foot sofa?

I’m not keen on having a 40 foot sofa. I don’t feel like searching for my keys or phone in 40 feet of sofa.

It's actually in a suburb of Akron. The areas N-NW of the city and within the city limits in that direction have some exceptionally beautiful homes. I have friends who cashed out of DC real estate and bought/updated a nice pre-WWII house.

A house like this will need the right buyer who will live with a carport rather than a garage and some smallish rooms, among other things. The size (2K sf) is bigger than the average house of its time and probably similar to many of the neighbors. Given that the average age of houses in the US is >50 years old, this one isn't "that old". The nearby houses are fine--some are probably a little older, some newer, but typical colonials and ranches that fit the scale of the area. The posters who worry about children obviously grew-up in some wretched place where children aren't allowed to be kids, like the DC suburbs. It actually seems like a nice environment for a family and there probably are plenty of kids in the neighborhood.

I've always wanted to live in an old Pizza Hut in the most deceptively evil part of the country!

The shower tiles reminds me of the 12th St—Oakland Civic Ctr BART station.

It's inexpensive because it's Akron. Is that a pond, or a manmade swimming pool?

Chrissie Hynde was from Akron, as is LeBron.

[quote]I actually like the glazed red bricks used in the backsplash and shower - they are very of the period as well, like in Philip Johnston's renovation of the 49th St subway station.

Oh, dear.

To quote one of my favorite films: WHAT. A. DUMP. Cheaply made plywood everything. Formica counters! Geriatric fixtures! And that kitchen!! YE GODS!! Did Godzilla show up and start barfing different toned bricks all over the place?

Bedroom at pic 18: no bed skirt? Are you shitting me?? TACKY TACKY TACKY. (Though not as tacky as the room's curtains, presumably "sewn" by child laborers given their ghastly construction.)

The bathrooms, meanwhile, make the kitchen look lovely in contrast. AGAIN with the mismatched bricks! AND hideous sink/bath hardware!

If anyone from the NYSD ever stepped FOOT in this house, they'd be banished from Manhattan society for all eternity!

Didi it's a midwestern mid-century that clearly hasn't been updated in 40 years or so. Older people clearly lived there when the photos were taken.

Northeast Ohio is one of the grayest areas of the country. That house looks very dark, and overhead lights on that much dark wood is no bueno and doesn't solve the problem. I'd have to move out from October to May every year.

Jesus Christ! Is there one room in this cave that doesn't have red brick? I'd lose my mind...

My impression:

I can smell fresh-ground dark roast, and hear the sound of the foaming/frothing of 2% milk to be spooned over the triple espresso shot.

I put my order in, then ease myself onto one of the comfy-looking sofas. I leaf through whatever passes for underground subversive publications these days. And I leaf very very conspicuous so as to inflame the anger and nasty gaze of Akronites.

Doesnt seem expensive to me for what you get, but it has no appeal for me. If I'm going to have a large old high maintenance home I'd rather have a Victorian

All that brick is unattractive