THE HAWKINS FERRY HOUSE

A Young Couple Preserves a Modernist Gem In Line With the Original Owner's Intent

Aug 26, 2023

Whenever they were out kayaking or paddle boarding on Lake St. Clair, Anthony and JJ Curis often detoured past a strikingly modern home to get a glimpse of it and dream. Drawn to its contemporary architecture and provenance, the young couple fantasized about living there one day. It certainly jumped out from the other more traditional manses that line Grosse Pointe Shores, MI.

The history of the house is impressive. It was designed by noted architect William Kessler in 1964 for W. Hawkins Ferry, an architectural historian best known for penning the bible on Detroit architecture, The Buildings of Detroit. Hawkins Ferry, an heir to the Ferry seed company fortune, was a great philanthropist and reputed bon vivant. He planned the home to showcase his incredible art collection (which included works by Picasso, Rothko and Giacometti) and to host parties for the benefit of charitable organizations like the Detroit Institute of Art where he was a trustee. Kessler conceived the residence with a large roof overhang to create shade for the owner’s art, and lined the back with glass capturing stunning waterfront views. A expansive outdoor patio designed by well-known local sculptor Glen Michaels seems made for lakeside cocktails at golden hour. The interior is largely an open plan much like an art gallery. House Beautiful considered the result so chic, it put the house on its cover in 1969. Hawkins Ferry lived there for more than 30 years until he died in 1988.

In 2015, when the Curis family heard the house was on the market, they quickly made a deal with the current owner. A serendipitous match, the Curis’ are contemporary art collectors and architectural addicts, just like Hawkins before them. Not only did they restore their previous home, a 1950s ranch, they established an art gallery in downtown Detroit, the Library Street Collective, that plays an important role in the Motor City’s revitalization.

Today the home looks much like it did in House Beautiful complete with rotating highlights from the homeowners’ contemporary art collection and furnished with iconic midcentury pieces and modern design heirlooms. Not surprisingly, however, when I visited recently with the Decorative Arts Trust , Anthony Curis told us that buying the house was a lot easier than restoring it. The Hawkins Ferry House had suffered through many interior modifications by multiple intervening owners before the Curis family got their hands on it. Hawkins’ ghost, however, seemed to guide the young couple forward.

Like layers of an onion, the house itself revealed treasures and secrets. Original oval slit windows were reinstalled in the kitchen correcting a rectangular windowed remuddle after they were found under a crawlspace. An old shoebox of Polaroids in the basement yielded a photo showing two men installing the terrazzo staircase with a company name and phone number on the back. Miraculously still in business, the company returned to make some necessary repairs. William Kessler’s daughter had insights on the proper color of the exterior Cyprus siding. The last project to be completed, the lakeside patio, had been missing so many pavers that its design was illegible. When a box of spare pavers was unearthed in a nearly hidden wall space in the garage, Glen Michaels himself came over to decipher the pattern.

I think the home looks marvelous and especially love the conversation pit. The only other similar pit I know of is in the Miller House upholstered with colorful pillows by acclaimed designer Alexander Girard, whose single surviving house happens to be in Detroit. (We drove past it). Anthony said the conversation pit was his favorite place to hang out with the couple’s two small children. Certainly a spring-loaded baby gate would work well there.

Although Anthony emphasized to us that the house remains a work in progress, by July 2017 the couple was ready to open it to the public. That summer, they hosted an art exhibition organized with the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and held a related benefit auction. I can only imagine that Hawkins Ferry is somewhere above smiling. Just like House Beautiful proclaimed in its headline, the Hawkins Ferry House is once again a “Home for Art.” Let’s have a martini on the patio.

Bon voyage.