Photography by Kyle Haines
Welcome to 847 Mohawk Street
The gorgeous, wonderful, comfortable and fun to live in home of Lisa Stein and Craig Colvin.
The gorgeous, wonderful, comfortable and fun to live in home of Lisa Stein and Craig Colvin.
Front entrance on Mohawk Street. Two cottages connected into one house.
From Lisa:
Craig and I lived in the village for 18 years from 1985 to 2004, and always knew we would come back one day. We restored our first house for ourselves in 1985, and did it all DIY….and I still imagine how future homeowners must have laughed at us and cursed our crummy work. We did our first spec house in 1995 and had so much fun that Craig decided to turn it into his career, and ended up working on over 50 houses in the village, and continues to do so to this day.
Craig and I lived in the village for 18 years from 1985 to 2004, and always knew we would come back one day. We restored our first house for ourselves in 1985, and did it all DIY….and I still imagine how future homeowners must have laughed at us and cursed our crummy work. We did our first spec house in 1995 and had so much fun that Craig decided to turn it into his career, and ended up working on over 50 houses in the village, and continues to do so to this day.
Mohawk Street Interior entrance.
From the entrance you enter a large room that had a brick wall removed in order to expand the space to be the width of the
original double cottage.
original double cottage.
A library is included in the enlarged space.
When we decided to move back in 2015, we were hoping for a project…something that was different than anything else in the village, and that had a little elbow room. We looked at satellite images of the village to find “green spots” that we might not have known about, then called Marilyn V with a list….and it turns out that #1 on the list was available, quietly. It had not sold in 50 years, and we are only the 5th owners since it was platted in 1870.
The view from the library through the kitchen and dining space to the outdoor patio area.
Artwork in the connector between the two cottages.
Courtyard visible from the connector looking toward Mohawk Street.
Lisa's office.
Billiard Room.
Exercise room.
Craig in his office.
And the house was tested early on….we finished the major construction projects, which took 2 full years, and moved in in December 2019. Covid struck 3 months later, our sons moved home and the house provided room for all of us to live, work from home, work out, with privacy and then come together at night to enjoy cooking, puzzles, and games. It was perfect and the house passed the test with flying colors. We love living here, waking up and throwing open the doors to the backyard, enjoying coffee with the birds and the squirrels, and having a little oasis in the middle of the city, and then popping out the front door to walk all over the village.
The large, open kitchen with fireplace.
Living space with fireplace and views of the courtyard garden.
View looking toward the large front room as well as access to the connector.
Wine cellar.
In terms of the interiors, our taste is eclectic. Many of the things in the house are items that we’ve collected over the years. We did have to augment with a few new sofas, etc, but it’s amazing how little furniture we needed to buy. Much of the lighting is from Visual Comfort or Roll and Hill, and many things are vintage from Grandview Mercantile, which is a treasure trove of wonderful finds. Our favorite house shopping is for art, however, and it’s been a joy to have more wall space to enjoy works from both local and other artists. We have pieces from Laura Anderson, Christian Faur, and Ann Hamilton, all local artists. Our current favorites are sculptures and prints from a South African artist, Claudette Schreuders and an NYC-based artist Kira Nam Greene
View of dining space toward kitchen and bar.
Dining area.
We worked with a wonderful landscape designer, Sue Grant of Jacob Grant Design. We knew we wanted a small pool and privacy, and a kitchen garden. Our sons love ping-pong so that was an easy decision to include an outdoor ping-pong table. And we wanted easy maintenance, but we sort of blew that idea with the 17 hornbeams. They require constant trimming to keep them under control so consider hornbeams carefully!
Kitchen garden.
Auto-court with multi-vehicle garage.
A great German Village lifestyle family!
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HOUSE 847 Mohawk Street ISSUE XXXIII
