Onshore
Little Traverse Bay, Harbor Springs, Michigan

 

Onshore in Harbor Springs, Michigan, has been designed as a waterfront home reflecting the stylistic sensibility and ambiance of the great turn-of–the-nineteenth-century summer colonies, whose populations swelled as the temperatures climbed, and became the settings for legendary entertainments and renowned “cottages.” Drawing its vocabulary from the grand Queen Anne revival and shingle style estates found from Newport, Rhode Island to Mackinac Island, Michigan, Onshore’s mix of shingle patterns and decorative moldings, dovecotes and fieldstone, balconies and sprawling piazzas all hearken back to that waterfront architecture so unique to its time and place.

Harbor Springs has been a resort community for over a century, and many of the people who enjoy its pristine lakeshore beauty today have been summer residents for years, often since childhood, and often as only the most recent of many generations. It is the rare resort that remains still unspoiled and yet provides every gracious amenity for its well-heeled refugees from the stresses of modern life.

Onshore is centered about a manicured entry court that presents a symmetrical façade to the arriving guest, enclosed on the side by the projecting Carriage House and its sheltering connector. The first floor entry sequence has been devised to guide arriving guests from the two-story vaulted and fireplaced Hall, with its cascading stair, into a wide passage leading through the house to the Lake Front. From this passage both the Pointe Room, truly the heart of the house, with its panoramic views of Lake Michigan, and the classically formal Dining Room, can be entered through the twin-arched entryways. Recalling the historical theme, each room has its own wainscot design, cherry floor patterns, and coffered ceilings, with the large moldings highlighting the custom mahogany windows operated by traditional weights and chains.

Surrounding much of the house is the sheltered outdoor piazza that, with its outdoor fireplace and spectacular vistas, will serve as a festive adjunct to the adjacent rooms. Also accessed from the Hall are the mahogany Library, the outdoor-oriented state-of-the-art family kitchen, with its own French doors to the landscaped terrace overlooking the Lake and beach below, all part of the outdoor amenities that further enhance the ability of these rooms to serve as spaces for both grand celebrations and intimate family gatherings.

From the grandchildren’s kid-friendly “dormitories” on the third floor to the hand-set stone and mahogany bead board of the club-like Shore Room three stories below, adjacent to the theater, wine cellar and fitness suite, the theme of understated elegance and family comforts befitting an extraordinary summer residence is evident throughout. Any time there arose an opportunity to reinforce the details which make Onshore a family home to be shared by generations of the owner’s family, the advantage was taken. Should all twenty-plus beds ever be filled at the same time, no family member or guest will want for anything, be it restful respite or activity-filled days!