Renowned St. Joseph Architect John Allegretti continues to impress the judges year after year in the Detroit Home Magazine competition for Design Excellence, this time for a private residence in the city of St. Joseph.
Allegretti is no stranger to the winner’s circle as evidenced by his burgeoning trophy case, and his distinctive styling is almost as recognizable to his own fans as the famed Frank Lloyd Wright genre is to fans of his unique approach to the world of architecture.
The current issue of Detroit Home Magazine, on newsstands across the state and nation, showcases dozens of award winners in multiple categories and Allegretti’s award is a 3rd Place honor in the Vacation Home in Michigan sector.
Built in 2017, Allegretti’s design, as shown in the photo accompanying this story on Moody on the Market, is a modern three-level lake front home on a narrow lot measuring 33 x 132 feet, with beach erosion, and extreme lot issues. Keeping a simple eye enhanced the livability of the narrow lot and plan functionality.
That same home, while in its design stages by Allegretti, won a Merit Award from the Southwest Michigan Division of the American Institute of Architects for 2017 in the fall of that year, picking up the award for a project design in the Unbuilt, Private Residence category. It won that award while construction of the home was actually underway.
A considerable set of challenges kept the project on the drawing board for some time while the issues were being resolved. Allegretti, the Design Architect who created the plan, had to deal with both the narrow lot configuration and waterfront erosion problems.
The millennial modern home was challenged by being designed on a wedged-in 33-foot wide by 132-foot long lakefront lot, where restrictions included a seven foot side, thirty foot rear, and ten foot to the first step front yard, with forty five-percent lot coverage, and thirty foot height.
Allegretti says, “Then, just as we were ready to begin construction, unprecedented beach erosion required a new seawall, significantly reducing the budget,” adding, “All this while our busy clients, seven hundred miles away, were stretched between their two toddlers, their jobs, and being very involved with the decisions their home required.”
By lowering the home 3-feet below grade, Allegretti created a beach access area, which acts as a “surge plinth” for the main and upper levels of the home. The lower level consists of a garage, shower and sand-trap area, and a mechanical room.
Allegretti was further challenged by the fact that both of the adjacent neighbor’s homes crowd the property lines, forcing his design strategy to evolve into an internal progression of decks, covered terraces, and a main level which are all focused on the street and lakeside views.
The interiors of the home are primarily white as is the “floating stair” from the beach area to the main level and to the upper level three bedrooms. Wide flange steel shear wall frames were used at both ends to support the tall 30-foot high by 22-foot wide structure with multiple cantilevering decks.
Allegretti reports that, “’The Resilient St. Joseph Coastal Study’ shepherded our waterfront design and was approved by the City of St. Joseph.” He adds, “We believe this home is recognition-worthy because of the problems our team surmounted for our client and the litany of best practices design iterations we developed in the process.”
John Allegretti has served the community of Michigan’s Great Southwest with multiple award-winning designs from his offices located in the historic building anchored at 500 Main Street in St. Joseph. You can reach him by phone at 269-983-1100 or by e-mail at Allegrettiarchitects@gmail.com. You can also learn more about his firm in general by clicking his website at the link below:
