Old is New Again

Sometimes you can teach an old house new tricks. The Corrys turned their older house into a well-thought-out 'smart home.'

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Photo Edward Biamonte Adding a circular drive, a Prairie School influenced portico and landscape lighting on the front side of the house increased the curb appeal of the Corrys' property.

There’s just something about Frank and Judy Corrys’ Southern Hills home that emanates “smart.” It’s not just the five children who were raised there, four of whom have become physicians and one an engineer. And it isn’t just Frank himself, a Springfield general surgeon retired from St. John’s after 32 years. No, the house itself has become “smart” after two years of renovations that included the installation of 78 electrical circuits to control the lights, music and even the fireplace.

The transformation of this Arts and Crafts–influenced house was 30 years in the making. (The Arts and Crafts movement is synonymous with Craftsman style, which influenced Frank Lloyd Wright and other notable American architects, and is making a comeback locally.) It was 1975 when Frank and Judy, through word of mouth, heard that the five-bedroom house was on the market. At the time, a house in Springfield with that many bedrooms was a rarity. In fact, when the Corry’s were looking, they could only find three available. A professional prerequisite mandated that Frank live close to the hospital, and with a fifth child on the way, the Corry’s choices were even more limited. After touring the house, they wrote up their own offer. “We came by on a Sunday and put the offer in the door. We just wrote down what we could afford and hoped it would be accepted,” said Judy.

Needless to say, Dr. Harwood Sturtevant, who lived in and designed the home, accepted the offer and welcomed the Corrys as the second owners of the home. The home’s features extended well beyond the number of bedrooms. It boasted a breathtaking view of the neighborhood’s lake, and it was an architectural gem with an Eastern influence that was, and still is, unusual in Southwest Missouri.

The Sturtevant family traveled extensively to China and Korea and was influenced by the country’s art and culture. “Their father-in-law was a missionary in Korea and lived in the front bedroom of the house,” said Frank. From the grass cloth that covers the walls in the living and dining rooms to the four-foot overhang on the exterior, the house pays homage to Frank Lloyd Wright and Prairie School architecture. Even the simplicity of the front door welcomes guests with an almost Zen-like experience. Made of solid wood, it is wider than most standard doors and is completely free of trim. But in the center of its expanse is an exquisite wide circular brass decorative doorknob with engraved Asian symbols.

A busy career and a full home life kept any house improvements on the back burner until Frank’s retirement in 2001. “The part that suffered all those years was the house,” said Judy. Finally, it was an ultimatum from their grown children that motivated them to renovate. “‘Either fix up the house or move,’ our kids told us,” said Frank.

With the time and resources to tackle a major home remodeling, all that was missing for the Corrys was the knowledge of where to begin. Frank would take one and a half years of classes to learn about lighting, color and residential design. He worked on his home as a class project, eventually drawing up plans that would act as a starter blueprint for the 1,000-square-foot addition and renovation.

Frank also immersed himself in the Arts and Crafts movement. “I made a point to travel to Chicago’s west side and to Taliesin to study Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings,” said Frank. The Corrys were also influenced by Sarah Susanka’s book The Not So Small House. Susanka, a Midwestern architect, is an advocate of quality over quantity, choosing fine woodworking and quality materials over square footage—thus the 1,000-square-foot addition, not 2,000.

Ultimately it was Frank’s desire to study and find innovations in construction and building that led him to ForresterTech and the smart house system. (“It was always about what I could do today in construction that was new and exciting,” he said.) The system installed in their house coordinates a series of lights, music and the fireplaces depending on the occasion or the time of day.
Each room is equipped with its own sleek and small control panel, enabling guests to choose their own music and lighting. A dim amber light in the panel’s buttons illuminate the controls. In addition, a handheld radio control can adjust all the system components from anywhere in the house.