The Margolis House by Benjamin Dombar, circa 1954
Classic MCM with outdoor living re-design for the new millennium
Special guest speaker at 10:30, cf3 co-founder and architect of this thoughtful and sensitive reimagined environment, Chris Magee.
This look inside the Amberley Village MCM + modern living environment of cf3 members Sandy & Mike Iten is for cf3 members only, but is not limited in size. Please plan to park in the street and walk to the back yard.
From the homeowners:
"We bought this house in 2017 because it was a convenient ranch with great bones and interesting history and architecture. We were both new to MCM living, but became very inspired to decorate, renovate and maintain the house in a way that accentuated the features that Ben Donbar created. Curb appeal seemed to be lacking, so our first idea was to simply redo the old 1970s pool and tiki bar area. However, once we met with Chris Magee, our thought process completely changed.
Chris presented us with blueprints that incorporated everything we could dream of in a MCM outdoor space. Our dream was to make it look like a Palm Springs backyard in the middle of Cincinnati. We asked for water and fire features, and Chris delivered with a plan based on the angles of the house. He incorporated a new pool, outdoor kitchen, breezeblock, concrete stairs, sunken firepit, and tons of curb appeal into his new design. Mike was able to build many of the details himself, including the pergola, deck, LED lighting, fences, table and chairs. The finished brickwork and structures look like they could be original to the house, and the new paint colors, modern mailbox, paver driveway and landscaping brought a plethora of comments from the neighbors about how fantastic it looks.
We've received compliments like "this is the best backyard in Cincinnati" from my daughter's friends. We enjoy having parties so that others can enjoy this new space. Now that a few years have gone by, it is really satisfying to see the roses climbing the breezeblock and the wisteria hanging from the pergola. We enjoy seeing my daughter and her friends eating outdoors, swimming in the pool, or playing cornhole on the turf. In the years to come, we hope to make many memories together in this improved outdoor living space."
