He also added the modern touch of underfloor heating. The massive wood beams, wood trim and wood flooring inside are made from local pine that Seitz burnt and sealed to look authentically antique. The stones are found throughout the house including the living and dining areas, the kitchen, the bathrooms and the bedrooms. Some of the new stones in the house were found buried on the property, while the rest were purchased locally. “I took the original dark front door area and turned it into an entrance with wide double doors.” “I tore out a little wood staircase and created a grand staircase of all new stones that look like they could be original to the house,” Seitz said. The only other original stone inside the house is the basement foundation, which Seitz sanded and retucked. Seitz moved and restored two stone fireplaces in the home, then added a third in a second-floor family room. Seitz saved as much stone and rock as he could from the house, some of which overflowed from Castle Farms in Charlevoix, which was built in 1918 and inspired by French castles.Ī signature element in Young’s homes was a massive stone fireplace. “I kept the original footprint of the house but otherwise the Thatch House is my design.” “It was basically the ugly duckling on the street, so I took it down to the foundation and rescued the outer stone walls,” Seitz said. It had been on sale for eight years and was in disrepair from fire and vandalism, Seitz said. The Charlevoix house that Seitz purchased was the first Young built and had a more conventional interior than his later homes. I was fascinated by Young’s fairytale houses, but his are more Hobbit style and mine are more medieval with thatched roofs, big heavy beams, white walls and a more whimsical, romantic interior.”įairytale Features From Foundation to Roof “They didn’t write the same type of music, but they could appreciate each other’s work. “When I came to Charlevoix and saw Young’s homes, it felt like Mozart coming across Beethoven’s music,” Seitz said. Instead, inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, he designed homes that followed the contours of the land and built them with materials such boulders and stones from the area with touches of wood. Young was known for building without blueprints or floor plans. I redrew the design again after I tinkered with the Legos.” “First, I drew a design on a napkin and then I built a Lego model of the house. “When I saw the Earl Young house I bought, I immediately imagined redoing it,” said Seitz, who spent many vacations in Charlevoix. His signature style always includes a thatched roof. His home, known as the “Thatch House,” is one of several handcrafted homes Seitz has built around the world, including one in his native South Africa and another in the Czech Republic despite his lack of formal architectural training. Seitz may call himself a “hobby architect,” but don’t call him a “Hobbit House” architect.
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