An Otherworldly Barn-Turned-Home Touches Down in Michigan

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Location: Buchanan, Michigan
Price: $2,100,000

Normally, crop circles are the place to find glyphs, runes and unexpected iconography in rural America. The windows on the side of this partially burnt Michigan barn-turned-modernist home, however, can match those cryptic cornfields for shapes and symbolism. A 1972 renovation by post-modern master Stanley Tigerman, a member of the Chicago Seven, Frog Hollow was created for a veterinarian and his wife, both of whom grew up on farms and had a nostalgic connection to hay lofts. Tigerman's adaptive reuse removed nothing from the 100-year-old barn, but instead reimagined the inside as a four-level ode to open living.

The spiral staircase running through the center of the home forms the spine of the structure, which magazines at the time praised for its sense of "spirited whimsy." The charcoal color, found on the façade and carpeting, references the once-charred structure, while a sizable gazebo offers panoramic views of the Southwest Michigan landscape. The towering space also afforded the initial resident an opportunity to play his organ in an acoustically suitable space. Now, the 2376-square foot home is back on the market, hoping to make a buyer as happy as the original owners. Evidently, as Tigerman recounts in a book, the clients were so happy that when the conversion was over, they sent him a create of 1936 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild. The attached thank you note said they were disappointed they couldn't continue work on the barn forever.

∙ 11907 Garr Road, Buchanan, MI [Estately]
∙ Director Gus Van Sant's Barn Studio Can Be Yours for $1.8M [Curbed]
∙ Tigerman's Postmodern Pensacola Place Sells for $66M [Curbed Chicago]
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