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When catastrophe struck a local home,
the owners started from scratch,
incorporating their love of the great outdoors.

WRITTEN BY MEGAN SWOYER I PHOTOGRAPHS BY GENE MEADOWS

There's just no place like home, even if your home is no longer standing. That was the case for Beverly and
Hadley Wine in 2003 when they were renovating their Huntington Woods home. The couple, who have two
grown sons and a granddaughter, were in the midst of an overhaul of what was one of the area's first mid-
century modern tri-level homes when welding issues caused the structure to burn to the ground.
"We were going to sell the property and just go," recalls Beverly, an English teacher at Royal Oak High
School. Meanwhile, Karen Swanson of Swanson Meads Architects in Birmingham, who had been working
with the Wines during their renovation, created a new-home design to reflect the Wines' lifestyle. "Karen
knew how we lived, our love of entertaining, the outdoors and our need for a lot of walls for our art collec-
tion," says Beverly. "We had also decided that we loved Huntington Woods and the neighborhood," adds
Hadley, an attorney. So they broke ground on a new-build and moved back into the contemporary space on
their same lofty lot three years ago.
But then another catastrophe struck A huge old tree on their neighbor's lawn
crashed through the Wines' roof and into the couple's bedroom. "Had we been
home and in the room, we would have been killed," says Beverly.
The disasters just add more intrigue to the 4,000-square-foot home. As does
the luscious landscape, a prized part of the parcel and all designed by the couple's
nephew, Jeff Klein of Classic Landscape in Detroit. "We had several companies
bid on the landscaping, but Jeff's design was spectacular, period," says Beverly.
From a perch on a white sofa in the Wines' art-adorned living room, one can take
in a lush panoramic view of flora and foliage. Evergreens share space with a hand-
some limestone wall, a sprawling slate patio, colorful container plants, climbing hydrangeas, Japanese maples,
rows of healthy ferns and a centerpiece multi-level waterfall and pond teeming with some 20 fish.
"The Wines have a love for the modern," says Swanson. "The house was inspired by architect Alvar Aalto's
Villa Carre in France, also designed for an art collector. Its wedge-shaped forms work their way around the
corner of the site, while the low horizontal covered walkway ties them together, so it seemed an appropriate
conceptual model for the siting of this house."
Colorful impatiens, which don't mind the shade from the towering trees, skirt much of the backyard,
while Hadley, who does all of the gardening, counts bleeding hearts and weeping cedars as two of his favorite
additions. Despite having grown up on a small piece of land in Detroit, Hadley has a connection with the
outdoors, often even working on the neighborhood's public island in front of their home. "We call it the
Granny Garden, as it has lilies and roses and our mothers' names are Rose and Lillian," Beverly explains.
Contemporary-lined silver and dark-hued tables and chairs round out the peaceful backyard. "We sit on
the couch and look out to a lot of beauty four seasons of the year," says Beverly. "This is where we drink coffee
and read the New York Times on weekends." Indeed, there's no place like home.

"We sit on the couch and
look out to a lot of beauty
four seasons of the year,"
says Beverly Wine.

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