Claremont House by Brininstool + Lynch
Brininstool + Lynch Architects designed the Claremont House in Chicago, Illinois.
Full description after the photos….











Photography by Christopher Barrett and Hedrich Blessing
Description from the architects:
Traditional materials of brick, concrete, limestone, steel, and zinc are used to form a non-traditional house on a typical lot on the north side of Chicago. The house further resists city conventions by uniting the front yard with the back with visual transparency, where sheets of glass more than ten feet high and fourteen feet wide terminate an open plan of sixty-three feet in length on the first floor. A three-story volume of millwork separates the floors from the vertical circulation of the stairway and contains storage and equipment, neatly separating functional performance from open space.
An island of stainless steel for kitchen use and dining is the only object built within the open space of the first floor. This area overlooks a courtyard, as well as the green roof of the garage.
The ground floor houses the guest room and family room, which is also framed by a large sheet of glass that brings the outdoor courtyard visually into the interior, and floods this area with ambient natural light. An outdoor stairway from the kitchen to the courtyard is wrapped with perforated zinc panels that shade southern light into the courtyard. Private rooms for the family of four are located on the third floor.
Visit the Brininstool + Lynch website – here.

indah on 25 Apr 2009 at 6:34 am #
Beautyfull side..
myriam on 25 Apr 2009 at 1:32 pm #
i like it its so simple and very beautifull
specially the kitchen
Lance on 26 Apr 2009 at 4:56 am #
Ok, this is clean and simple with no fuss done right. It doesn’t feel cold at all. Excellent!
omgod on 26 Apr 2009 at 7:47 am #
this is one nice house but it needs to eithere taller or bigger over all
.. but IT WAS A FANTASTIC House
Andrew James on 26 Apr 2009 at 10:46 am #
Stunning,
Conventional material in a non conventional home.
I love the bridge to the stairs leading form the second floor to the courtyard
The solid front wall of the third floor leaves you guessing when you first see it.
LOVE IT!
Ithaqua on 26 Apr 2009 at 10:58 am #
i love the stair case and how it has loads o flight and the type of steps, very nice. The bedroom looks so warm and inviting.
Jason on 27 Apr 2009 at 6:42 am #
Nice work! Love the interior details
Jason on 27 Apr 2009 at 6:45 am #
Would love to know what they spent on all their millwork!
Rudy on 28 Apr 2009 at 5:42 am #
If there is an equivalent of ‘panting by numbers’ in architecture, then this feels like it.
The result is as uninspiring as a showroom of a furniture company.
Joe on 08 Aug 2009 at 6:04 am #
looks like a minimalist take on frank lloyd wrights robie house on the U of C campus, which probably isn’t too far from this house…
i’m confused by where the front door might be… it sure doesn’t look like it’s there in the first picture… and i take it that it’s cold out, that’s why the landscaping looks drabby…
Gothamist on 15 Dec 2009 at 8:32 pm #
I hate the fact that I can tell when a house is in Chicago, or Manhattan (and the neighborhoods of NYC) or San Francisco or Los Angeles just by looking at the design of the house. Some places look so much like their respective cities that they are easily localized by a gut feeling. I absolutely love this house and am very disappointed that it is located in Chicago because I have looked at a lot of real estate in Chicago and their contemporary homes have that great townhouse layout that I love with the sleekness that I crave. No other city has houses like Chicago and I am worried that I will miss this great city when I move away in two years. This house looks like a Bucktown house.
Aozora on 06 Oct 2010 at 10:28 pm #
Small and simple…very nice home..love it…