Every spring, Howard Glickman, principal of Saint Louis Group Design/Build, returns to the first home he ever built to see the flowering dogwood trees he planted in 1978. During a recent visit, he met the new homeowners, a young family with two children who remind him of his own. Although their experiences with the house are separated by decades, Glickman and the new owner love the same qualities in this Ladue residence.
T&S | What’s the backstory about this house?
HOWARD GLICKMAN | I designed the home for my family and myself, back in ’78. At that time, I was fortunate enough to procure this piece of virtually undevelopable property. It sloped down the hill, and the original developer of the subdivision chose not to include it. I saw I could do something with it. It does slope tremendously, therefore I had to build a stairstepping home: There’s about five levels inside. We ended up designing a contemporary home, a less-is-more statement. [There were] very mature trees on the property and I was very conscious about saving these trees. It’s easy to cut them down, but it’s not easy to grow them over 20 or 50 years. This is my home away from home. I spent 21 years in it, raised a family and did a lot of planting on the property.
T&S | What attracted you to the house?
CURRENT OWNER | We loved the contemporary architecture, and we’d never seen a house like this before. We liked the setting, with a lot of nature around it. T&S | What aesthetic did you hope to achieve with your decor and furniture?
CO | We wanted the architecture to be the art for the house, so we opted to have more simple, clean spaces. We like a relaxed, minimalist look, without too many things put around. We purchased almost the entire living room furniture set from the previous owner because they had such great taste. We like folk art a lot so we have some pieces from local St. Louis artists. We were lucky that a lot of it fit right in with the architecture. I guess our whole aesthetic was meant for this house because we owned things already that worked. T&S | Tell me about the outdoor spaces.
CO | The decks are amazing and great for entertaining. Trees grow through two of the decks, one of them on the top floor. I find that the rounded decks are a nice complement to the more angular parts of the house. It’s nice to watch the wildlife outside. We have foxes here, and a beautiful barn owl visits quite a bit. It seems like each season we get a whole new animal family: We had a family of turkeys in the fall, and a family of chipmunks born in the spring.”
HG | There are stairsteps down the hill, and there’s a creek at the bottom; it’s so nice to hear the water.
T&S | What’s it like to raise children in such a contemporary space?
CO | I think they’re learning to appreciate art and architecture, as well as nature, by living here.
T&S | What are your favorite features?
CO | The gas fireplace extends out on the other side of the window; I think those kind of special touches make the house unique. The floor in the living room is also really cool because it brings nature into the house. It’s Tennessee Crab Orchard flagstone—very beautiful and durable. It’s an interesting texture that kind of blends with the woods and complements the smooth walls. There are a lot of windows, so depending on where you are in the house, you get a different view of the nature outside. And we love the natural light that comes in. We have some skylights and it’s nice to have natural light in your everyday life.
HG | On the corner of the front deck, there’s a flying buttress cantilevered element. You look up and can see the sky. In the back, on the master bedroom deck, I built the same feature.
T&S | How did you meet each other?
HG | I go back every spring to look at the white flowering dogwoods leading down to the garage. A man came out and said, “Can I help you?” I said, “I’m just looking at the trees, I used to live here.” He asked, “Are you Howard Glickman?” Then he starts talking with a joyful smile on his face and gives me a bear hug. He said, “I love my home.” And I said, “That’s music to my ears.” It was so nice. They invited me over for dinner and I got to meet their children; it was like a homecoming. They’re invited to my birthday party!
CO | We’ve befriended Howard; he’s a wonderful man. It’s nice to hear how he came up with the house and some of the other ideas that he had for it.
T&S | What’s it like to be back inside this house?
HG | They reminded me of myself and my children, it was déjà vu. How intimate that was—this family is sort of like history repeating itself.
by Rebecca Koenig
photos by Suzy Gorman
