That said, houses need to be maintained. “I wouldn’t say it was neglected,” she says, “it was just time for it to get the attention it needed.” She hired plasterers and paint conservators to work on the exterior. “We went through the archives and found the original paint color and repainted the house in it,” she says.
Anderson-Magness held back from furnishing the house for at least six months. “What I learned by waiting is that as you circulate through the house—in any room, the sightlines of the property are really amazing,” she says. Because the house is on a slope, “your eyes are at tree canopy level, so you’ve got this beautiful perspective akin to living in a treehouse.”
She filled the house with pieces she considers “in the aesthetic of Frank Lloyd Wright.” The original couch will come with the house; the rest of it could be included, she says, for an additional price.
Before she decided to sell, Anderson-Magness says she briefly tried renting it out “as an experiment for myself, to see if I would miss it.”
She ultimately decided that she could let it go. “I’m in a place where I want to be able to contribute my expertise to another place and enjoy it with my family,” she says. “I think that’s what a true preservationist is: We see and take what we’re given, and then try to implement the original intent. There’s a history and a story to maintain.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.