Speaking of their spacious home located on Oenoke Ridge, Alex and Karen Kaali-Nagy share the former owners enthusiasm, including the one who still keeps an eye on the house from his final resting place in a graveyard across the street. Originally used as a summer residence by the Merrill family in the 1890's, the house was given the name Merrilea. Within that 100-year period the house underwent some radical changes, evolving from a summer home, to a boarding house, into a contemporary home and finally, beginning last May, a return to its roots. Viewing the house today, it is hard to imagine that only a year ago this home had a contemporary feel that included floor to ceiling windows and a different entrance than that which welcomes visitors today.
People love a porch.
It offers a welcome and draws you into the house. It's a wonderful way to enter the house and a great place to sit and watch the rain. The move was, to say the least, highly unusual. But the designing couple had reasons that were both aesthetic and economic. But it never should have been a contemporary and we wanted to return it to its natural grandeur.