By Lauren Eve | Photos by Shanna Wolf
In the village of Williams Bay, just northeast of Yerkes Observatory, sits a unique and historic home built in 1902. This house, originally built for Ida and Storrs Barrett — founder of Williams Bay’s Barrett Memorial Library in 1907 and a key administrator at the observatory from 1900 to 1930 — has remained a cherished home, now in its fourth generation of family ownership. “It certainly is a historic home,” says current owner Frost Williams, a great- grandson of Barrett’s. “My great- grandfather was one of the first to be here [in Williams Bay] from the University of Chicago. My dad, David B. Williams, has spent most of his life in this home. It is a special place.”
Frost and his wife Heather are the newest family owners of the 3,300-square-foot house, which sits on 1.8 acres of property filled with mature oak and maple trees, and boasts unmatched views of the observatory. Frost and Heather moved in last year with their son, Storrs, after completing a major renovation to optimize the space for modern living. “We knew we wanted to settle down as a family in my hometown,” says Frost.
A ‘STORR-IED’ HISTORY
Peter Williams, a grandchild of Ida and Storrs Barrett’s and one of Frost’s uncles, who lived in the home from the age of 2 through his high school years, explains that Barrett was an astronomer and administrator who worked with renowned astrophysicist Dr. George Hale at the University of Chicago. In 1893, Barrett joined Hale on a trip to Williams Bay to help choose the location for what would ultimately become Yerkes Observatory. The observatory was opened in 1897; by 1900, Barrett had become a member of the Yerkes Observatory staff. He bought land next to the property, and set about building a home for his family.
When building the house in 1902, Barrett mirrored its architecture on the gatehouse to famed lakefront property Wychwood on Lake Geneva’s Snake Road. That gatehouse was designed by revered Prairie School architect Robert Closson Spencer Jr., who also designed Lake Geneva’s Horticultural Hall. The Barrett home was built by Alfred Piehl, a skilled carpenter and contractor, and was initially sided in dark brown cedar with dark forest green trim. Ida and Storrs Barrett raised their three daughters there.
Eventually, David B. Williams, Frost’s father, along with his wife, Kathy, moved in and raised their family in the home, making a few renovations of their own to the space. In 1978, they remodeled what was then the “back kitchen” into a large family room and library. And in 1983, they added a three-car garage and a shed in the backyard. Despite these updates, the house retained most of its original architectural features, including the front porch, a family favorite on warm summer evenings.
OVERCOMING CHALLENGES AND BUILDING ON TRADITION
When Frost and Heather decided to move into the family home where Frost had grown up, they felt it was important to preserve and honor the home’s long history while updating the space with the latest comforts.
“We have always enjoyed Williams Bay and knew we wanted to renovate,” Frost explains. “The goal was to honor our long-time family legacy while incorporating modern updates.”
Heather spearheaded the 18-month renovation project, along with designer Kelly Neumann-Burns from Vyolette Design & Home, and the project was executed by father-and-sons contractors at East Troy’s Parr Homes. The team began the renovations by completely demolishing the interior, taking care to preserve most of the original floor plan, then moving room- by-room to make changes. “The history, meaning and sentiment of this family home was the starting point of this project,” explains Neumann-Burns. “It did not start with envisioning a great wallpaper, it was about history, old memories and new memories to come.”
One of the main challenges they faced during the renovations was structural in nature: the 120-year-old home required significant reinforcements and leveling to the front of the house due to its age. The attic was leaning and needed additional structural support. The builder discovered that the house sloped towards the front because an old coal chute under the front porch had never been filled in. So he reinforced and leveled the house, ensuring it was structurally sound. Next, the team tackled the exterior, replacing most of the windows and adding peaked gables to the garage, carefully matching new architectural features with the original 1902 design.
Once this structural work was completed and the exterior repaired, the next challenge they faced was how best to use the available space. Most recently a 3-bed, 2-bath home, the new design prioritized shifting the layout slightly in order to add another half-bath, expand the kitchen and create a primary suite with a bedroom, a bathroom and a closet. These renovations also included necessary updates to the home’s aging infrastructure, including the installation of all-new plumbing and electrical systems as well as a two- zone heating system, while minimizing the amount of smart tech in order to preserve the home’s historic charm.
One of Frost and Heather’s favorite aspects of the home is the front porch, which they rebuilt, expanded and updated with a white, geometric railing. “Everybody is out on their porches [in the summer],” says Heather. “That’s why we did the front porch the way we did. Neighbors wave at each other as they pass by … you can see others walking through the Yerkes trails and down to the Shore Path.”
AN INTERIOR TRANSFORMATION
Much like the exterior, the home’s interior has undergone a major makeover as well, with one of the most significant transformations taking place in the kitchen. The kitchen Frost had grown up with was a small, galley-style space, impractical for today’s modern living styles. The new layout allowed for an expansion of the kitchen and the removal of one dividing wall to create a large, open area that integrates with the dining room. This change not only enhanced the functionality of the space but also allowed for more natural light to flow throughout the main living areas. It also facilitated the inclusion of a wine cellar under the stairs (formerly a toy room), which is now accessible from the kitchen, one wall of which still shows the recorded heights of all the kids that have grown up in the house since 1902. “The core of this project was to keep the quaint spaces original to the 1902 plan,” explains Neumann- Burns. “There is an art of knowing what walls to open and what rooms to keep as they were.”
Heather incorporated a vintage-style oven that became the focal point of the kitchen, inspiring the rest of the room’s design. Increasing the available storage was a major goal of the kitchen renovation. To that end, Heather and Neumann-Burns added a large, refurbished armoire from Lake Geneva’s Unique Home Decor and Consignment, transforming it into a coffee bar and storage area for heirloom china. They also designed a custom island, adding more seating and storage. And to ensure there would be plenty of space for daily dishes and cookware, the team from Collins Woodwork in Big Bend customized the size and layout of the cabinets to perfectly fit within the expanded kitchen.
Before tackling the renovation, Frost and Heather sifted through family treasures that had been stored in the attic since the 1910s and 1920s, including crates, an antique suitcase and other unique items that were used as the inspiration behind each room design. A vintage butcher block from France now serves as a table in the entry. The heirlooms they couldn’t keep they sold in a large estate sale.
Family friends Scott and Rebecca Prox refinished several pieces for them: Barrett’s desk (discovered in the original tool shed), which now sits in Frost’s office; and the dining table, which dates to Barrett’s era and is made of wood sourced nearby. With Neumann-Burns’s help, they also bought furniture from local thrift stores throughout the Geneva Lake area, looking for unique items that told a story.
Frost and Heather even took pains to honor some of the later additions to the home. In the renovation, they preserved a 1970s-era family room that was added on, which still features its original wood ceiling beams and 1970s-style bar, though they opted to resurface the room’s fireplace to give it a fresh look.
A HOME FOR THE NEXT 100 YEARS
The renovation has been a labor of love, and Frost and Heather are thrilled with the results. They credit their design and building team with seeing their vision for the home and helping them execute that vision while honoring its impressive history. (Over the years, the space has hosted many luminaries of science, theology and music, through the family’s connections to both Yerkes Observatory and George Williams College.)
Since settling in a year ago, Frost and Heather have made it their own. And while making big changes to such a cherished family home can be a nerve-wracking experience, they say that once they moved in and started hosting events in the space, the response to the transformation has been overwhelmingly positive. “It’s comforting to hear friends and family, some of whom grew up in the house, say they enjoy the new renovations,” says Frost. “They really appreciate how the legacy [of the house] was honored while still making it a modern home.”
