Grunsfeld Shafer Architects

Ravine Residence

View from ravineLiving Room
  • Location Northbrook, Illinois
  • Design 1987
  • Construction 1988
  • General Contractor Rizzolo Brothers’ Company, Inc.
  • Structural Engineer Beer Gorski & Graff, Ltd.
  • Mechanical Engineer Midwesco Services, Inc.
  • Interior Design Greg Stratman
  • Design Principal Ernest A Grunsfeld III FAIA
  • Photography Wayne Cable

Ravine Residence is a one-story home built on a ravine and bluff in Northfield, Illinois. Designed for a family of four, the house features exterior walls clad in weathered edge Fondulac stone, and large expanses of glass overlooking Lake Michigan.

Interior floors are large slabs of polished, book-matched travertine, intentionally selected to contrast with the weathered edge exterior stonework. The interiors are predominantly rift-sawn Oak woodwork with white walls to accommodate the owner’s art collection; and high ceilings in the major rooms gives the house a lightweight, ethereal feeling.