Timber Lane Retreat, a metal and limestone house on Lake Michigan

Chicago studio Wheeler Kearns Architects has finished Timber Lane Retreat, a house on the Michigan shore of Lake Michigan built around a tension the architects describe as openness versus shelter. The site had a big lake view, but it also needed privacy from the street and protection from the wind. Their answer is three staggered volumes: two two-storey gabled forms and an offset single-storey box with a flat roof, tied together by a glazed corridor that gives a clear line of sight from the street to the water.

Rather than one long panoramic frontage, the studio argues that stepping the rooms along the shoreline gives each one its own view of the lake. A garden courtyard, enclosed on three sides, draws light and air deep into the house. The street-side gable holds the garage, mudroom, a gym and a sauna. The low box is clad in pale, regionally quarried limestone and holds the kitchen, dining and living rooms behind floor-to-ceiling sliding glass. The waterfront gable has a screened porch, two guest suites and the primary suite upstairs.

Dark bronze metal cladding contrasts with the stone outside. Inside, character-grade wood lines the floors and ceilings, laid with small gaps so black insulation behind can soften the sound.

It is a private home, so this one is for looking rather than visiting, and a good read for anyone thinking about how to build beside water.

Our summary of a story from Dezeen, published 13 October 2026. Read the original

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