Located amidst the densely packed steel worker cottages, bodegas, and boutiques of Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood, this single-family residence tells onlookers as much about its unconventional location as it does about its eccentric owner. The site, a triangular parcel etched by the intersection of the neighborhood’s two street grids serves as the impetus for the house’s conceptual framework. To optimize the potential of the site’s modest and constrained footprint, the house is conceived as a solid volume built to the extents of the property line. Portions of the volume are thoughtfully carved away to activate the ground plane along the street, to establish pedestrian and vehicular lines of site, and to respond to the shifting building typologies of its environs.

The building’s restrained material palette alludes to both the rich history of the city and the nostalgic sensibilities of the owner. All materials were sourced locally and selected specifically for their ability to weather over time. Smooth cast in place concrete serves as the podium for the exterior space while CMU blocks serve as the plinth for the polygonal structure. The weathering steel skin is lifted off the plinth along the perimeter, giving the heavy steel structure a delicate presence at its tapered corner.