Douglas House

Douglas House is a modernist residence in Lovells Township spanning five levels with white exterior walls and extensive glass panels overlooking Lake Michigan. The transparent design and geometric layout create a structure where indoor and outdoor spaces flow together visually.

Richard Meier designed this house in 1971 for Jim and Jean Douglas, who were impressed by his earlier residential work on the Smith House. The building became an important example of how Meier advanced modernist design principles for waterfront homes.

The residence demonstrates modernist design through its geometric forms and open spaces that incorporate the surrounding landscape. Visitors can see how glass and clean lines guide the eye outward and blur the boundary between interior and exterior.

The house is accessed from the top level via a bridge that leads to a terrace overlooking lower spaces. The steep hillside setting means visitors encounter an unconventional layout where the usual arrangement of stairs and floors is reversed.

The house reverses typical spatial arrangement, requiring occupants to ascend rather than descend when leaving. This unusual feature emerges from how the building sits on the steep slope of the Lake Michigan shoreline.