IVAL in the Central West End Good memories of visiting his grandfather in St. Louis enticed Michael Korybut to accept a professor position at Saint Louis University in 1999. He and his wife, Caroline, turned a Central West End Georgian Revival into a true family house, with room for both inherited antiques and two active young daughters. Recently returned from Michael's five-month sabbatical in London and Paris, Caroline shares why her family is so happy to be home.
Q | What drew you to this house? A | Michael's grandfather and grandmother passed away and my mother moved, so we had three houses' worth of furniture descend upon us. We inherited all the art and furniture, which is partially why we bought a house this big. We knew we wanted to live on Westmoreland or Portland Place. We looked for a year and a half. The energy in the home is perfect. Q | What do you know of the home's past? A | Older houses have this rich texture of history. The cool thing about the house is that it's from 1907. The architect was James P. Jamieson, who also designed other homes on Portland and Westmoreland. It is a Georgian-style home and was built for Amy and Clarkson Potter.
Q | Tell me about its connection to your husband's family. A | He called his cousin in Houston, who asked, “Where [in St. Louis] did you buy?” Then she said, “That was my grandparents' house for 47 years!” She grew up here, her grandparents owned it forever. All of her family now comes over at Christmas. When we were in Paris, a friend said, “My friend Marion, who used to live in your house, is in Paris!” We got to hear about the house from another homeowner's perspective. I thought it was really fun that all these homeowners ended up being really entwined. Q | Since it's an older home, was there much work required to fix it up? A | We really did try to bring it back to its original splendor. We rehabbed it top to bottom. The kitchen was gutted and totally redone. Living in a house like this is endless rehabbing; there's a part-time-job aspect to it. Q | What was your design process? A | We had this old house, we had this antique furniture: We wanted to make it look like it was all meant for each other. How do we marry the furniture and the house and make it feel like a home? One of our neighbors, Helen Ruppert, is an amazing interior designer. She and I would do these once-a-month trips where we'd hop on a plane and go to the Merchandise Mart, a big design floor in Chicago. It's a mecca for interior designers. We'd fly in at 6 a.m., pull fabrics and wallpapers, then we'd fly home and go around, room to room, deciding what we wanted. We'd do that for at least a year. She picked out and designed everything. She's the one who designed our kitchen, and then we hired an architect to draw her design. She's the one who designed the walls in the dining room with orange padded silk. It was a really delicate balance of marrying the furniture and the art and making it a place kids could run through. That is a credit to her, that she was able to do that.
by rebecca koenig photos by suzy gorman
OPOSITE PAGE: Dormer windows, keystones and stately dark shutters distinguish the Georgian Revival. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Indian miniatures; Michael's grandmother, shown in riding clothes; Caroline and Michael Korybut.