Home & Garden Tour opens up neighborhood
Allison Ainslie grew up in a house her father built on 37th Place East in 1967. Fifty years later, she’s modernized the design and re-created the feel in her newly constructed Madison Park home.
The Ainslie and Martynovych Home was the first house on the map for the second annual Madison Park Home & Garden Tour, which was started last year as a fundraiser for McGilvra Elementary.
Ainslie’s son and daughter, Nicholas Davis and Aleksandra Martynovych, both went to McGilvra Elementary. Davis is now 23, and a Realtor at John L. Scott, while Martynovych, 15, attends Seattle Prep. Ainslie said she’s participated in a number of McGilvra fundraisers over the years, and wanted to not only continue supporting the elementary school, but also invite curious neighbors to see the home she built — it’s free advertising for her Ainslie-Davis Construction business.
Ainslie’s father, Hugh, built four apartment buildings, one condo, a duplex and three houses in Madison Park over the years. He saved every set of plans for each project, Ainslie said, except for her childhood home on 37th Place East.
So, when she decided to take the property she’s owned for 20 years at 2320 42nd Ave. E. and place a modern re-creation of that home there, she ended up knocking on the door of the current resident on 37th.
“She was very kind and, in fact, I was up there yesterday and I gave her a wristband and said come on down and look around,” Ainslie said.
“It’s a modern mid-century modern,” joked Neill Ainslie, Ainslie’s brother and Ainslie-Davis Construction co-owner. “It’s the same floor plan. The bedrooms are in the same location. … Building it was very nostalgic.”
“My dad, he’s gotten a real kick out of it,” Ainslie said.
Ainslie’s husband, John Martynovych, provided his expertise in stone masonry for the fireplace and exterior work, opting for Canadian limestone, she said.
Neighbors had been curious about the new home during its construction, which started last year and wrapped up several months ago, Ainslie said. Unlike most new development in Madison Park, she said, her home is just two stories, 2,400 square feet and includes two bedrooms — she didn’t see the need to build as high as she could.
Dan Levine Home
This condo in the 2300 block of 43rd Avenue East has been on the market for more than a month, and the asking price is $3.12 million, said Carrie DeBuys, a broker with Realogics| Sotheby’s International Realty, the lead organizers of the Madison Park Home & Garden Tour.
The rooftop deck was off limits, as the middle and top condos had already sold.
The Secret Garden of Sylvia Duryee
Madison Park Home & Garden Tour-ists were provided a peek beyond the holly hedge entrance at the large and lush garden of Sylvia Duryee, a lifelong teacher who kept up her plantings for 60 years.
“She was famous for her ferns,” said Toby Lumpkin, the Realogics broker in charge of this stop along the tour. “She did all the work herself.”
Duryee died two years ago, Lumpkin said, and now her daughter maintains the property at 1115 41st Ave. E.
Scandiuzzi Home
Carlo and Lalie Scandiuzzi opened up their 1947 European farmhouse-style home during the Madison Park Home & Garden Tour. Realogics broker Laura Halliday showed the home on Sunday, June 3, telling viewers the home had been remodeled 30 years ago.
“When they told me this was remodeled 30 years ago, I was like, ‘This is what people are doing now,’ ” Halliday said.
According to a 2014 Seattle Times article, the Scandiuzzis put in a new kitchen addition in 1995, with a tall, vaulted ceiling.
Carlo Scandiuzzi grew up in Switzerland and vacationed in Italy, Halliday said, which is why the home at 1215 41st Ave. E. has the charm of an Italian farmhouse.