Original Rush Creek home in Worthington for sale after major renovations

The most important house in one of the most important neighborhoods in central Ohio had water running through it when the current owners purchased it in 2014.

Water pipes had broken in the home, along with sewer lines and the hot water tank.

It was a sorry state for a house that launched one of central Ohio's most distinctive communities. 

The home was completed by Martha and Richard Wakefield in 1957 and served as the inspiration for what would become Rush Creek Village in Worthington, which grew to become the nation's largest collection of homes in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright's "organic" architecture.

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The 2,629-square-foot home conveys all the features that would become Rush Creek trademarks: a low profile that seems to hug the earth, exposed concrete block (outside and in), red tile floors, extensive roof overhangs, loads of built-in furniture, many floor-to-ceiling windows, unconventional room shapes, wood ceilings, a carport instead of a garage, and an angled setting well off the street. 

Martha Wakefield, Rush Creek's evangelist, lived in the home until her death, at age 85, in 2007, nine years after her husband died. The home passed through a few owners before the current buyers picked it up in March 2014 for $415,000, when it was in need of attention.

After extensive renovations, the home is now listed for $975,000.

"We took it down to nothing, then built it back up," said Megan Byrne, who spent a year and a half renovating the home with her husband  before moving in.

The couple replaced the entire electrical system, which had been anchored by a 100-amp fuse box. They replaced the crushed sewer lines and the hot water tank. They ran new cable and data lines. They added drainage ditches around the house to prevent water from rushing downhill into the home. 

And then they got to work. 

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Additions made in line with original style

Like all of Rush Creek's original 48 homes, the house was designed by Theodore van Fossen in Wright's "organic" style, meant to reflect a living part of the Earth. Eye-catching as they are, those typically lacked features modern homes enjoy such as big bathrooms, user-friendly kitchens, pantries, walk-in closets, laundry rooms and basements. 

Byrne and her husband wanted to expand the house to add a basement, laundry room and another full bath. 

Exterior modifications of Rush Creek homes must be approved by the Rush Creek Village architectural review board, which tends to discourage them. 

Even though the Wakefields' home was the founding home of Rush Creek, it was finished before the community's deed restrictions took hold. The new owners could have done anything they wanted to the home, but to demonstrate their commitment to the community, they joined the association. 

The association approved two small additions to the rear of the home. One houses a laundry room and full bath above a small basement. The other includes a walk-in closet for the master bedroom. 

Those additions allowed the couple to make changes inside the home that made it far more functional. Chief among them was expanding and updating the home's previously tiny kitchen. They also updated the two baths and added a mudroom near the carport.

Although the front exterior of the home looks unchanged from when the Wakefields built it, the additions on the back created a pocket that the new owners transformed into a courtyard, with a kitchen island and an outdoor fireplace.

Byrne and her husband were passionate about keeping the interior seamless between old and new. The original home's cypress and mahogany finishes, red tile flooring and plain wood doors extend throughout the home. 

"We did our best to try to channel the original owners," Byrne said. "We were guided by WWWD — What Would the Wakefields Do?" 

The home retains all its original ornamentation and built-in furniture, which was extensive by Rush Creek standards. 

History of the Wakefields' home and Rush Creek Village

The home is central to the history and meaning of Rush Creek Village, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Martha Wakefield had become devoted to Wright after hearing him give a speech in Columbus in 1945 and meeting him after. The following year, she and Richard sold their belongings, packed the car and drove to Wright's Arizona compound, Taliesin West, intending to join Wright as apprentices.

After a two-week stay, however, they returned home. Martha Wakefield loved to tell of their departing conversation with Wright, which became fixed in Rush Creek lore.

"The last thing he said was, ‘Go home, build a house for yourself, buy a Jeep and then build a house for your next-door neighbors,' " she recalled years later.

"Strangely enough, that's just about what we did — a lot of next-door neighbors."

When they returned to Columbus, the Wakefields contacted van Fossen, an architect who had spent time with Wright in Arizona and had helped design a home in Wright's style in Reynoldsburg called "Glenbrow." 

After finishing their home in 1957, the Wakefields used it to showcase the neighborhood and proselytize for Rush Creek. 

Selling a landmark

Cynthia MacKenzie, the owner of CyMack Real Estate, which is listing the home, recalls being "summoned" by a chain-smoking Martha Wakefield to the home after MacKenzie and her husband bought a Rush Creek home in 1999.

"She was holding court right here," MacKenzie said, standing in a windowed gallery between the kitchen to the master bedroom. "She had me lay on the chaise while she told me — indoctrinated me — about Rush Creek."

MacKenzie, who has sold more than 20 Rush Creek homes, is pleased with the interest in the Wakefield home.

“Martha told me when I first started selling in the neighborhood that ‘The house picks the buyer; the buyer does not pick the house.’ ”

jweiker@dispatch.com

@JimWeiker