LOMBARD MILLER HOUSE
WESTBY, WISCONSIN. 1994. This Wisconsin house, including an artist’s studio, is sited in a gently rolling agricultural landscape standing at the edge of an old oak woods overlooking a small valley through which a stream meanders sluggishly. Rounded hills slope up from all sides, some wooded, others with horizons of grass. Lombard comes from a family of puppeteers and the tradition of theater continues in the design of the house. The level change in the living room along the balcony (fly-loft) above provides the rude ingredients for home theater. A third floor look-out is reached by a narrow stair located behind the headboard of the master bed. The studio, used for painting and wood-carving, is accessed across an exterior deck. The red and white board-and-batten exterior siding is typical of local Norwegian barns and the creamy yellow of the clapboards is derived from the area’s famous cheese and butter production. The house is 3400 sq. ft., the studio 800 sq. ft.
