Hot Property: Once a hospital, now a sprawling home
As the chef and owner of Saffron Café who has an expertise in integrative nutrition, Anass Sentissi believes in the power of food to heal. So when he and his wife Annie first saw the Woodruff Place house that used to house the ill, he felt a connection to its original owner, Dr. Rachel Swain.
In the late 19th nineteenth century, Swain opened her home to those with a range of ailments, from tuberculosis to general malaise, and nursed them back to health. In 1898, she built a sanitarium as a testament to her belief that healthy food and fresh air, delivered under a physician’s watchful eye, would promote wellness.
Over time, though, the sprawling four-story building became a multi-unit dwelling with as many as 14 different apartments, and then a private home again.
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When the Sentissis first saw it, it desperately needed work. Parts of the home were completely gutted from the third floor down through to the basement. At one point, the city had threatened to tear down the edifice. The Sentissis, who have restored a number of antique homes, took the challenge. In the past four years, they have put hours and hours and thousands and thousands of dollars into upgrading it. The ceilings and dry walls had to be redone, then the plumbing, the electricity and the furnace.
“We did everything to bring it back to life,” Anass Sentissi said. “Any time we were remodeling, we would find something unique.”
A home of this size, a massive 7,248 square feet, might feel institutional (and perhaps it did in 1898) but the Sentissis have made it feel spacious and welcoming. When asked how many rooms the house has, Sentissi had to pause a moment. “Twenty-two?” he ventured.
The Sentissis confined their living space to the lower floors and converted the top floor into a rental apartment with five bedrooms, a living room, and its own kitchen. With so many rooms to spare, the Sentissis took one bedroom and turned it into a master closet. Downstairs, they built a completely new kitchen — Sentissi is a professional chef after all — but kept the original kitchen with its intricate brickwork. Numerous other vestiges from the original building remain. A dumbwaiter that goes from the basement to the fourth floor still works. Because of Swain’s belief in the power of fresh air to heal, many of the rooms had, and still do, an enclosed balcony.
Throughout its many incarnations, the home has remained a historical gem. One of its previous owners used to offer tours. Sentissi still has a carpenter’s table that was used to build the home more than 100 years ago. And a table in the dining room contains multiple historical documents, including the original deed for the home.
Call Star reporter Shari Rudavsky at (317) 444-6354. Follow her on Twitter: @srudavsky.
About the home
Location: 608 Woodruff Middle Drive.
Details: Seven bedrooms, four full baths, one half bath, 7,248 square feet on .31 acre, four fireplaces, rental apartment, new gourmet kitchen, original moldings, original leaded stained glass,
List price: $484,900.
Listing # 21357623.
Contact: Diane Welch-Ridinger, F.C. Tucker Co., (317) 590-6475, dwelch@talktotucker.com.