Back to the Boom

By Betsy Lehndorff

The kitchen is a long, narrow galley of built-in cabinets and appliances. A horizontal window serves as a backsplash between the countertop and upper cabinets and provides a view of the back yard.

One of the couple's best restorations is a hallway bathroom — a tiny, time-travel chamber of hygiene. A 1950s Crane sink, with its domed faucet handles, has been fitted into a mahogany vanity slanted at a precise angle. Using a photograph from a 1950s builder's brochure, Dave also duplicated towel racks and shelving of the time and covered the walls with shiny green and black tiles.

"When I'm standing shaving, it is just the feeling that this is exactly the way the room was for someone (50-plus) years ago," says Dave, 54. "It almost throws me back into that time."

The Steerses acknowledge that they're obsessed with the neighborhood and want to help preserve as many of its historic details as possible.

"We approach it completely on a positive level, supplying information, sharing our enthusiasm and knowledge," Dave says.

"It's like living in a piece of art," Yvonne says. "You feel the presence of the architects."