Is it a single-family Conch house with three master suites and a guest house over the garage in back? Or is 1417 Ashby, at the corner of Washington Street, a four-unit apartment compound?
"It was definitely a four-plex when I bought it in 2000," said Julie Coughlin, who owns the innocuous combination of old and new buildings that would fit right into Old Town Key West. "Not only were people living in the four different units, weeds and trees were living in them — growing right out of the walls.
"And the ceilings ... oh my, the ceilings were covered with scorpions. Instead of termites, I had to tent the building to get rid of scorpions," she recalled.
But those were the good old days before Coughlin contracted Toolbox, Inc., to renovate and restructure the place.
"Kevin and Jim did miracles," said Coughlin. "Floor joists were rotted out; the place was just a mess so the plan was to gut the interior and remove exterior stairs that led to the various apartments and as it turns out, the stairs were actually built on city property.
"I didn't want to lose the fourth residential license, so in the redesign, the Toolbox guys shifted one unit above a new garage out back, which would require a variance ... we thought we might get this variance as a trade-off for the right-of-way space I was returning to the city," she said. "I remember one meeting before the Board of Adjustment, when then-City Commissioner Merilee McCoy exclaimed, 'I know that building; that's where Sonny and I lived the first year we were married.'
"I suspect it was in a lot better shape back then," Coughlin said.
As fate often twists in surprising ways, Coughlin got the variance from the Board of Adjustment but ultimately the Key West Tree Commission refused her the right to remove a giant mahogany at the corner of her property, where the proposed new structure was to go up.
These days, a smaller version of the garage with a studio apartment atop sits within the property's rightful setbacks, just beneath the towering mahogany: Coughlin inlaid permeable brick walkways, even on the garage floor, to ensure that the tree's roots could breathe.
A "Key West cocktail pool" — one just big enough to chill out in — and a railed wooden deck separate the back studio facing Washington Street from the main building that faces Ashby, where Coughlin lives on the first floor of the 1 1/2-story frame house. Her large living-dining-kitchen area is a wonder of white wooden cabinets and black-and-white-speckled granite counters and islands. In fact, all four of the apartment kitchens boast this combo.
The over-stuffed canvas sofa and chairs are Pottery Barn "special deliveries to my front door." And Coughlin cleverly shifts her décor with the season: "I have two sets of slip covers. The canvas that's on the furniture right now; and burlap covers that feature red and blue tapestry pillows when I want to change the look."
Next to the four double doors leading to the pool, a large armoire sans doors is Coughlin's entertainment center, a gift from Jim at Toolbox when the Ashby Street project was complete.
Coincidentally, this antique armoire formerly belonged to Hazel Triplett, my next door neighbor on William Street until she died in 2001.
Don't you just love this town for its hidden connections?
Coughlin says she doesn't know how old the house is; maybe built in the late 1800s, but by choice, the Ashby-Washington redesign was in keeping with the Key West Historic Architectural Review Commission guidelines: "HARC is a blessing to this community," she said. "I love that it protects my property values" even though this particular property is not within the historic district. It could, however, be among the 90 or so buildings located outside of the district that are historically significant. After all, at one time a long time county mayor and his city commissioner wife lived there.
Most of the building's exterior wood and wood windows have been retained, although the garage and back studio are built with hardy plank. Two studio apartments on the second floor share an inspired design for the communal entry with Coughlin. Her apartment entry is toward the rear of an indoor stairway; the upstairs apartments each use this stairway and are individually entered from the second-floor landing. Each apartment has its own private balcony, covered by an extension of the gable roof.
The beauty of this entry design allows the building on Ashby to operate as three separate apartments, or if so desired, the whole building can become a single-family house with three master suites ... also with three individual kitchens; not to mention the studio apartment at the rear. Coughlin says it's the perfect set up when one or more of her four daughters — and granddaughter — visits.
"The property reflects who I am because it is relaxed, casual and cottage-y," she said. "I can't think of this house without thinking of my family, in particular, my mother and Jim and Kevin, who have become extended family members."
Coughlin says she had the interior and exterior walls of the buildings painted "Richmond Bisque," a Benjamin Moore café au lait-like color that she accented with "Vandusen Blue," which happens to be her mother's maiden name. Then she added: "I selected 'Raspberry Truffle' red doors that Toolbox, Inc. has made a signature color for its doors and shutters ever since."
For sure, the fibers of the islands' homes run deep.
