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An engraving of Lake Cliff in gold: the round tower, the front gable with its crest, and the porch.

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Lake Cliff

12984 Lake Avenue · Lakewood, Ohio

Sorry about all the noise and mess. We bought Lake Cliff in October 2024 and have been restoring it ever since. Here’s what’s going on.

  • Finished 1888
  • Restoring since 2024
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At the house now

We’re on the final details of the exterior paint.

Updated

Look up.

That’s the Harris crest.

The completed Harris crest restoration: a gold H and 1888 on green, with burgundy and gold carving around them.
The Harris crest before restoration, with peeling white paint over the carved H and date.
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Restoration complete

H is for Harris, the family who built the house, and 1888 is the year it was finished. The carving on the front gable was covered in peeling white paint. We removed the old paint by hand with heat, and @art_di.usa painted the crest and all of the detail work in green, burgundy and gold. The crest is one piece of the carved woodwork on the house. Artisan craftsmen carved all of it by hand when the house was built, and we have stripped and restored all of it by hand, one piece at a time.

What we’re doing, and why

We do all of the restoration work ourselves, and we partnered with Wal’s Paints for the painting. The paint project began in spring 2026 with three months of prep, and we’re on the final details now. We’re preserving the original material that remains, and our new colors bring back the ones the house wore before. Brougham Harris built Lake Cliff between about 1880 and 1888. It has had just two owners in about 140 years, and we’re the third.

The work so far

Here’s where things stand.

  • 16 major projects complete

    Hundreds more to go.

  • 1 room renovated

    27 to go.

Latest updates

  1. The brackets, in color

    Green on the sides, and the carved leaves in burgundy tipped with gold, painted by @art_di.usa. This is a rendering of the finished bracket, made from the stripped photograph; a photograph of the real one is coming.

    A rendering of the same bracket painted: deep green sides, and the carved acanthus leaves in burgundy with gold edges, under the cream eave.
    A carved bracket stripped to bare wood, seen from below against the green shingles.
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  2. The Harris crest is restored

    The H and 1888 stand out again. We removed the old paint by hand with heat, and @art_di.usa painted the carving in green, burgundy and gold. See the crest up close.

  3. The carved brackets

    The brackets under the gables were carved by hand by artisan craftsmen when the house was built. They were buried under layers of white paint. We stripped every one back to the bare wood by hand, with heat and patience, and repaired what had rotted.

    The same bracket stripped to bare wood: three tiers of carved acanthus leaves with traces of old paint.
    A three-tier carved bracket under the gable, thick with peeling white paint, against green shingles.
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  4. The porch arch, as it will look

    A rendering of the arch painted: the carved leaves in burgundy with gold edges on a green ground, under the cream trim. The real thing comes next.

    A rendering of the porch arch painted: burgundy acanthus leaves edged in gold on a deep green ground under cream trim, with trees and sky beyond.

    Tap to enlarge

  5. The porch arch

    The carved band along the porch arch was under the same white paint. We stripped it back to the wood. It isn’t painted yet; the leaves will get the same burgundy and gold.

    The carved acanthus band along the porch arch stripped to dark bare wood, with trees beyond.
    The underside of the porch arch and its ceiling in cracked white paint, against a blue sky.
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  6. New cellar doors

    The old cellar doors had rotted through. We replaced them with new pine doors and black strap hinges.

    The new cellar doors in bare beadboard pine with black strap hinges and a black handle.
    The old cellar doors, weathered gray boards with rot and moss along the seams and a white metal patch.
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  7. The garden beds

    We cleared the weeds from the bed under the trees, edged it and mulched around the hostas.

    The same bed cleared, edged and mulched, with the hostas spaced out under the trees.
    An overgrown bed under two trees, with hostas among weeds and dandelions.
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  8. The powder room

    We redid the powder room in keeping with the house’s age. It has period-appropriate wallpaper, a marble herringbone floor, a chair rail, crown molding and a period chandelier. All of the plumbing and hardware is lacquered brass, and the marble sink was hand-chiseled in Europe.

    The finished powder room, with floral period wallpaper above dark blue tile, a chair rail, crown molding, a white marble mosaic floor, a hand-chiseled marble sink on lacquered brass legs, an oval brass mirror and a glass chandelier.
    The powder room before, with white walls and tile, a hexagon tile floor, a cage-style light and the sink removed.
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Show more updates

  1. The beds along the tower

    The beds along the tower were lost under weeds and vines. We cleared them, cut new beds around the foundation, laid a stepping-stone path and seeded the lawn. The before view is a rendering of how it looked when we bought the house.

    The tower side of the house with new mulched beds, young shrubs, a stepping-stone path and straw over the newly seeded lawn.
    A rendering of the tower side of the house as it was: weeds and vines over the foundation and the beds, and the lawn gone to seed.
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  2. The porch beds

    Ivy had climbed the foundation and the railing, and weeds had taken the beds. We pulled it all out, edged new beds and planted hydrangeas and evergreens under fresh mulch. The before view is a rendering of how it looked when we bought the house.

    The porch corner with new mulched beds, hydrangeas in bloom and young evergreens against the stone foundation.
    A rendering of the porch corner as it was: ivy up the stone foundation and the railing, and weeds through the beds.
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  3. We bought Lake Cliff

    We closed on the house on October 30, 2024, and started the restoration right away. We’re its third owners.

Under the paint.

Has it always been green?

The original siding is still on the house. We stripped it back one layer at a time and found these colors. Scroll to see each coat go on, or tap a year.

  1. Around 1880

    The original green

    The earliest layer we found is a deep green from around 1880, with the carved details picked out in gold and burgundy.

    • Deep green

  2. Date unknown Undated

    The blue years

    A soft blue sat beneath the later coats. We’re still working out when it was used.

    • Blue
    • Pale trim

  3. Date unknown Undated

    A pale yellow

    Yellow was another layer we uncovered. We don’t know yet whether it came before or after the blue.

    • Yellow
    • Cream

  4. 1980s on

    The white house

    The house was white from the 1980s until our restoration.

    • White

  5. 2026 on

    Our colors

    Our palette brings the earlier colors together. Deep green returns on the limestone and cedar shakes, with cream trim and burgundy and gold on the crest.

    • Deep green
    • Sage
    • Cream
    • Burgundy
    • Gold

These are color studies. Each one shows a paint scheme on the house as it looks today. We haven’t dated the blue and yellow layers yet.

Why we chose these colors

We wanted the house to carry its own history. The deep green on the limestone and cedar shakes is close to the earliest green we found. The cream trim recalls a lighter color from the 1970s or later. The carvings were gold and burgundy from the start, so burgundy and gold bring them out again.

How we dated the siding

The old nails helped us recognize the original boards. Cut nails gave way to wire nails around 1900, so the type of nail is one clue to a board’s age.

Samples of burgundy, sage, green and gold painted on the siding while one of us adds another swatch.
Testing our palette on the siding, June 2026.

Nine dates.

Through the years

  1. c. 1880

    Building begins

    Brougham Harris starts the house at the corner of Lake and Nicholson. His father, Josiah Harris, was mayor of Cleveland in 1847.

  2. 1888

    Finished

    The crest on the front gable carries an H and the year 1888. We read it as the year the house was completed.

  3. A newspaper advertisement from June 24, 1900 for building lots on Nicholson Avenue, with a photograph of Lake Cliff at the corner of Nicholson and Lake Avenues. 1900

    Tap to enlarge

    The showpiece of the street

    A June 1900 advertisement for building lots on Nicholson Avenue used a photograph of Lake Cliff to sell the neighborhood. The house was twelve years old, in its dark original green.

    Advertisement: The Plain Dealer, June 24, 1900
  4. An early black and white view of Lake Cliff from Lake Avenue: the round tower, the porte-cochère over the drive, the stone wall and gate posts, and the house in its dark original colors. 1900s

    Tap to enlarge

    From Lake Avenue

    An early postcard view: the porte-cochère over the drive, the stone wall and gate posts, and the house still in its first colors.

    An early postcard view
  5. 1915

    In the archive

    A photograph from 1915 shows the round tower and the stone wall that still stand along Lake Avenue.

  6. 1960s

    The estates disappear

    High-rise apartments replaced most of the lakefront mansions on Lakewood’s Gold Coast. The towers stopped at the Carlyle in 1969, and Lake Cliff survived.

  7. 1992

    Recognized

    An architectural tour of Lakewood singled out the house and its stone wall as rare survivors of the estate era.

  8. 2010s

    On television

    Lake Cliff was the house the characters lived in on the TV series Hot in Cleveland.

  9. 2024

    Our restoration begins

    We bought Lake Cliff in October 2024, becoming its third owners, and began restoring it right away.

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Asked often

When did the restoration start?

Right after we bought the house in October 2024.

Who is doing the work?

We are. We do all of the work ourselves, and we partnered with Wal’s Paints for the painting. @art_di.usa painted the crest and the detail work.

Why green?

Deep green is the earliest paint we found on the original siding. Our new colors bring it back, with cream trim and burgundy and gold on the crest.

Was the house on TV?

Yes. Lake Cliff was the house featured on Hot in Cleveland. It was the home the characters lived in.

What happened to the other lakefront mansions?

Most were torn down for high-rise apartments in the 1960s. The towers happened to stop at the Carlyle, and Lake Cliff survived.

Visitor questions and notes