The Hon Home
Built in 1913, this classically Georgian-style home has been the Hon family home for nearly 40 years. With traditional taste and a discerning eye, Ann and Charlie Hon have adapted this historic gem into a beautiful and authentic family home. Decades’ worth of curating furnishings and building memories has created this treasured, timeless, traditional home.
Charlie recounts how they came to own the home, explaining that it had been a long-time dream of Ann’s. “We used to drive past this house all the time, and Ann just loved it.
She had wanted to live in it for years. So when the house came on the market, I remember speaking to a friend in my Sunday school class about it. He told me who the agent handling it was, and I gave him a call,” Charlie explains. “I stalked this house!” Ann jokes. “Neither of us had ever been inside it, but I felt like I knew the floor plan, just from driving around it so much.” After speaking to the real estate agent and asking a few questions, Charlie got straight to the point. “I asked the guy, ‘How much?’ and he told me and I said, ‘I’ll take it!’” Charlie recalls, laughing. “I just knew if I let this house pass by, Ann would be heartbroken.”
After purchasing their dream home, the Hons and their two children moved into the house in 1979. The home’s classic Georgian architecture is immediately evident in the home’s exteriors. Entering the sturdy, original front door, traditional Georgian elements greet you. Corinthian columns and an extra wide stair case create a grand impression.
Inside, a French blue wall color, paneling, and heavy moulding continue the traditional styling. An Oriental rug, leather-top table, and antique chandelier allude to the elegance and juxtaposing color scheme seen throughout the rest of the house. Despite the home’s age, it displays a fairly open-floor plan, with a formal dining room and living room immediately visible from the front door.
Adjacent to the foyer, the spacious, classically designed dining room has played host to numerous gatherings. Above the burled English walnut table, a stunning Waterford crystal chandelier steals the show in this room. “That was the very first thing that we purchased for the home after moving in,” Ann says. Its elegant ambiance sets a formal tone, further accentuated by surrounding buffets, sideboards, cabinets, and one of the home’s five fireplaces.
Next to the kitchen is what Ann and Charlie refer to as the breakfast room. This charming space is punctuated with endearing red wallpaper inside the frames of traditional wall paneling. Juxtaposing reds and blues play off each other again for an inviting family space. “In case you can’t tell, I love red!” Ann says. “It was my mom’s favorite color too, so several of the things I inherited from her are red and match our things very well.” This breakfast room, which was once a butler’s pantry, retains original elements, like showfront cabinetry and an industrial sink. “Oh that’s great too. This room is so functional when we have people over. Sometimes I’ll just ice down drinks right in those sinks and it’s such an easy clean up,” Ann says.
Next to the breakfast room is the kitchen, and like many older homes, it is a smaller room tucked away in the back of the house. However, that didn’t keep the Hons from making it a bright, cheery, and functional space. During renovations, they added a pop-out bay window with a window seat for extra seating. “The kitchen is always one of the rooms in the house that everyone likes to hang out in,” Charlie says. Renovations also called for light-toned cabinetry, limestone countertops, and gourmet stainless steel appliances.
On the opposite end of the house, you can enter the library. Original, impeccably maintained millwork creates an impactful first impression. “What’s very unique about this room is that all of the woodwork is done in birch,” Charlie says. “People always comment on it.” Both Ann and Charlie say this is their favorite room in the house. “Ann takes her morning coffee here almost every day, with a fire going in the winter. She loves it,” Charlie shares. With leather-bound books, rich honey-hued woodwork, heavy pocket doors, plenty of sunlight, and a red velvet sofa, this room embodies timeless traditional styling and authentic elegance. As the heart of the home, this room serves as its crown jewel, and as Ann and Charlie explain, people recognize it for what it is. “This is definitely the room we get the most comments on. It’s just very special,” Ann says.
Upstairs a generous landing greets guests on the way to any of the four bedrooms upstairs. At one end of the hallway is the master suite. Custom tufted headboards and linens carry Ann’s love of red tones. These touches of her trademark color are subdued, in keeping with the rest of the peaceful, neutral tones in this room.
On either side of the master are “his and hers” style master bathrooms. Charlie’s was originally an old sleeper porch converted into a spacious vanity, seating area, closet, dressing space, and shower, with views of the front and back of the house. On the other side is the original master bathroom, lightly renovated for Ann. A spacious walk-in closet, vanity, and luxurious bathtub make up this space. The window to the front of the house was opened up during renovations to create a walk-out balcony. “This balcony is very pleasant in the afternoon, and the views are excellent,”
she says.
Walking outside, the home’s rear exteriors feature a breathtaking, mature landscape that Charlie spent a great deal of time designing. “This is Charlie’s baby,” Ann smiles as she surveys the lush shade greens, stone pathways, columned pavilion, and a stream to the pond and fountain. In the midst of it all is a stately Hackberry tree, likely as old as the house or older, spreading its canopy over the outdoor entertaining area.
Maintaining their vision for a beautiful outdoor area, Ann has worked diligently at one of her favorite hobbies to keep their yard pristine. “I love gardening, and I have really enjoyed it at this house. I did most of what you see—basically everything except mowing,” Ann says.
The patios continue on around the house, and everything outside is also wired for sound. Charlie shares, “These outdoor areas have been great for entertaining. We’ve had as many as 200 people over for parties, and it hasn’t felt crowded because the outside provides such a great flow.”
Often hosting their children’s friends, neighborhood kids, and plenty of family events and holidays, this home has been a sweet gathering place. “We’ve just been so blessed to have this home. It was perfect for our children as they grew up,” Ann shares. With minimal updates, open spaces, and traditional colors, this house transcends eras as a timeless, well-loved home.
