Eye Candy! of the week

Owner: Ralph White IV

Perhaps when you see a carriage house, the first word that comes to mind is: antiquated. But you couldn’t be more wrong.

The carriage house is a classic building type that all but disappeared in the 20th century, but is staged for a comeback. Few are as fortunate as the handful of dwellings in the Lansing area that possess a carriage house, like this beauty at 5632 Okemos Road. Carriage houses are truly the next big thing.

Perfectly suited to hold an apartment or office space, carriage houses are an incredible tool in mitigating sprawl. The Lansing area has far too much of one dwelling type: low-density, single-family houses on large lots. Adding a carriage house to a single-family dwelling creates a higher density, mixed-income neighborhood by adding multiple incomes within a single lot. Carriage houses are a timeless solution to a modern problem.