Many duplexes in Shaker house individual families, without any connection other than a shared wall. But for these Latimore families maintaining their daily connection to each other is the goal.
By Zachary Lewis
Photos by Robert Muller
In many respects, Latimore Road could be any other neighborhood street in Shaker Heights. It’s quiet, well-kept, and neatly lined with trees.
But this out-of-the-way enclave contains something others in the city do not: a row of duplexes occupied by intergenerational families.
In this stretch of three homes, three unrelated combinations of parents, siblings, and adult children live in near-perfect harmony, sharing spaces, expenses, and responsibilities in a way that’s common in other cultures but uncommon in the U.S., where single-family households predominate.
About their situations, it’s a toss-up which is more surprising – that their modest, traditional-looking homes are in fact spacious duplexes, or how content they are living in them.
A Solution For Everyone
Dawn McFadden, Andre Taylor and Liz McFadden (seated)
“We’re very happy here,” says estate attorney Dawn McFadden, who lives in one home with her husband and mother. “So many people say they could never do this, but it’s worked out very well for us.”
For McFadden, the choice to share space with her mom, Liz, was easy. Newly married and living elsewhere, she sought both to return to her native Cleveland and to be near Liz, who needed company and a smaller home following the death of her husband.
The Latimore house, built in 1936 and carefully refurbished in 2010, fit the bill perfectly, offering both mom and the new couple complete private homes, one atop the other, each with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and its own kitchen. All they share is a basement laundry room. McFadden’s husband, Andre Taylor, also got his own basement office.
“We each still have our own spaces, but we live together,” McFadden says. “We get to spend as much or as little time together as we want.”
Other upsides emerged as time went on. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when other families were holing up separately, the clustered McFaddens enjoyed a larger “bubble” that permitted shared meals and other socializing. Thanksgiving, too, has proved much easier for them to handle, with two kitchens, and both parties have appreciated splitting utilities, landscaping, and taxes.
Perhaps the greatest benefit, though, has been the one McFadden anticipated: being on hand to help mom. Happily, Liz is in good health, but living together has nonetheless been a lifesaver. Liz once took a fall and Taylor happened to be present to help her up.
At this point, McFadden concludes, “If we were to move, it would still be all of us together.”
A Way to Stay in Shaker
Kristen and Janet Houk
Next door, mother and daughter Janet and Kristen Houk’s rationale for moving in together was similar but different in two key respects. One, Janet had already lived across the street on Latimore for 30 years, and two, Kristen was as eager for her mother’s company as her mother was for hers.
It’s true, in other words, that Janet, a retired Shaker Schools teacher, needed smaller, safer quarters, a home without stairs. But it’s also true that Kristen stood – and still stands – to benefit from living in close proximity to her mother.
“She [Kristen] was in a situation where she needed help, too,” Janet Houk explains. “I’ve been an encouragement to her, and she’s been a help to me. And yet we have our privacy. It’s a win-win situation for the both of us.”
As with the McFaddens, living together has come in handy for the Houks in an emergency. Had she been living on her own, Janet might not have fared as well as she did the time she fainted – when Kristen was home to call an ambulance.
There have been other perks as well. The Houks, too, have appreciated the built-in companionship and ability to split expenses. Janet in particular is grateful to have been able to stay in Shaker Heights, in a neighborhood she knows and loves, rather than start over in a senior living community several miles further east.
For that reason, in part, out of gratitude, Houk says she plans to leave their home – which she owns – to Kristen after her death, thereby setting up her daughter for many more years of safety and financial security.
“She’s going to have an income-generating piece of property,” Houk says. “That was another big motivator for me, thinking ahead. It was the smart thing to do.”
Unique Bond of Sisters
Kathy Moody and Gloria Sturghill
Sisters Kathy Moody and Gloria Sturghill were also thinking smartly when they bought the duplex next to the Houks. Individually, they knew, neither could afford a home of her own, but together, they could handle one easily.
What’s more, this particular home on Latimore offered everything they wanted and more: two complete two-bedroom suites over 4,100 air-conditioned square feet, plus a three-car garage and an empty lot next door.
As for living together? That was just another bonus, something they’d been wanting to do for years. During the pandemic, while others struggled with loneliness, they watched movies and learned to make pizza.
“We get along so well,” Sturghill says. “It’s kinda fun. We do road trips together all the time. We’re always going up and down, calling to each other. And then we lock it up at night and do it all over again the next day.” So far, they’ve seen no downsides. For them, with their different work and social schedules, it’s a treat every time they find themselves at home together. Sometimes, together, they host parties on their side-lot.
Companionship has been good for their health, too.
A few years ago, when Moody was recovering from partial congestive heart failure, Sturghill was able not only to visit her at the hospital but also to preside over her convalescence at home.
“I could just run up and down and get things for her,” Sturghill says.
Living together with a parent or sibling isn’t entirely without its headaches. Though they’re content in general, the Latimore families all report occasional squabbles. In two cases, the problem is the pets – they don’t get along with their housemates quite as well as the humans do.
But it’s nothing they can’t handle. They moved under one roof knowing exactly what they were getting into. That, therefore, is their single greatest piece of advice to anyone eyeing the benefits of buying a house with a family member: look before you leap.
“You really just have to talk to each other,” Sturghill says. “If you don’t, somebody’s going to be moving.”
