By most measures, economics and studio art make for a curious double major in college. But for John Christakos, cofounder and CEO of Blu Dot, the combination made complete sense. “Blu Dot is half art and half business, so it seemed natural” he says. And while the economics side suits the company’s balance sheet, it’s studio art—specifically sculpture—that has always fueled his creative pursuits.

So, it was fortuitous when John and his wife, Debby, discovered and later purchased a 1949 home—commissioned by sculptor John Rood, who taught at the University of Minnesota—just down the street from their previous residence near downtown Minneapolis. Equally compelling was the fact that the home was designed by Elizabeth “Lisl” Close—one of Minnesota’s first female architects, whose midcentury-modern works continue to be among the most highly regarded in the state.

Much of what drew John and Debby to this particular design was its peculiar floor plan, which includes a long gallery hallway connecting the newer 1949 structure to a late-19th-century carriage house—the only remnant left from the property’s original estate. “You can tell Close reworked the carriage house a little bit, because the interior feels like it’s from 1949,” John says.

That midcentury-modern style especially took shape in the newer structure, with walls of windows and gallery-like spaces that feel a world away from the couple’s previous, far more traditional home.

“We did hardly anything to the outside because we wanted to respect Close’s architecture,” John says—but it was a bit of a different story inside. For the interiors, the couple tapped their longtime friend, the late architect James Dayton, who brightened and fine-tuned the rooms for their family of six. (The couple’s four children, now ages 18-25, include two currently away at college.)

“It would’ve been a big living space in the original home,” John says of the existing kitchen, which had an “odd column in the middle of the space” that wrapped the central roof drain. To conceal that quirk and make the layout more practical, Dayton reorganized the big space into three smaller ones: a kitchen, a sizable butler’s pantry that conceals the central drain with cabinetry, and a cozy TV room.

Although it’s smaller in size, the kitchen is a standout, thanks in part to its signature feature, a Carrara marble island. “It’s almost like a super clean, minimalist sculpture,” John says. “It probably would’ve been more functional if you could pull stools up to it, but we just like the cleanness of the block.”

I love it when I see things that are really simple, and smart, and not about the designer. —John Christakos

Here and throughout the house, Dayton stretched banks of windows higher and wider, and he treated walls and ceilings to fresh coats of white paint. Wide-plank, quarter-sawn white oak flooring extends to most spaces, except the entry and gallery hallway, where the floors are stone. “I don’t think they were original, and I was not into them at first,” John says. “They had a vibe of a 1970s L.A. house or something.” He and Debby considered staining them a slate color, but didn’t care for the result. “I’m glad we didn’t,” John says.

Although art fills the entire home, it particularly shines in the gallery hallway. “I think it was intended to be a gallery for John Rood, because in old photos, you can see pedestals in here with his sculptures,” John says. “So it was perfect for us.” He and Debby started buying art right out of exhibitions, when works were relatively affordable because the artists were really early in their careers, he says. Their collection now includes works by Lauren Halsey, Anne Collier, and Matias Faldbakken.

The carriage house at the far end of that hallway—which John endearingly calls Terminal E, given its distance from other rooms—now contains what the couple call the “piano room.” This living and entertaining space can accommodate dinner for 20 at two tables. “It’s really fun in the winter back here,” John says. “You feel like you’re somewhere else—you don’t feel like you’re in the city.”

But John’s true escape is an adjoining, partly subterranean space once used as a studio by Rood. It now serves as a home gym, complete with a basketball hoop and a batting cage—but during the pandemic, John rechristened part of the space as his sculpture studio.

“It’s been a blast,” he says. “Part of it is just getting that part of my brain going again. Some of the stuff I’m making is almost like calisthenics: I don’t know where this is going to go, but I just want to go through the process and the effort of making it, because it can be kind of repetitive and therapeutic.”

It’s also about spending time with art—and its lack of restraints compared with design, John says. “Design is entirely about, ‘Is it comfortable? Can I make it for a reasonable price? Is it durable? Does it function well?’ You’re managing all of these real-world constraints, which is a totally different way of thinking than being an artist, where everything goes.”

Still, it’s design—and John’s longtime dedication to Blu Dot—that truly drives him. “It blows my mind that after 25 or 26 years, there’s still so much more to do and learn and improve on,” he says. “There’s as much meat on the bone as there was in year four. In some respects, you feel like you’re just getting going.”

Related Reading:

A Modern Urban Retreat in South Minneapolis

A Baby Grand Takes Center Stage in This Home for a Minneapolis Musician

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Elizabeth “Lisl” Close

Renovation Architect: James Dayton, JDD Studio / @jdd.studio

Interior Design: Maureen Conlin Rudd, Conlin Rudd Interior Design

Landscape Design: Colberg|Tews Landscape Architecture