John Genovese

This two-bedroom home in Guerneville has just over 1,000 square feet.

Address: 17486 Riverside Drive, Guerneville

Vital Statistics: A 1,024-square-foot home with two bedrooms and two full bathrooms.

Asking Price: $419,000.

Previous Sale Price: Robert Jones paid $380,000 for the house in July 2005.

John Genovese

The home was built as a summer getaway in 1937.

Notable: It was love at first sight for Mr. Jones when he came across this cottage, built in 1937 as a summer getaway, near the Russian River. He says the home had the charm he was looking for and is only an hour and 45 minutes by car from his home in San Francisco and his office in Oakland, where he works in government administration.

The house needed work and Mr. Jones estimates that he has put more than $15,000 into updates, including changing the look of the kitchen from a ’50s diner to a warmer arts-and-crafts style. He also added a redwood fence around the property, which features redwood trees, a waterfall and a bridge over a now well-stocked fish pond.

The home comes furnished right down to the collection of empty wine bottles on a specially lit shelf in the kitchen. Mr. Jones has kept the original stone fireplace and the pine paneling in the living room, but on the lower level chose a midcentury modern look. The house is within walking distance of downtown Guerneville.

Kyla Brooke of Herth Real Estate has the listing. Ms. Brooke says the real-estate market in the area is improving “quite quickly.” The median home sales price in Guerneville has dropped 46.2% in the past five years, but increased 16.7% for the period from Jan. 12 to March 12 from the same time last year, according to real-estate website Trulia.com.

—Sarah Tilton

By DAWN WOTAPKA

Bill Denver for the Wall Street Journal

Towns like Collingswood, N.J., draw residents keen to live close to mass transit. In some towns, though, shoppers compete with commuters for limited parking spaces.

Collingswood, N.J.

Tom and Pat Kelly spent 22 years living what many people consider the American dream: They owned a four-bedroom home with a pool and a big yard in Turnersville, N.J. They traded that in to live near a train station.

With two of their three children living on their own, the couple no longer wanted to spend time raking leaves, shoveling snow and doing other maintenance their large home required. So they moved to LumberYard, a mixed-use condominium development near their son’s and daughter’s homes and within walking distance of the local train station.

Now, instead of spending two or more hours commuting daily in his red Volkswagen Beetle, Mr. Kelly, 56, hops on the Patco high-speed train line and gets to his Philadelphia law-firm job across the Delaware River in about a half-hour. “It’s just a much more enjoyable life,” he says.

LumberYard is a transit-oriented development, or TOD, one of a growing number of mixed-use developments that combine town houses or condominiums with retail shops, hotels and other businesses—all perched near a train station.

The Collingswood development’s condos are steps away from a hair salon, an Italian restaurant and a Pilates studio. “You could get to anything without a car,” says Ms. Kelly, 58.

Developers say this type of project is now one of the fastest-growing areas of the housing market. The growth comes as developers regroup after the housing and financial crises. Some developers say they aim to focus more on these projects.

Efforts to rein in sprawl slowly gathered steam over the past couple of decades, but the housing bust helped shape this latest crop of TOD newcomers. During the housing frenzy, Americans were willing to buy a pricey home an hour or more from their workplaces. But now gas prices around $4 a gallon have made that commute costly.

Plus, housing values have dropped by a third or more since the 2006 peak, so tying up one’s net worth in a suburban home that isn’t guaranteed to increase in value seems too big a risk.

The communities are spreading up both coasts and across the U.S., to places such as Denver, where ground is scheduled to be broken on the Belleview Station development in July. Charlotte, N.C., and Phoenix also have projects in the works. The federal and some local and state governments have encouraged TOD with tax breaks and incentives to reduce sprawl and pollution.

This all comes as the number of people using public transportation continues to grow. There were about 36 million boardings daily in the fourth quarter, up 1.2 million from the prior year, according to the latest data from American Public Transportation Association.

Housing near a train station or along tracks used to be undesirable, as trains rattling by would shake apartments and residents endured the engine’s horn and wheels’ screech on the tracks.

Now, thanks to new technology, trains are quieter. Developers, meanwhile, use noise-reduction features such as triple-pane windows and construct buildings better able to withstand vibrations. “I’ve never heard a thing,” says Kevin Gatto, whose Verde Salon in Collingswood sits about 100 feet from the rails. “Most people who don’t know about the [train] don’t know it’s there.”

Transit oriented development—a term some credit to urban planner Peter Calthorpe—started to take off in the mid-1990s. But, the financial crisis slowed TOD projects along with other residential developments, says Christopher Leinberger, a Washington, D.C. urban land-use strategist and partner in developer Arcadia Land Co. Now, developers say they are dusting off old plans and starting new ones.

In Charlotte, construction is under way on the Fountains at South End, a 208-unit, two-building apartment development that will include a plush transit lobby. Commuters will be able to brew a latte and read newspapers, or watch the morning news on monitors set up to simultaneously show coming trains. Developer Proffitt Dixon Partners is spending $26.2 million on the project, which is scheduled to open next year.

Many municipalities are courting developers to spur transit-oriented growth, but the projects require the ability to satisfy a number of parties with different agendas. Some involve public-private partnerships, with governments paying to build or refurbish a rail line and private developers filling in the rest. That requires coordination between multiple layers of local, state and federal governments, community representatives and residents. Some complain the projects raise prices and force people out of low-income areas.

Proponents of TOD say the developments usually boost property values, increase tax income and revitalize downtrodden areas. The developments also help reduce sprawl and, since people drive less, they are better for the environment, they say.

The upfront costs for TOD can be higher than for traditional car-centered development, but that hasn’t turned off developers: “Every transit-oriented opportunity that we find, we take a look at,” says Ron Ladell, a senior vice president with AvalonBay Communities Inc. The large, publicly traded apartment developer is behind more than 20 TOD projects nationwide, most built over the past decade.

It is one of several firms active on Long Island, home to Levittown, N.Y., one of the nation’s first suburbs. More than 6,000 units have been approved for construction near transit hubs since 2006, up from just 374 between 2001 and 2005, according to Vision Long Island, an antisprawl planning group. While single-family home construction remains depressed, local leaders have grown more enthusiastic about multifamily development, particularly around train stations, says Eric Alexander, Vision Long Island’s executive director.

On the other side of the country, scant parking was a big reason Kristin Kalman decided to relocate from a single-family home to an apartment development near a transit station in the San Francisco Bay area.

“It was a daily root canal to try and find parking at the station,” says Ms. Kalman, 30. “Now, my morning is more leisurely and I can just walk out my front door and get on the next train.”

Write to Dawn Wotapka at dawn.wotapka@dowjones.com

A version of this article appeared May 2, 2012, on page D1 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Suburban Swap: Trading a Backyard for a Train Station.

By JULIET CHUNG

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.

$1.05 million

A 3,700-square-foot home, with three bedrooms and three baths, on 0.75 acre looking over the 18th hole of a private golf course

DETAILS: This single-story, Southwest contemporary-style home, built in 1991, has a U-shaped floor plan, beamed ceilings and a two-way fireplace dividing the kitchen from the family room. There’s a pool and mountain views.

FORE!: Troon Country Club has a 50,000-square-foot clubhouse with spa and exercise facilities, as well as a pool and tennis courts

REFUELING: The Quail’s Nest and Lounge, in the clubhouse, offers free hors d’oeuvres, including oysters on the half-shell and sliders, after a round of golf.

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Partly cloudy, high 86 degrees

SOURCE:
Margy Senna, Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty, 602-622-1388, margy@azgolfproperties.com

BOCA RATON, Fla.

$1.05 million

An almost 2,600-square-foot contemporary with three bedrooms and three baths, on 0.25 acre, overlooking the 15th tee

DETAILS: The home, renovated in 2007, comes furnished and features a double-height great room and dining room, glass walls overlooking a pool and garden and his-and-hers baths in the master suite.

FORE!: The Polo Club of Boca Raton, a gated country-club community, has two private 18-hole golf courses, a 145,000-square-foot clubhouse, a tennis complex and a 40,000-square-foot spa-fitness center.

REFUELING: The Polo Pub, in the clubhouse, offers post-golf dining and complimentary postgame hors d’oeuvres, including wings and hot dogs.

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Chance of showers, high 79 degrees

SOURCE:
Thomas Walsh, Premier Estate Properties, a Christie’s Great Estates affiliate, 561-573-2226, thomaswalsh@bellsouth.net

LAS VEGAS

$1.1 million

A 4,200-square-foot Mediterranean-style home with four bedrooms and four baths on 0.25 acre, with views of three fairways

DETAILS: This single-story, 2002 home has several fireplaces and a great room with ceilings of more than 20 feet. A patio overlooks one of the two golf courses. The master bath has a black granite shower.

FORE!: Red Rock Country Club has two Arnold Palmer-designed golf courses—one private, one public (the home overlooks the public course). A roughly 10,000-square-foot sports club features gym, pool, tennis and spa facilities. There’s also a 44,000-square-foot main clubhouse.

REFUELING: The Oasis Grill, on site, serves a shrimp-and-crab BLT with avocado ($14).

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Partly cloudy, high 82 degrees

SOURCE:
Pawel Szott, Realty Executives, 702-349-2131, szott@cox.net; Realtor.com

By MIA LAMAR and DAWN WOTAPKA

Beazer Homes USA Inc.

reported a narrower fiscal-second-quarter loss Wednesday as the builder recorded a surge in home closings and sounded a hopeful note for the months ahead.

The Atlanta-based company, one of the largest home builders in the U.S., said its closings climbed 50% in the latest period to 844 homes. New orders, meanwhile, climbed 29% to 1,512 homes.

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The results come as the U.S. housing market has begun to show signs of emerging from the worst downturn in generations, albeit in fits and starts, as buyers get back into the game. With several home builders reporting increased sales and orders in recent weeks, many industry-watchers now think the hard-hit sector is set for a rebound.

“We remain hopeful, but cautious, about the prospects for a sustained market recovery, as a number of factors continue to pose challenges for prospective home buyers,” Chief Executive Allan Merrill said Wednesday in a statement accompanying the results.

Many prospective home buyers continue to struggle to come up with money for a down payment, while qualifying for a mortgage and the appraisal remain stumbling blocks. Plenty of Americans are also waiting for prices to stabilize before they head to the closing table.

For the quarter ended March 31, Beazer posted a loss of $39.9 million, or 51 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $53.8 million, or 73 cents a share.

The latest period included charges of $1.2 million for inventory impairments and $2.7 million tied to the refinancing of debt. The year-earlier period included charges of $17.8 million for inventory impairments.

Revenue surged 52% to $191.6 million. Analysts expected a loss of 43 cents a share on $192 million in revenue.

The average sales price rose to $224,700 from $216,300, while home-building gross margin narrowed to 10.9% from 12.4% in the prior year. Several of Beazer’s peers are seeing improved margins.

Vincent Foley, a Barclays analyst, said he remains “disappointed by the company’s lack of profitability…and its very poor gross margin.”

The builder’s cancellation rate rose to 22.5% from 20%, indicating more deals are unraveling before completion. “Given that most peers had declining cancellation rates, we were surprised” by the increase, wrote David Goldberg, a builder analyst with Credit Suisse, in a client note.

Write to Mia Lamar at mia.lamar@dowjones.com and Dawn Wotapka at dawn.wotapka@dowjones.com

The ASPCA studies what traits make pets adoptable. For dogs, it’s their appearance. For cats, it’s behavior. ASPCA’s Dr. Katherine Miller discusses on Lunch Break. Photo: ASPCA.

Who can resist those big puppy-dog eyes, floppy ears and fluffy tail? In a new study to be released by the ASPCA, “physical appearance” is the top reason given for picking a particular puppy at an animal shelter.

With cats, it’s a different story: “Behavior with people” was what convinced most adopters to choose a particular adult cat.

The research, conducted by the animal-advocacy organization from January through May of 2011, involved five shelters across the country. About 1,500 adopters filled out questionnaires explaining how they knew the cat or dog was “the one.”

By understanding why people choose the pets they do, the ASPCA hopes to increase adoption rates and ensure adopters go home with a perfect match. It’s particularly useful for shelter workers to know that appearance is often a deciding factor. They can then counsel adopters about behavior and other traits that might be overlooked.

“As an animal behaviorist, it was interesting to get inside the human animal’s head,” says Emily Weiss, vice president of shelter research and development with the ASPCA.

The study supported findings from previous research showing that animals that approach the front of the cage when a visitor nears have a much greater chance of being placed in a new home. In the new study, many of the adopters who were asked, “What did this pet do when you first met him/her?” specified a social interaction, such as an approach, a meow, a lick or even jumping on the visitor.

“That interaction is important for the human animal—not just entertainment, but in choosing their next friend,” Dr. Weiss says.

—Beth DeCarbo

Reasons Given for Picking a Pet

Getty Images

Cats

Behavior with people: 77.9%

Physical appearance: 65.6%

Age: 63.9%

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Kittens

Age: 78.1%

Behavior with people: 69.3%

Physical appearance: 62.8%

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Dogs

Behavior with people: 78.3%

Physical appearance: 75.4%

Age: 65.6%

Getty Images

Puppies

Physical appearance: 76.8%

Age: 74.8%

Behavior with people: 73.9%

Note: Respondents were able to pick multiple reasons.

A version of this article appeared April 18, 2012, on page D3 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: BIG CHOICES | Selecting a Pet.

DENVER, Colo. $709,000

A 2,900-square-foot house with four bedrooms, two full baths and two partial baths on 0.1 acre in the Washington Park neighborhood

DETAILS: This Tudor home has a second story addition with two master suites and a laundry room. The private patio has a built-in gas grill.

SCHOOL: Steele Elementary School, which received a rating of eight out of 10 on GreatSchools.org, is the closest public school in this district.

FOR THE KIDS: There’s a tree house in an apple tree in the backyard, with a sandbox below. Washington Park is less than a mile away

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Partly cloudy, high of 59 degrees.

SOURCE: Ronald Buss, Coldwell Banker Previews International, (303) 808-5390, ron@b2brokers.com

NEWCASTLE, Calif. $715,000

A 3,100-square-foot house with five bedrooms and four baths on 4.6 acres 30 miles northeast of Sacramento

DETAILS: This Tuscan-style home has a gourmet kitchen with custom cabinetry, granite counters, Travertine tiles, and two dishwashers.

SCHOOL: The closest public elementary school is Placer Elementary, which received a rating of nine out of 10 on Greatschools.org.

FOR THE KIDS: The tree house is nestled in an oak tree and has a window and a hammock inside. The property also includes a play structure, a pond, and a bonus room, and there’s a lake two miles away.

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Chance of rain, high 60 degrees.

SOURCE: Leslie Griffith, Connect Realty, 916-899-0422, leslie_griffith@msn.com

PENNINGTON, N.J. $715,000

A 3400-square-foot home with five bedrooms and 2½ baths on about 0.4 acre.

DETAILS: This 1929 colonial has a 30-foot kitchen/family room, as well as a sunny music room and perennial gardens.

SCHOOL: The closest public elementary school is Toll Gate Grammar, which received a rating of seven out of 10 on GeatSchools.org and is accessible from a gate on the property.

FOR THE KIDS: A tree house was built by the homeowner, an architect. It has two levels and a canvas roof.

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Sunny, high 52 degrees.

SOURCE: Catherine Nemeth with Henderson Sotheby’s International Realty, 609-462-1237, rine43@aol.com

—Marie C. Baca

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. $885,000

A 1,500-square-foot two-bedroom, one-bathroom house on ½ acre in the Hamptons.

DETAILS: The midcentury-style home was recently renovated and has a great room with central fireplace and a swimming pool that overlooks the water. It is within walking distance to the village. There’s also a stainless-steel kitchen and central air conditioning.

WHAT’S OUTSIDE: The house is located near a private community beach as well as a boat mooring at Three Mile Harbor.

GROCERY RUN: The family-run One Stop Market is about a half-mile from the house.

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Partly sunny, high 74 degrees.

SOURCE:Tony Cerio with Brown Harris Stevens, 631-903-6151, tcerio@bhshamptons.com.

SPRING ISLAND, S.C. $790,000

A 1,270-square-foot two-bedroom, two-bathroom house on 5.3 acres in a private island community.

DETAILS: The house, built in 1997, has a metal roof, wide-plank wood walls, a wood-burning fireplace and built-in shelving. The master bedroom has a screened-in porch. The 3,000-acre community has golf, art classes and equestrian facilities.

what’s outside: The community has a large nature preserve and the home overlooks a pond and salt marsh in the distance.

grocery run: Major grocery stores on the mainland are about a 15-minute drive away.

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Possible thunderstorms, high 89 degrees.

SOURCE:Craig Lehman at Spring Island Realty, 843-987-2200, clehman@springisland.com.

OKEECHOBEE, Fla. $750,000

A 1,700-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bathroom cabin in a private recreation club between Orlando and Palm Beach, Fla.

DETAILS: The two-story home has lake views, a loft and a 1,600-square-foot wrap-around porch with an outdoor fireplace. There are vaulted ceilings, slate floors and marble countertops.

WHAT’S OUTSIDE: The Pine Creek Sporting Club has horseback-riding stables, bird-shooting facilities, fishing and archery.

GROCERY RUN: A concierge service can deliver groceries or the Fort Drum General Store is about a five-minute drive away.

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Clouds and sun, high 90 degrees.

SOURCE:John Reynolds, Pine Creek Sporting Club, 561-346-9365, jreynolds@pinecreeksportingclub.com.

—Candace Jackson

By SARAH TILTON

STATS: A 48,000-square-foot home with six bedrooms, six full bathrooms and eight half-bathrooms on 39 acres coming up for auction through Concierge Auctions on March 30 with a reserve of $10.3 million. Property taxes in 2011 were $189,000 for the house and five acres. The house was originally listed in 2002 for $69.9 million.

DETAILS: The owners spent one year designing and five years building this French château, completed in 2000. The center dome was inspired by the one at Vaux Le Vicomte, the 17th-century château outside Paris built by Louis XIV’s superintendent of finances. The wife’s two-story closet features a curved staircase modeled on the one at the Chanel boutique on the Rue Cambon in Paris. Trips to New York’s Tavern on the Green restaurant led to the design of the tea room. The house also has two elevators, a two-lane bowling alley, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a pool house, a hair salon, a racquetball court and a tennis court. The third-floor ballroom, which is lined with mirrors in a nod to the hall of mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, has its own catering kitchen and can easily accommodate 150 guests. The owners say you can host 450 people on the veranda.

SELLERS: Shirley and Alan Goldfield. Mr. Goldfield was the founder and chief executive officer of CellStar Corp., a wholesale distributor of cellular telephones. He retired in 2001.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD: Stay home and enjoy the landscaped gardens and the private lake. It’s about 30 minutes to the Dallas airport and five minutes to a Wal-Mart.

WHAT WE PAID: The Goldfields estimate that they spent $46 million building the house, which they say features 18-karat gold doorknobs and chandeliers custom-made in Florence.

WHY WE’RE SELLING: “I want a quiet lifestyle,” says Mrs. Goldfield. She notes that the house was built for entertaining and while they had some memorable parties, she now prefers spending time at their condominium in Colorado.

WHAT WE’LL MISS: “I miss the steam room because it had a very fine mist,” says Mrs. Goldfield, who also liked swimming in the lap pool that is part of the master suite.

WHAT WE WON’T: “I won’t miss the responsibility of taking care of it,” says Mrs. Goldfield. “The more you have in life, the more you have to take care of.”

COMP: In nearby Dallas, a 10,511-square-foot house with a two-story guesthouse, a pool house, a putting green and a four-lane bowling alley is listed at $29.5 million.

OTHERS SAY:
Robbie Briggs of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty appreciates the home’s finishes and the attention to detail from the light-filled living room to the two-story library. “They really did choose the best,” he says, adding that he could see the buyer using the property as a residence or as a commercial venture. Joan Eleazer, also of Briggs Freeman, has the listing.

Corrections & Amplifications

Shirley Goldfield was incorrectly identified as Mrs. Goldberg in an earlier version of this article.

Write to Sarah Tilton at sarah.tilton@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared Mar. 2, 2012, on page D9A in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: A French Château in Texas.

By J. S. MARCUS

David Židlický/Study and Documentation center of the Villa Tugendhat

Garden façade of the Tugendhat House

Modernist architecture is often associated with austere office buildings and anonymous apartment blocks, but a walk through the Tugendhat House, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s sumptuous masterpiece in Brno, Czech Republic, shows how Modernist ideas could inspire unparalleled domestic luxury.

Designed between 1928 and 1930, the villa was commissioned by Fritz and Grete Tugendhat, members of Brno’s German-speaking elite. Spread out over three levels, which seem to disappear into the slope of a hill overlooking the city, the enormous, 2,600-square-meter house incorporated a range of exotic, expensive materials, from Moroccan onyx to Chinese silk, and featured pieces of specially designed furniture that are now icons of 20th-century design.

Following the Nazi takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1938, the Tugendhat family, who were of Jewish origin, had to leave their house behind. During the postwar period, when it was used as everything from a rehabilitation center to a de facto hotel, the house slipped into disrepair. In the 1980s, during the twilight of the country’s communist regime, an attempt at a restoration led to mixed results. Declared a Unesco World Heritage site in 2001, the building and its contents, now owned by the city of Brno and administered by the Brno City Museum, underwent an extensive, €7.2 million makeover, lasting from 2010 to this winter. On March 6, the house, now a near-exact replica of the original, reopened to the public and can be visited by appointment.

“It has been an incredible fight,” says Daniela Hammer-Tugendhat, daughter of the original owners, adding that she has been trying for decades to return the house to its former splendor. Following the fall of communism in 1989, Ms. Hammer-Tugendhat and her surviving siblings considered their options. After receiving some of the contents back as restitution starting in 2006, the family initiated efforts to get back the house “in order to save it,” she says. A lawsuit was never brought, but she believes that legal rumblings and the family’s objections to the house’s condition helped pave the way for restoration.

Born in 1946 in Caracas, Venezuela, where her family had sought refuge during the war, Ms. Hammer-Tugendhat is now an art historian based in Vienna. She and her husband, the architectural conservator Ivo Hammer, actively participated in the restoration process, which was devoted to using original materials and techniques.

Ms. Hammer-Tugendhat says she doesn’t know how many times she has now visited the house, but each time, the lower-level living room—a 237-square-meter, light-filled array of flowing space—fills her with awe. The room, one of Mies’s signature creations, fosters a feeling that “I only know from medieval churches,” she says.

After its 1980s restoration, the room, composed of a patchwork of areas, contained “very bad imitations” of original furniture, Ms. Hammer-Tugendhat says. Now, it is filled with precise replicas of the house’s famous Brno, Tugendhat and Barcelona chairs.

The Tugendhat House’s restoration has benefited from a new approach to preserving Modernist buildings, says Jean-Louis Cohen, a Mies scholar and professor of architectural history at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. “A new generation of experts,” he says, now takes an “archaeological” view, yielding superb results.

Prof. Cohen remembers visiting the house after work was finished in 1985. Although the building’s trademark flowing floor plan was still evident, he says “the grand atmosphere from the 1930s was not there.” The new interiors are once again marked by opulent elements, like rosewood-veneer doors, an ebony library bench and a round, pearwood-veneer dining table.

The glass-walled living room is dominated by a hollow slab of rich gold onyx—the hollowness allows the sun to shine through, lightening up the space. The Tugendhat House, says Prof. Cohen, “has a purity and a grandeur that you can’t find in other buildings.”

The restoration required detective work. A macassar ebony room-divider disappeared during the war; it was thought lost for good until sections were discovered a few kilometers away at Masaryk University, in a canteen used by the Gestapo as an officers’ club. The hunt for original building materials led to a Moravian sand supplier, found some 20 kilometers away, and an Italian quarry, the source of marble meal used in the plaster. “We were very strict” about the sourcing of materials, says Brno architect Iveta Černá, secretary of the Tugendhat House International Committee, composed of experts who made recommendations about the restoration.

Eighty percent of the funding for the restoration came from the European Union’s Integrated Operational Program; the rest came from the Czech Ministry of Culture and the city of Brno.

The house was a design laboratory, and some of its innovations have become standard-issue. The living room contained one of the earliest plate-glass coffee tables. Millions of people now live and work with these tables in their midst, but to see the original design in its intended setting is a revelation, says Barry Bergdoll, chief curator of architecture and design at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, which includes the home’s original coffee table in its permanent collection. The table, he says, “is incredibly resonant with the architecture.” The living room’s glass walls and chrome columns are echoed in the coffee table’s glass top and chrome-plated brace.

The interiors have been recreated, but the actual building—which is notoriously difficult to photograph—needs to be visited to be seen. You can only appreciate its genius, says Ms. Hammer-Tugendhat, “by moving through it.”

Shades of Gray

The long-awaited restoration of the Tugendhat House comes at a time when Europe is still rediscovering the richness of its Modernist heritage. The movement produced other lavish residential projects that have been previously ignored.

Among the most compelling is “E.1027,” designed between 1926 and 1929 by Paris-based Irish designer Eileen Gray and Jean Badovici, a Romanian architect and long-time French resident. Located in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin on the French Riviera, the minimalist house is known for its original interiors, designed by Gray, and colorful murals by Le Corbusier, a friend of Badovici and a frequent guest, who later built a log-cabin studio nearby.

The home changed hands a few times after Badovici’s death, and became a crime scene in the mid-’90s, when its owner, a Swiss doctor, was murdered by his gardener. Later, it was taken over by squatters. According to Caroline Constant, a professor of architecture and urban planning at the University of Michigan, who went to the site a year or so after the murder, “vagrants broke all the windows and generally left a mess,” but, curiously, “they did not damage the murals.”

The house, now revered by design mavens, was bought by the French government in 1999, and its full-scale restoration is scheduled for completion by early fall.

The past few years have seen a dramatic rediscovery of Eileen Gray, whose creations include the bulbous, early 20th-century Bibendum chair and the now-legendary Dragon chair (1917-19), the original version of which sold for an astonishing €21.9 million at Christie’s Paris in 2009.

The instigator behind the house’s restoration is New York art dealer Sandra Gering, partner and executive director at the Gering & Lopez Gallery. After reading about Gray in the 1990s, she visited the derelict house and briefly considered buying it. Instead, she contacted the French government and started an organization, Friends of E.1027.

“I was attracted to Eileen,” says Ms. Gering, who has a Bibendum chair in her New York apartment. “Her taste, for me, is impeccable. When I saw that her house was in decay, and Le Corbusier’s little, one-room studio was perfectly redone, I was very upset.”

—J. S. Marcus

By WILLIAM L. HAMILTON

It might not be a 15th-century Renaissance terra-cotta relief, like the della Robbia that did a back-flip off a wall at the Metropolitan Museum of Art a few years ago. But it might be something you love or use every day and would be sorry to see go. The club chair that’s lost a leg. The wedding vase that slipped your grip and cracked a lip.

When bad things happen, interior designers don’t blink. Because they know the good people to go to.

“Anything can be repaired,” said New York decorator Thomas Britt, “if you have the right people.” Mr. Britt goes to a Russian sculptor in Fort Lee, N.J., for marble, bronze, jade and ivory work; a Polish lady on the Upper East Side for porcelain and pottery; and an office in Harlem for drapes, tapestries and rugs. “But, you have to find artists,” Mr. Britt said.

“We had a beautiful vintage mirrored table,” recalled Katie Lydon, also a New York decorator. “We moved it from one apartment to another, and the top totally smashed.” The client was shattered; Ms. Lydon coolly rang her resource. “It was a hard match and we did it,” Ms. Lydon said. “New mirror patinaed to that exact lovely distressed look. You can’t tell.”

Marie Turner Carson, of M. Elle Design in Santa Monica, Calif., had a client whose new puppy had a very close encounter with a very old rug. Ms. Carson shipped the rug out to Denver’s Robert Mann, a specialist in Oriental and Southwestern rug and textile cleaning and restoration who is known to decorators nationally. The puppy has a brighter future as a dog.

Even glass can be repaired. “It depends on what’s wrong with it,” said Sara Blumberg of Glass Past, a rare-glass dealer. Internal cracks, no. Chip on the rim, yes. Internal blisters, or “oysters,” no. Reattachments, like stem to bowl, yes.

“The task at hand is usually an issue of craft and not period. Skills are not specific to centuries. ”

Whether 18th century or midcentury modern, the task at hand is usually an issue of craft and not period. Skills are not specific to centuries. “If you’ve lost a piece of veneer on an Eames piece, take it to someone who knows the task of veneer,” said Don Menveg, an art conservator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, who worked on the installation of the “California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way” exhibit.

Evan Lobel, of New York’s Lobel Modern, recalled having a set of Hans Wegner 1950s dining chairs recaned. “The truth is, the caning makes the chair,” he said. “It would kill the chair to have it done improperly.” John Bausert and his son Sean, of Veteran’s Chair Caning and Repair in Manhattan, were able to replicate the intricate design.

In fact, a reputable tradesperson will walk you through the problem before taking the work. “People ring me and ask, ‘Is this repairable?’” said Seamus Fairtlough, of Fairtlough Restoration in Long Island City, N.Y., who works with decorators like Mariette Himes Gomez, largely on furniture. “There are few pieces I can’t restore, made out of wood.” But Mr. Fairtlough is careful to help a client assess the level of work required, from repair to conservation. He has reassembled a sideboard that flew out of the back of a truck and hit the highway at high speed.

“They brought it to me in a box,” he said funereally. But glues, dowels and joints won’t help a piece that’s rotten with wormwood. “Then we have problems. We often have to replace sections.”

And there is motive. “Make sure you’re doing it for the right reason,” said Robert Brown, a designer in Atlanta, of repair. “Is there value at the end? Has it lost its value in the repair? Is it still pleasing?” Suzanne Tucker, of Tucker & Marks in San Francisco, said: “The reality here is what it will cost. If you’re throwing good money after bad, but it’s a sentimental piece—that’s a personal decision.”

Ms. Gomez explained, “Some things are very difficult to find. If you find it, and it has aesthetic value, then doing the repair is appropriate. If you’ve fallen in love with something that needs repair, it’s like fixing your wrist. Just fix it.”

Designers and craftsmen also caution about the extent and integrity of a repair—”over-repair” can be, in its way, as bad as breakage.

“If the piece is 100 years old, you don’t want it to look new,” said Oliver Furth, a decorator in Los Angeles. Matthew White, of White Webb in New York, observed, “Increasingly, everyone wants everything to be perfect. I find it kind of exhausting.” Mr. White recalled a gilded, carved frame “with some losses.” “I could have had it completely restored,” he said. “But instead I did a few major things, so it will stand up as something that looks its age.”

David Easton, a New York decorator, knows people who can fix anything short of a horse race. But he treats some tough breaks—a tall fractured pier mirror—as opportunities instead. “I don’t think a fracture like that is repairable,” he said. “But you can cut it down and put it in a different frame. You can get half a mirror out of that.”

Repair Rolodex

Where decorators go to get things fixed in New York and beyond

OBJECTS

Alexander Tsalikhin; 201-440-5456

(marble, bronze, jade, ivory, porcelain)

Bo Studio; 212-759-6131

(glass, ivory, pottery, tortoiseshell)

Object Metal (Randy Strohm); 718-852-2603

LIGHTING

Lamp Touch Antique Repairs; 718-361-2002

Paul Ferrante; paulferrante.com (national network of showrooms)

MIRRORS

Capitol Glass; capitolglassnyc.com

GLASS

Glass Restoration; newyorkcrystalrepair.com

Sorrels Glass; sorrelsglass.com

FRAMES

APF Master Framemakers; apfgroup.com

FURNITURE

Carlton House Restoration; carltonhouse.net

Fairtlough Restoration; 718-433-2929

Fischer Furniture; 718-418-6206

The Furniture Joint; furniturejoint.com

Jonathan Burden; jonathanburden.com

Uptown Wood Restoration; 212-694-7425

Veteran’s Chair Caning and Repair; veteranscaning.com

UPHOLSTERY/FABRIC

Cleantex; cleantexny.com

Manzanares; manzanaresfurniture.com

Virginia DeScassio Antique Textiles; 212-794-8807

RUGS/TEXTILES

Beauvais; beauvaiscarpets.com

Robert Mann Oriental Rugs; mannrugs.com(Denver)

Repair Shops in Other U.S. Cities

In Atlanta

FURNITURE

Linton Furniture Shop (Danny Linton); 770-882-5132

Furniture Clinic of Georgia; furniture-clinic.com

SPECIALTY PAINTING/FINISHES

Jill Biskin; jillbiskin.com

In Los Angeles

FURNITURE

Joseph P. Reardon Antique Restoration; 626-355-1840

Bradywicks; 805-686-2425 (Santa Ynez, Calif.)

OBJECTS

Brookes Restorations; brookesrestorations.com

Artisan Restoration Center; artisanrestorationcenter.com

SPECIALTY FINISHES

Oscar’s Furniture Refinishing; oscarsrefinishing.com

In San Francisco

FURNITURE

Antonio’s Antiques; antoniosantiques.com

C. Mariani Antiques; cmarianiantiques.com

MIRRORS

Paige Glass Company; paigeglass.com

PAPER CONSERVATION

Susan Filter; susanfilter.com (Berkeley, Calif.)

STONE

Fox Marble and Granite; fox-marble.com

A version of this article appeared Feb. 25, 2012, on page D4B in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: If It’s Broke, Fix It—Properly.