Luxury Homes Accessible to All

The real-estate market has seen an increased interest for accessible homes. Richard Shiffrin has an accessible room beneath his home with a boardwalk that serves as a barrier free path to the beach. Photo: Dorothy Hong for The Wall Street Journal.

When constructing Robert Weidenaar's custom-built home in Frankfort, Ill., builders made a mold of the homeowner's back to craft a concrete shower bench tailored to his dimensions. The bench is molded on the sides to perfectly fit his hands, eliminating the need for traditional grab bars. With the flip of a switch, he can fill the room with steam and warm the bench a few minutes before he goes in.

Donna and David Bailey's 6,200-square-foot home in Asheville, N.C., could accommodate their needs if they someday used wheelchairs or needed extra assistance getting around the home. Danielle Paul for The Wall Street Journal

Mr. Weidenaar, 42, who is paralyzed from the chest down and uses a wheelchair, said it was one of his priorities that the shower looked modern "and didn't scream handicap." The house is invisibly accessible in other ways: Because Mr. Weidenaar races cars as a hobby, the builders constructed a workshop designed around his chair so he can easily fix his autos. Mr. Weidenaar says his favorite part of the house is the accessible indoor pool, complete with a mural of clouds on the ceiling. And his heated driveway never needs shoveling.

A survey released in June by the American Institute of Architects found that two–thirds of residential architects are seeing increased interest in accessible design elements such as wider hallways and fewer steps. More than half of those surveyed say there has been growing demand for exterior amenities like ramps and adapted entrances. At the same time, luxury homeowners are challenging architects and builders to create homes that are both accessible and attractive: high-end finishes that are slip-resistant; elevators and lifts integrated into cabinetry; countertops, cabinet pulls and faucet handles that are both sleek and within reach of someone who is seated.

"It's very rewarding, when everything is right, it's seamless," said Mr. Weidenaar, a Chicago-area restaurant investor. "You don't focus on any of the negatives, because it works for your chair. It's a wonderful way to live, there's no doubt about it."

Mr. Weidenaar initially discussed his vision with several architects before deciding to work with Steve Lecas, owner of Gander Builders, also in Frankfort, Ill. The project became a collaborative effort. Mr. Weidenaar and his wife, Jenny, made sure one of them would be available on site each day. Mr. Lecas also used a wheelchair during the process so he could catch any potential challenges Mr. Weidenaar might run into. After a year of construction, the family moved in to the home in 2010; the final cost of building came to nearly $2 million. Five percent of the cost went toward incorporating all the accessible elements.

Mr. Lecas noted that while the home is focused on accessibility, it doesn't appear different from any other luxury dwelling. "That was probably the part of the house that made me so proud," he said.

Richard Shiffrin, a 66-year-old retired attorney, lives on the New Haven, Conn., shoreline and is mostly reliant on a motorized scooter. He spent $1 million to build his accessible 2,500-square-foot beach home, which is raised 8-feet-high on stilts. Mr. Shiffrin's architect, Peggy Rubens-Duhl, created an outdoor room, complete with a lounge, accessible cabana shower and changing room, in the space underneath the house. Mr. Shiffrin can take his home's elevator directly to the outdoor room, and then take a barrier-free boardwalk down to the beach.

Mr. Shiffrin says through the years he has seen good and bad attempts at accessibility, and he incorporated those experiences when constructing the house, which he built in 2009. He says that 5% of the construction cost involved making the home fully accessible; the elevator, a feature that Mr. Shiffrin said was most essential for him, was also the most expensive, costing close to $35,000.

"I can fully enjoy the home. There's no part of the home that I can say, 'Wow, that room is hard for me' or 'That appliance is hard for me,'" he said. "So it meets my needs and that's the combination of a good architect and a homeowner who is knowledgeable about their needs and is able to articulate it," said Mr. Shiffrin.

Some homeowners are opting for accessible designs before they actually need them, with an eye to the future.

Donna Bailey, 63, and her husband David, 67, made sure when they recently built their 6,200-square-foot home in the mountains of Asheville, N.C., that it would accommodate their needs if they someday use wheelchairs or need extra assistance getting around the home.

Every doorway in the home is 4-feet wide; the floors are hardwood, and each of the four showers in the house has a curbless design. The steps of the interior staircase are lighted to minimize the risk of falling, and the kitchen's refrigerator and dishwasher have easy-to-reach under-counter drawers. There's also extra lighting installed around the butcher block island to prevent potential injuries while working with knives.

Mrs. Bailey, a marketing professional, and Mr. Bailey, an IT specialist, knew that they might one day struggle to carry the 20 pounds of wood needed for one of their fireplaces, so they had a special butler's elevator built in to use for loading the lumber.

Mrs. Bailey said from the beginning she did her own research on accessible design and ran ideas by the architect, who weighed in on what was possible. Construction cost close to $300 a square foot, and outfitting the home for accessibility totaled 3% of the roughly $1.86 million price tag.

Leslie Piper, consumer housing specialist with real-estate listings website Realtor.com, says she has seen a clear shift in the past few years in the demand among baby boomers who want easier to manage homes. "We're moving away from the more traditional kind of compartmentalized spaces, where you have a formal living room and formal dining room," she said. "Those barriers are being broken down and we are seeing a more open living space."

However, when it comes to selling accessible properties, pointing out that it is wheelchair accessible doesn't increase the value, Ms. Piper said. The words "handicap," "disabled/disability" and "barrier free" appear in 6.5% of the nearly 3 million home listings on Realtor.com. Ms. Piper suggests that when it comes to listing terminology, using descriptions such as "wide hallways" or "open floor plan" will better attract buyers who are in the market for such homes.

For their part, the Baileys decided it was easier to design an accessible house from the start than trying to retrofit later on. When friends visit, "they are taking notes and saying that's a good idea, we need to do that, which is very flattering," said Mrs. Bailey.