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A celebration of their style

A couple knew what they wanted when they moved from a Society Hill house to a Center City condo.

Easier living was a priority for Jim and Janet Cooke, who moved from a home with plenty of stairs in Society Hill to an 1,800-square-foot condo in the Western Union Building at 11th and Locust Streets in Philadelphia. (Michael Bryant / Staff Photographer)
Easier living was a priority for Jim and Janet Cooke, who moved from a home with plenty of stairs in Society Hill to an 1,800-square-foot condo in the Western Union Building at 11th and Locust Streets in Philadelphia. (Michael Bryant / Staff Photographer)Read more

To call Jim Cooke a methodical home-seeker would be a serious understatement.

When he and wife Janet were looking for their next dwelling after living in a charming I.M. Pei-designed house in Society Hill, Jim created a spreadsheet of needs, wants, and nonnegotiable items.

Then Jim, 64, a semiretired strategic adviser for Educational Testing Service in Princeton, and Janet, 65, an artist, set out to find that well-defined space.

"This was a very right move for us. It has everything we were seeking, and we love it," says Jim, who recently showed a visitor through the couple's 1,800-square-foot condominium at the Western Union Building at 11th and Locust Streets.

Though this address is just eight blocks west of the Cookes' former home on South Third Street, in many ways it's like being in another universe.

The 1920 building was completely updated by architect Cecil Baker, and space was seamlessly added in a project completed in 2007.

As fans of "nonvanilla" style, the Cookes like their new condo's unexpected mix of Pei modern, which has simple lines and high ceilings, with more open spaces and a New York loft feel.

"There's almost a deceptive quality in the hallways, doors, and room layouts that makes the space seem much larger than it is," Jim says.

Janet especially likes what she calls "our freedom to use the apartment in our own individual way, without feeling the need to replicate what we had in a house."

High on the priority list for this empty-nest couple was easier living space: The I.M. Pei house had four floors, and Jim is dealing with early Parkinson's disease.

Another high priority: the ability to survive without a car. That was handily checked off at the Western Union Building, which is centrally located. The Cookes still own a car but look forward to doing without it soon.

A fringe benefit of city living is the "theater" of street life below, which the Cookes enjoy.

Best of all, they've managed to fold their former household, a much larger one, into this one with no significant casualties. They have 65 percent of their former space, but it's all they need.

Planner that he is, Jim found a computer program that allowed him to make a 3-D model of their new home before they moved in two years ago. That helped them avoid the usual scramble of where to put what.

"By the time we moved in, everything we owned had a space," he says.

Janet's art decorates many walls of the Center City condo.

Having a working studio in it was important to her. She found her space in the large area the couple dubs "the great room," an expanse in which the kitchen, living room, dining room, and her art studio effortlessly blend.

With light pouring in the room's front and side windows and her work tables and cabinets neatly arranged there, the studio adds to the charm and interest of the large central space.

"Having this dedicated space means so much to me," says Janet, a part-time educator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

A small, serene den enclosed by soft, sage-green walls is where Jim and Janet often read or watch TV. Down a hallway next to the master bedroom, with its small outdoor deck, is a spare bedroom/office that Jim claims when no guests are around.

The condo's eclectic furnishings are a blend of sleek contemporary and Asian influences, and art is everywhere - three Native American rugs used as wall hangings; quirky plaster molds of eyes, nose and mouth; traffic signals Jim mounted in the great room.

Janet's striking artworks at times evoke the couple's past. One work recalls the artist as a girl waiting for her music lessons in Toledo, Ohio. Another is of their two daughters on a bicycle ride as they encounter a stranger.

One of those daughters, artist Jennifer Cooke, gave her parents a wall hanging that's installed in the den, a "quilt" constructed of New York City commuter Time Saver Paks, little square bags she stuffed and sewed together to create a remarkable homage to public transportation in a vast city.

Though the Cookes prefer a "less-is-more" decorating style, there is much that is lively and interesting in the condo, and it's all the more noticeable because of the lack of clutter. Colors, light and balance also govern the design, in a nod to feng shui, the ancient Chinese tradition of placement and design that leads to harmony for human beings in their environments.

At the condo's entry, a piece composed of a series of boxes with multiple drawers painted in rich hues holds cherished artifacts - including special fabric swatches, stones from Lake Superior, and a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Home, the Cookes say, is where originality and individual spirit can reside.

"Here," Janet says, "we can celebrate who we are."