Neighboring to Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland’s historic Little Italy, Via 126 is comprised of three prismatic volumes designed to frame a central auto court and maximize views across the sloping hillside. The houses perch at the top of Murray Hill and face westward, with each home featuring a panoramic view across the rooftops of Little Italy down to Lake Erie from a large outdoor roof terrace.

The townhouses draw material inspiration from the textures of Tuscan hill towns, specifically the heterogenous stone facades of Volterra.

The volumetric shifts in the envelope maximize living space while reducing the footprint of each home. The two front houses, which face onto 126th street, lean against each other to create the impression of urban density and maintain privacy for the piazza.

This network of plazas, walks, and buildings create a city-within-a-city, based on the design principles best illustrated by the hill towns for which Italy is famously admired.