The Big House
U of M grad & Washington Redskins tackle Jon Jansen at home on Crooked Lake
The Big House has new meaning for Jon Jansen.
The Washington Redskins offensive tackle and former team captain and standout for the University of Michigan is settling with his family into a spacious spread on the shores of Crooked Lake, where the Michigan native and his wife, Martha, have completed a stunning 9,400-square-foot family estate.
Aside from elegant décor and cavernous spaces, Jansen had another specific request in the home’s design: at 6’7”, he was tired of banging his head on doorframes.
He made sure the builder, John Plichta, extended everything upward so he’d be comfortable in his own place. “I wanted a house where I feel normal,” said Jansen.
Normal for Jansen surely includes plenty of stares, questions about his height and weight from perfect strangers, and autograph-seekers in the small towns around Northern Michigan. But that’s all secondary to his life in up North.
“This is where we’re going to live the rest of our lives,” said Jansen. “We designed it intentionally that way.”
The Jansen home almost has a castle-like feel, with 10-foot-tall ceilings, oversized furniture and wide open spaces with no detail left untouched.
Dry-stacked quarry rocks form an arch over the range and the fireplaces, part of the 120 tons of rock used around the home. Two seasonal rooms are floor-to-ceiling smooth finished cedar, and one room has a see-through fireplace that can be enjoyed on the outside deck as well as inside.
A cupola off the kitchen has a lighthouse tower at the top with circulating light. Unlike in so many houses where the laundry room is an after-thought, the Jansen’s was considerately designed with a remarkable space of its own off the garage entrance. Martha said she incorporated tiles from her grandparents’ collection into the mosaic lining the counter backsplash, as one of the Jansens’ several efforts to include family reminders in their lakeside home.
Another came from her parents’ farm in Ohio (no Ohio State jokes, people, she’s a former swimmer and University of Michigan graduate, too). Her dad had saved the wood from some old walnut trees, and Martha and Jon used it for mantels among the home’s five fireplaces.
“We really wanted to include some family touches,” Martha said.
While Jon is in his 10th season with the Redskins, the family maintains a home in Northern Virginia as well, though he expects once he’s retired in a few years the Crooked Lake estate will be the permanent family homestead.
They purchased the land initially in 2002 and moved a smaller house off to the side of the property to clear room for the current spread. The grounds, which include four lots, the guest house, docks and boats, are the ideal gathering place for the Jansens’ extended family. His parents, Larry and Ellen Jansen, have a place just down the road, and on this day, they were giving Lucy and Ruby lunch before a photo shoot.
The house has specially-designed spaces for the two little girls, including a stocked craft room, chalkboard pantry door, and a shared bedroom with custom, complementing beds.
Of course, the adults have their spaces, too. The master suite is an elegant stretch of bedroom, wide-open bathroom big enough for decorative ceiling trusses, and a locker-room-sized closet.
Memorabilia from Jon’s high school days at Clawson and U of M decorate his centrally-located office, with views out to the lake. On the wall he’s hung his jerseys, battered helmets and other keepsakes from his gridiron years, including one of which he’s particularly proud, a painting of himself with President Ford in his U of M uniform and late-1960s lineman Dan Dierdorf, all autographed.
There’s a movie room, outdoor kitchen and Jon’s upper-level “Man’s Room,” accessed by both the house and garage. Lest anyone think this is his escape, Jon notes, “The girls love to come up here and play.”
Surprisingly, the garage isn’t filled with fancy cars, but instead with a dozen or more pieces of top-of-the-line fitness equipment for his daily regimen. “And they don’t think I work out enough up here,” Jansen said with a laugh.
Fortunately for him, he’s got the home-field advantage on this one. HL
Home Gallery
Game Stats
The Team: The Jansens, Jon, 32, and Martha, 34, and daughters Lucy, 2, and Ruby, 1
The Big House: 9,400 square feet on Crooked Lake
Yardage: 800-plus feet along the lake and another couple thousand feet up the channel
First down: The home was completed enough for the Jansens to move in March 1, with finishing touches completed in late spring.
The lineup: 4 bedrooms, 3 full and 2 half baths
Quarterback: Builder John Plichta and his son, Dan, J.R. Construction, Petoskey
Designers: Amy Walton, Walton Design, Virginia, and Glenna Walton
Touchdowns: Outdoor kitchen and pool, “The Man’s Room” bar and entertainment area, two docks, second guest home next door, personal gym in the garage
