THE MOST COMmon question by visitors to the house that Tim Fox and Larry Wahls built is, ”What was this before?” Indeed, from the street the rectangular block of Dryvit, a stucco-like material, could be a factory. There`s nothing architecturally compelling. It`s hardly . . . well, pretty.
”It`s not unusual to have the facade approach kind of plain,” Fox says. ”That`s the way Versailles is. Of course, I don`t want to compare this to Versailles.”
What`s inside belies the humble exterior. It`s a delightful two-story space, luxuriously bathed in sun by skylights and clerestory windows. It`s lush with trees, plants and fresh flowers and furnished in an eclectic, sophisticated style that Fox likes to call ”high-tech traditional.”
The house sits on four smallish city lots, netting an area of 80 by 96 feet. Its back is pure Palladian-with characteristic symmetry that is faithful inside, down to the foot count of the tile.
”And the windows and doors are proportionally placed,” says Larry Wahls, who is Fox`s partner in an interior-design firm that also has offices here.
Perhaps most intriguing is the integration of what might not be considered very homey materials. The walls are split-faced concrete block; the floor is a porcelain industrial tile that Fox first saw at New York`s LaGuardia Airport. But the space is warmed with surprising touches such as the Old World pediment crowning the doorway in the dining room.
”We wanted the sense of courtyard-something reminiscent of those in Italy or southern France,” Fox says.
Beyond a tiny antechamber, framed by a pair of columns, is a modest-sized library/living area. It`s furnished with a French pearwood daybed Fox picked up more than two decades ago and recently reupholstered. Wahls refinished the pair of chairs in a tediously applied combination of gesso-raw-pigment-gold leaf that makes them look vintage and important. A simple Parsons table was covered in canvas and painted by artist Sandra Glerke.
Everywhere there are curious juxtapositions. On one side, a French reproduction desk of black walnut teamed with a Louis XV chair. On the other, industrial shelving on casters to house stereo equipment.
In the dining area, an 18th Century painted French bombe is balanced by a 17th Century Japanese chest on a gilded English base. But the table is composed of salmon marble on a Lucite base, designed by Fox. ”We like mixing things,” he explains. ”We`re living today, not in the past.”
But in the kitchen, where you might expect to see Eurostyle, there are only hints. It`s more the ambience of a small European restaurant.
”It has a real nice arts-and-crafts feeling,” Wahl says. Mosaic tilework in green, rust and black, in a random pattern, provides unexpected wall interest. Around a black Parsons table are chairs dating to about 1910. A flame mahogany bowed-front English chest of drawers, circa 1790, houses lovely porcelain that belonged to Tim`s grandmother; it is supplemented with a dessert service of the same vintage, done in relief with a botanical
The symmetrical double staircase, which, with its stepping, is itself an architectural statement, was inspired by a Renaissance model Fox once saw. ”I wanted the suggestion of antique but one that was contemporary at the same time.”
Upstairs, bedroom spaces and office overlook the main living area. They are modest and minimal, suiting their function.
A wildflower garden was seeded last summer, and quaking aspen, river birch and columnar evergreens indigenous to the Upper Midwest soon will be planted. A flagstone terrace was a summer addition, and just the presence of allysum peeking through was lovely.
”This is like a country house in the city,” Fox says.
