The $1.26 million house on this page–all 5,500 square feet of it–isn’t the sort of place you would expect to see reviewed in a House Hunter column.
It’s in Atlanta. It’s been sold. It’s custom built. It was planned by a committee of nine housing industry leaders and outfitted by some 65 suppliers of new products and services.
So, why review this break-the-rules dwelling? Because this “English-style Arts and Crafts cottage” was dubbed the New American Home 2001 and promoted as encompassing “the best” — in ideas, in trends, and in products — during the International Builders’ Show earlier this year.
The house is located on an 8,200 square-foot in-fill lot in an established neighborhood in the ritzy Buckhead area of Atlanta. It looks more like two houses rather than one because the three-story house is separated by a courtyard from the carriage house–a two-car garage topped by a spacious in-laws suite.
We visited it as dusk turned to night and the first look inspired awe — and a little puzzlement. The neighborhood includes other million-dollar homes, surprisingly close together; a highrise or two; and a heavily traveled thoroughfare just the other side of the home’s enclosed courtyard.
With well-groomed landscaping and dramatic lighting, the house looked inviting. After a few trips through and around the house, however, I knew this one would get mixed reviews.
Even though some other visitors sniped, “There’s no yard,” the courtyard is enough for city folks and perfect for a mild climate, especially when it’s decorated as this one was with a waterfall, greenery and handsome wood furniture.
The house is quite rustic, wrapped in brick, cedar shake and fieldstone. Its facade is nearly covered with fieldstone and dominated by a massive fireplacechimney with a top section in red brick. Windows of varied sizes and shapes seem to be placed randomly. A curved-iron Juliet balcony doesn’t harmonize with any other trim. The overall exterior looks as though it’s been designed for a stage setting. The best thing about the design is that the garage and therefore, its prominent doors, is set apart from the house.
The home is described as a four-bedroom, 4 1/2 bathroom, three-story house with bonus space on the basement level. That lower level is so finished, so polished that this seems the equivalent of a four-story residence.
The basement has a six-seat theater, an exercise room, a bathroom, a 10-by-18-foot storage room and the piece de resistance–a humidity/temperature-controlled wine cellar with racks to accommodate 3,000 (yes–3,000) bottles and space enough for wine-tasting table and chairs. Why come upstairs except to eat and sleep?
What seems to be missing from this expansive, luxurious basement is a mini-bar to hold refreshments for a gracious host/hostess to offer drinks to movie-going guests or to quench exercisers’ thirst.
So, climb the stairs to the ground level for food. It’s something you get used to in this house. Climb more winding steps to go to bed and climb yet another set of stairs to reach the third-floor loft, decorated as a work or flex space. There are a lot of stairs to climb and you can’t help wonder why the “target market” for this home was said to be empty nesters and “move-up buyers with one to three children.” Empty nesters tend to be asking for ranch designs to avoid stair-climbing. If a family has one to three kids living with them, aren’t they more likely to be younger children–probably from under 10 through their teens? I can only visualize little ones tumbling and teens racing.
On the ground or main level, the handsome heavy wood double doors at the front entrance lead to a large foyer. It is flanked at the left by a dining room large enough to accommodate only a table for six. A fireplace is tucked off in a corner. The dining room connects to the kitchen via a butler’s pantry. Also on the left of the foyer are the powder room and a very small guest coat closet.
On the foyer’s right is the sky-high stairwell and a too-red room called the library. Furnished with a prominent period desk and chairs, the paneled room seems more like a London hotel’s concierge office than a reading room. It’s about the most formal room in this otherwise mildly casual home. Since the rest of the rooms on the main floor call for a lot of togetherness, this library might be utilized as a somewhat more serene parlor or even an out-of-the-way media/listening space.
The winning space on the main level is the “gathering room” at the back of the house. Upon entering this room from the foyer, look to the right for a very large breakfast nook and entry to the courtyard. Turn to the left for a totally open kitchen, beginning with two separate parallel islands–the first for a buffet or bar, the second for food preparation and some seating. Against the left wall is the kitchen’s six-burner range, cabinets and counters and the doorway to the butler’s pantry next to the formal dining room. The double ovens and refrigerator are perpendicular to the islands.
The rest of this supersized 19-by-36-foot family or great room is devoted to chairs, sofas, the fireplace. Sliding doors open to a porch, then a few steps down to the courtyard–terrific for entertaining–and it is only a short walk to the wonderful potting shed at the rear of the garage.
A covered walkway leads from the breakfast area to the garage (with its electric car charger) and its second-level quarters, which the developer promoted as a home for in-laws or, perhaps, the boomerang child. If so, there seemed to be no accomodation for food preparation. Perhaps this is why this level was decorated as a design studio or home office. Even so, such a space could certainly use some minimal kitchen facilities for refreshments, snacks, or lunch.
Although only two rooms on the second floor of the house are furnished as bedrooms, the architects, Arc Design Atlanta of Roswell, Ga., and builder, Hedgewood Properties, Cumming, Ga., said the plan can accommodate up to seven bedrooms. Frankly, you could probably fit four bedrooms into the master suite. Divide the bedroom itself into two; have another replace the suite’s 14-by-14-foot sitting room; use the shuttered, screened porch off the master bedroom for a fourth bedroom.
With its soaring volume ceiling, this master bedroom would seem to be a major energy waster. Yet, two of the primary goals for the New American Home were to establish a level of energy efficiency not seen before in such a display home and to construct a home with greater attention to durability. The builder put the emphasis on high performance windows, duct sealing, moisture control, ventilation, enhanced building airtightness (with no specific references to that cathedral ceiling, except for mentioning the airtight attic wall and the entire “efficient envelope” for this home.)
The predicted annual energy costs for the New American Home is $2,228, while Atlanta’s standard energy cost was given as $3,599. The biggest chunk of that $2,228, incidentally, is $773 for lighting and appliances; followed by $535 for heating, $380 for cooling; $270 each for hot water and service charges. The showcase home will be monitored for actual costs during the first year it is occupied.
On the whole, the house is packed pretty tightly on its 8,200 square foot lot; there’s a great deal of rich wood detailing–curved doors, luxe cabinetry and storage in the islands, hardwood floors–along with arched doorways, armoire and assorted niches. It’s also heavy on technology; the house is automated by a Web pad butler, a system linking all the home’s electric systems (interior/exterior lighting, audio/video, security); an Internet-connected refrigerator tells homeowners when to refill key items.
What’s missing? An elevator. That theater-to-loft climb may work off some of that buttered popcorn, but owners and guests are going to need some rest stations on the landings between levels.
