Carolina Architecture & Design ‘Double the Pleasure’

Feature Article

Double the Pleasure

The project started simply enough.

Terry Van Duyn dropped into Asheville, N.C., architect Robert S. Griffin’s office, saying she and her husband Ted had just bought a 1920s-vintage house in nearby Biltmore Forest and wanted to renovate the attic and brick over the stucco exterior.

Four years later, the 4,500-square-foot house had nearly doubled in size to 8,500 square feet. Virtually every square inch of the original structure had been renovated inside and out. A new guest wing accounts for most of the additional floor space. There’s also a new swimming pool surrounded by a lavish private pavilion.

“From the original program for an attic renovation and exterior brick, the project quickly grew to be an out and out reconstruction of the entire house, plus an addition,” said Griffin. “In the process, we experienced one of the most fulfilling relationships we’ve ever had with a client and created a project that represents some of the best architecture we’ve ever done.”

Ironically, the house had just been renovated by the seller when the Van Duyns bought it on impulse during a weekend visit to Asheville. Griffin, who jokes the house had been “remuddled” seven or eight times, said even after the seller’s renovations, the house remained nondescript and lacked character and detail. “The house had the distinction of being the most renovated house in the area,” he said, “but there were still a number of problems that needed to be corrected to bring it to the level of quality our clients wanted.”

On the plus side, the house had spacious, sunny rooms and was in a superb setting, surrounded by mature oaks, hemlocks and spruces. The third-floor attic seemed the ideal space for Ted Van Duyn’s home office.

“This house was bought for its potential,” said Griffin. As Griffin began plans to extend the main staircase to the third-floor attic and to add dormers to the roof line, other ideas occurred to him for further improving the house. “Every time I made a suggestion, the clients said, ‘Sure. Why not?’,” said Griffin, until ultimately, the simple attic renovation project turned into a full-scale reconstruction of the entire house, with new construction of a guest house, attached garages, connecting pavilion and swimming pool.

The Van Duyns also commissioned Griffin, president of Fireside Interiors, an interior design firm and an antique import business, to design and furnish the home’s interior as well. “We had worked so closely with them as architects and the resultant style of the interiors that it became a natural flow into working on the interior design,” Griffin said.

At the first project meeting, Griffin said the Van Duyns asked for red brick for the home’s exterior. “Terry had grown up in Chicago,” he explained, “and so much of Chicago is brick—probably because of the Chicago fire and the desire for fireproof structures. She said, ‘To me, it’s not a real house unless it’s brick.’”

Because of the scale of the house, Griffin suggested brick in softer, contrasting shades of salmon and russet. “I wanted to decrease the impact of the scale,” he said, “and I wanted to make sure all the specialized details we were designing didn’t melt into the brick work. “

For his skillful use of brick in the Van Duyn residence, Griffin received an Award of Special Recognition from the Brick Association of North Carolina in the association’s 1995 Architectural Brick Design Awards competition. Griffin also received a Residential Award from Masonry Magazine’s International Excellence in Masonry competition.

Inside the original structure, Griffin and project architect Robbie Sweetser reworked and simplified floor plans, removed chimneys and relocated windows. They tore out a free-standing metal fireplace from one corner of the family room and replaced it with a new masonry fireplace centered on a wall. Upstairs, they created a contemporary master bedroom with veneered cabinets along two walls and reconfigured the children’s bedrooms to provide additional closet space.

The master bath with its heated marble floor and large whirlpool bath is the feature Terry Van Duyn says she loves most. Each evening after putting the children to bed, she enjoys a leisurely soak.

Husband Ted’s pride and joy is the soundproofed audio/visual room with its theater-quality sound system and ten foot screen, perfect for viewing movies on Saturday nights at home with the family.

Griffin and Sweetser created a large office area in the attic, along with an exercise room, a kitchen and a full bath. “It’s a place where Ted can go and be creative without interruptions,” Griffin explained.

Throughout the renovations and construction, the architects took an “environmentally responsible” approach in specifying materials. They also dramatically improved the energy efficiency of the original structure, installing all thermopane windows and inserting Styrofoam insulation between the brick veneer and the old hollow clay tile walls.

The renovation also presented an opportunity to install cabling for a computer network and to pre-wire the entire house in anticipation of a digital network, a likely future upgrade for the Van Duyn family.

Ted Van Duyn is vice president of a computer software company and Terry is a former computer programmer who now volunteers her desktop publishing skills producing newsletters for her son’s school and for a local historic preservation group. Daughter Christine uses her computer for high school homework while 10-year-old Teddy and his friends love to play “shoot ‘em up” computer games.

Sophisticated computer technology also controls the home’s security and automation system, designed and installed by Comtec, Inc.

A vehicle detector and outdoor motion detector alert the family if someone approaches the house and turn on exterior lights after dark. Miniature television cameras at the front door and swimming pool turn on automatically when a visitor approaches so that family members inside may check any television set to see who’s there. The swimming pool is surrounded by a series of photoelectric beams which, if interrupted, will sound a signal in the house and turn on lights after dark.

The system calculates sunrise and sunset times and turns on selected lights at dusk. When the Van Duyns retire for the evening, they can press a button which adjusts the heating and cooling system for sleep, turns off the lights and arms the security system. As daylight approaches, the system returns the interior temperature to normal.

When the family is away, the system alarms if the interior temperature drops below 40 degrees during the cold Asheville winters. They can also arm and disarm the system remotely and get a status report and even log by telephone.

The addition of the guest wing was to accommodate the Van Duyns’ close-knit extended family. “They wanted their families to be able to come and visit without feeling they were underfoot,” Griffin said. The addition also has two facing two-car garages alongside the connecting pavilion.

The backyard swimming pool by Aqua Blue Pools takes advantage of the privacy created by the pavilion’s arched wall with plantation shutters set in. The pool features a raised planter, four sets of steps and a waterfall that appears to spill from the spa. Two concrete water slides are coated with epoxy to keep them slick and waterproof. Pool installation project manager Steve Smith says the self-cleaning pool boasts several high-tech features, such as a computer-controlled chemical dispenser and heater that can be controlled locally or remotely by telephone.

In furnishing the home, Griffin used all-natural cotton, wool and silk, blending traditional North Carolina arts and crafts with Biedermeier, English Regency, American Federal and French Empire periods—all from the 1830s and, according to Griffin, “the start of what I consider the Modern Movement.”

Griffin’s use of native arts and crafts is greatly facilitated by the home’s Asheville location. According to Hand-Made in America, an Asheville-based not-for-profit organization to promote and develop the hand-craft industry in 22 western North Carolina counties, the area boasts the nation’s fourth-largest concentration of crafters.

Consistent with the Biedermeier period’s then-new technology to produce wood veneers, all custom cabinetry in the residence is veneered to show off the wood grain. Griffin also designed a dining room table for the house and had it built by local craftsmen. “We are spoiled rotten by our artisans here,” he said, adding he frequently designs furniture for clients and has it crafted locally. “We have a much broader range from which to choose because of the capability of cabinet and trim artisans in the area.”

In keeping with the simple design themes, Griffin used neutral colors inside to create a very soft but warm feeling that would not compete with the art and antiques.

Throughout the lengthy design, renovation and construction process, the Van Duyns were extraordinarily patient. “Normally, clients would be much less accepting of all the delays,” Griffin said. “But they appreciated our desire to put quality first, and they were most generous with their acceptance. This project went on and on and on, and they were gracious about it beyond anything I’ve ever seen.”

At the long-awaited conclusion of the project, the clients “roasted” Griffin, inviting his mother, also in the antique import business, to the party. After presenting him with a gaudy majolica parrot atop a draped table, Griffin’s clients removed the drapery to reveal an architect’s table made in London in 1810. They had commissioned Griffin’s mother to find the special gift for her son. “I’ve never been so touched,” said Griffin.

“Terry and Ted Van Duyn wanted to build a house they could live in forever,” said Griffin. “For me, the project is successful not only because my clients ended up with an exceptionally nice house, but because in the process of creating it, we created a home that really works for them. The brick exterior has a solid, permanent quality about it that is very derivative of their personalities, and the inside is very simple and clean, so it lets their energy shine through.

“It’s more than just a house now. Because all the ingredients that go into creating the ideal architect-client relationship were there, it’s become their home in every sense of the word.”