The Anniversary House

part 4

True to style, the ceiling of this 22-foot-high space is rendered in a strong pattern of beams and smaller purlins. In the grand 21-by-34-foot room, which is immediately to the right of the hall, the same ceiling slopes at an angle down its long sides. This device, inspired by an Addison Mizner house in Palm Beach, is used here to shape the space and temper the height. A specially designed and carved stone fireplace visually anchors the room, while two pairs of French doors with arched transoms frame the garden views beyond.

The full-depth entry hall and the living room to its side are connected front and back with openings that establish cross-axial connections. In the front, the line of sight extends from the dining room to the library. At the back, it runs from the family room to the master bedroom. Thus, there is an easy flow between spaces.

"I like putring a great living room and a master bedroom/library combination next to each other with clear passages at either end," Boerder says. "It makes a pleasant transition to the bedroom, and the library at the front can be used as an extension of either the bedroom or the great room." Here, too, interplay between house and site is at work: The library and master bath look out onto a courtyard.

Opposite the master wing, the dining room with its own fireplace and grand full-length window opens off the entry hall at the front. To the rear is a more intimately scaled family living area, a combination breakfast room and family room that flows into the kitchen. "This room measures 19 by 28 feet with exposed beam ceilings at 11 feet, the minimum for the house," Boerder points out. "If you make this kind of room too large, people don't like to be in there."

The most magical feature of the Italian villa is the open-air room called the loggia, and this house features one that brings all the architectural and emotional energy of the design to a climax. With its groin vault ceiling, arched openings supported by pairs of limestone columns, deeply textured limestone walls, and a floor of honed stone pavers, the loggia pulls the garden into the house and extends living areas outdoors. Equipped with a fireplace and directly accessible from principal rooms, it embodies the villa ideal.

Care taken by the architect to dynamically integrate all elements of the house extends to the main stairway. To keep the foyer open, Boerder set the curved stairway with its classical Roman crossrailing into a semicircular alcove off to the side of the hall. On the second floor, this generous space brings light and visual connections to a floor that has three bedrooms. Further distinguishing this level is the bedroom at the top of the tower with a higher ceiling, and, beyond a rear stairway that leads down to the family room, the media room that is located over the four-car garage.

Throughout, the house features what Boerder describes as stripped classical details. Good proportions and timeless design allow rooms to accept a diverse range of furnishings.