Splendid Serendipity
Chance—and design—led these empty nesters to build the prettiest house in Locust Hills
Glistening in the sun like a newly varnished classic Chris-Craft, this home might have just glided in from Lake Minnetonka. Warm wood and copper dominate topside, while rugged deep-blue granite below provides solid mooring and a sense of permanence. The steeply pitched, flared roof and towering chimney with its ornate copper tie rod speak of history and built-in character. ¶ All appears as if it were meant to be—though it just as easily might never have come to pass. An unlikely chain of events led Deborah and Richard, longtime Wayzata-area residents, to build on this spot with its panoramic views of woods, marsh, and water. Unlikely because the couple had just finished building their retirement home, a Spanish Colonial in Palm Desert, California, and she—for one—had no desire to jump back into the home-building process. ¶ Then, in 2006, a huge chunk of remarkable property, just steps from their 1987 home, went on the market for the first time since the Roaring Twenties. Once the site of the Locust Hills “gentleman’s club” (read: speakeasy), the 70-acre parcel at the juncture of McGinty and Bushaway roads had been the estate of the Sweatt family, founders of Honeywell, since 1927. Now, the site, with meadow, marsh, and 7,800 feet of lakeshore, was being transformed once again; this time into an exclusive conservation neighborhood with 47 home sites, most of them gathered into artfully arranged lots with views of water and woods. In this incarnation, Locust Hills would be a European-style enclave, with 45 acres of common open space dotted by ponds, bridges, and 2 miles of walking paths maintained by the development for residents.
The location. The amenities. The lure of low-maintenance lakeside living. Richard was ready to leap. Deborah took some convincing. Living just across the marshland from the site, however, they were already familiar with its many charms. “We walked the property before any roads were in, and thought it was incredibly beautiful,” says Deborah. “In fact, we walked it five or six times.” Plus, she says, “I had so much fun building the California house, I finally agreed it would be fun to do another.”
Deborah and Richard connected with Jyland Distinctive Homes of Wayzata, one of the custom homebuilders selected to build in Locust Hills, as well as with Tea2 Architects of Minneapolis. The design team coalesced around Dan Nepp, principal in charge of the project, and Charlie Simmons, who started the design as senior project manager as Tea2 and finished the project as principal of Swan & Simmons of Minneapolis. (He’s now principal of Charlie & Co. in Minneapolis.) The team’s first order of business: choosing the site. All agreed they wanted the last lot on a cul-de-sac, with just one neighbor, marshland on two sides that will never be developed, and a view of Gray’s Bay. Each Locust Hills builder participated in a lottery for lot choices, and the luck of the draw was with Jyland. They got their first choice.
The site determined, the design process got underway. Richard knew exactly what he wanted: A house that looked like it had been there forever, something that evoked a sense of history in keeping with the remaining estate building, now renovated and converted to a clubhouse. “We wanted the house to reflect a European style,” says Deborah. They loved the warmth of the European Cottage and Arts and Crafts styles, and the design that evolved has echoes of both, with traditional materials on the exterior and surprisingly open interior spaces. Wish list in hand, they moved quickly through the design process with Nepp and Simmons, bringing in designer Steven Reed Love of Egg & Dart in Palm Desert, who’d worked with them on their California home. The house was built in 11 months—remarkable for a project of this scope. “This is a husband and wife who work well together, trust each other’s opinion, like the same things, and have an appreciation for creativity,” says Bob Carlson, president of Jyland Distinctive Homes. “We make decisions quickly,” says Deborah. “We get it done.”
Photo courtesy of Tea 2 Architects
Now empty nesters, with their son working on the West Coast and daughter in college, the two noodled Sarah Susanka’s not-so-big approach—though at 5,030 square feet, this house is actually 500-square-feet larger than their old house across the road. “We flunked downsizing,” laughs Deborah. But they knew what they wanted. Fresh from a more contemporary home, where they had replaced stark finishes with maple and mahogany, the couple was determined that this house would feel more like them from the get-go. Richard, in particular, wanted a sense of history reminiscent of his childhood home in Pennsylvania.
Early on, the design team found a distinctive blue Corinthian granite for the exterior walls. Quarried in upstate New York—just across Lake Champlain from Burlington, Vermont, where the couple had lived for five years—the stone was exactly the historical East Coast reference Richard wanted.
Hand-selected for its gunmetal color and horizontal veining, it established a cool palette, which meant the exterior cedar paneling, millwork, and fascia needed something warmer than the planned-for olive green, says Simmons. Eventually, the team decided to enhance the natural beauty of the wood with a tinted semi-transparent cabinet stain called Sikkins. Five coats of stain later, Simmons pulled up to a house literally aglow in the afternoon sun and the admiring homeowners. They loved it. “It looks like my boat,” Richard told Simmons.
Other design decisions reinforce that curbside warmth. There’s no formal foyer—Deborah and Richard didn’t want one—instead, a custom-built console separates the entry from the dining room. Light streaming in from the window-lined southern exposure of the main level draws you into the house and its open, airy rooms. A palette of soft blues and greens gently reflects the surrounding woods and water, making the transition from the outside environment to inside seamless. Most people, says Deborah, immediately gravitate to the living room and its lovely views.
That large room, with casement-and-divided-light windows wrapping two walls, is down a couple steps. If anything can compete with the vista spreading beyond the terrace outside the French doors, it’s the storm-blue Corinthian granite fireplace. The substantial floor-to-ceiling stone, with a mantel of reclaimed cedar timber, is the room’s focal point. An open archway leads into the formal dining room, which opens, in turn, to the sizable kitchen and the den beyond. “From the exterior, you might expect compartments, but there aren’t a lot of walls on the inside,” says Simmons. “It’s all big, open spaces and windows.”
Pocket doors between the kitchen and den (with its study alcove) can be closed for privacy. Except for the two bedrooms on the lower level, designated the kids’ level, “We really live in all the rooms of this house,” says Deborah. Her favorite is the second-level owners’ suite, where the couple wakes to the sights and sounds of Gray’s Bay outside the bedroom’s barrel-roofed balcony. “I love waking up and looking at the lake.”
But her favorite feature remains what drew them here to begin with. “I love the feel of property itself,” she says. “The developer is very mindful about protecting the land and the habitat. There are deer, turkeys, even a bald eagle hangs out by the lake. It’s like living in the arboretum.”
Chris Lee is editor of Midwest Home.
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