Anglo-Carribean Style Florida Residence

Photos by Owen McGoldrick

2017 Palladio Award Winner
New Design & Construction, More Than 5,000 Sq.ft.
Project: Anglo-Caribbean Style Residence
Winner: Fairfax & Sammons

The two-story, 8,150-square-foot Anglo Caribbean-style residence replaces a one-story home built in the 1970s, and is sited diagonally on the angled corner of a street intersection. It consists of a main block and two dependencies, the garage and the guest house, which are attached by breezeways—together they form the entry courtyard featuring plantings and fountains hemming the walk to the portico.

A central octagonal tower on the entry side features prominently, and is connected to two secondary wings by hyphens. The exterior walls are stucco on concrete block; and the cornices on the main block include a combination of run stucco with stone modillions, while the hyphens’ and first-floor dependencies’ outlookers are of painted wood.

The Caribbean influence is evident in the steeply sloped roofs, which are a combination of wood shingle and standing seam copper. Also, the windows are dressed in a combination of Bahama and colonial shutters; both the windows and doors are made of impact-resistant painted mahogany.

“Choice of color palette, as well as use of the octagonal form of the ancient Athenian monument of the Tower of the Winds for the entry pavilion was in deference to the client’s Greek heritage,” explains principal Richard Sammons. “But all in all, the house remains a thoroughly tropical expression of a five-part Palladian plan.”

In back, an expanse of lawn with terrace, fire pit, and pool/spa, visually reaches the lake beyond.

The interior layout is one that stems from a transverse corridor, originating in the entry hall and terminating at the library in one direction and the dining room in the other. The main axial sequence of spaces moves from the motor court through to the lake at the rear. A secondary axis connects the dining/billiards room to the cypress-paneled library through the entry hall.

These two axes are repeated on the second floor—one runs from the rookery to the living room clerestory, where windows yield lake views, while the perpendicular moves from one bedroom wing to another via the balcony on the living room’s second floor. The two-story living room sits opposite the entry, its first-floor French doors opening to a deep veranda shaded by a bracketed arbor atop a Doric colonnade.

Detailing includes flooring of scraped and stained hardwood and natural stone tiles; painted wood tongue-and-groove tray ceilings; and architect-designed cabinetry and trim executed by local millwork companies.

The ways in which formal and relaxed elements are wed, i.e. the linking of forms, played a central role in the design’s success.