From one of America's
greatest architects: an adaptable home,
with the spirit of yesterday
meeting the needs of tomorrow

Photo: Jock Pottle/Esto
Model: Lenon Models, NYC
From Text by Stephen Petranek and Jenny Allen Reporting by Janet Mason

LIFE asked Stern, who has spent 40 years designing award-winning houses, to overcome this building block. His challenge: Design a dream house that's roomy, restful, handsome outside and inside, and easily adapted to your location by almost any architect. He chose Legacy Park in Kennesaw, Georgia as the site for this home; a large corner lot bordered by thick woodlands in the rear and across the street from the fabulous 117-acre park with its nature trails, sidewalks, old-fashioned street lights, creek, nature preserve and community amenities. 

As with people, so with houses: Character can show on the face. The outside of Robert A.M. Stern's handsome design is cheerful, spirited and sturdy. Most of the architect's Shingle Style houses are rambling, many-roomed manors of up to 25,000 square feet. But here he has taken decades of expertise and scaled down his ideas to a snug size for suburbia, without losing any of the delights that make his houses romantic and nostalgic--shakes and shutters, dormers and gables, porches and columns, all evoking an American architectural tradition almost 400 years old. Says Bill Chapin, president of the American Institute of Architects: "In his design, Stern responded to the specific needs of the modern family and used a richer vocabulary than is found in most developer homes."

Stern and project architect Gary Brewer have pulled off a neat trick--a house that feels grand, yet cozy. Builder homes of this size typically have boxy rooms crowded together "like a rat maze," according to Brewer. Precious space gets squandered on pompous entry halls and huge kitchens and baths meant to add glamour. In the LIFE Dream House, there's room for retreat: The downstairs master bedroom is well removed from all the bustle. And there's room for sociability: Blending the DINING and LIVING ROOMS together creates a generous party space, and the home office is large enough to accommodate a meeting. All in all, says one architect who studied the plans, "it feels like an old-time big house." It also possesses an old-time house's quality and detail. Walls are twice as thick as in the majority of builder homes and finished off with cornices. Windows are deep-set and plentiful: Ceiling fixtures are soft and traditional, not the trendy recessed lights more appropriate to, says Stern, "keeping a McDonald's hamburger warm."

In keeping with the quality of individually handcrafted homes from years ago, only the finest quality materials were used in the construction of this home. A great respect for traditional proportions and historical details help to make this a home families will treasure for generations to come.

• Charming foyer with Dutch door and custom-designed built-in welcome bench.
• Great room with 11' coffered ceiling, windows on three sides, and two sets of French doors opening to verandah..
• Luxury wallpapers and window treatments; built-in desk and bookshelves in den.
• Beautiful lighting fixtures including Stern-designed chandeliers in kitchen and Great Room.
• All closets have open, oak shelving.
• Deep trey ceiling in owner's bedroom with door to a "forest courtyard."
• Fireplace in Great Room features Stern-designed mantle, brick surround, and slate hearth.
• Owner's bath features specially selected, hand-cut travertine marble and tile, plus Stern-designed wooden cabinets for built-in his and her dressing stations, a Jacuzzi tub and an oversized, two-person shower with crown molding and oval, mullioned window. High ceilings and extravagant trim create a truly magnificent owner's bath.
• The finest hardware throughout, including Sun Valley hand cast bronze, Baldwin Brass, and custom English porcelain knobs. Cast aluminum Reggio Registers in antique design.
• Kitchen has a nostalgic design with large, shuttered pass-through window to dining room for both privacy and easy entertaining. Features include evergreen Corian countertops, butcher block center island, custom-paneled refrigerator, gas cooktop, Zephyr stove hood, intercom system, and "subway" tile backsplash.
• Superior, fully detailed wood cabinets designed by Stern and handcrafted to exact detail for a one-of-a-kind look, including built-in, glass front pantry cabinet.
• Specially designed curved window seat in bay window breakfast area.
• Solid, custom two-panel wood doors throughout the home.

Flexibility is the genius of Stern's design, much of it found in plans for the second floor. Here a homeowner is free to juggle the number and sizes of rooms to accommodate virtually any living pattern for almost any size family. Stern believes a house should be "a framework for life" and that trading up to another house later should not be necessary: "This house can grow with family size and means."

• Options are nearly endless. One could create a second master bedroom suite and bath--useful if two single-parent families share the house or if aging parents move in. Or a suite could be used to make an office upstairs, a studio, a gym, a shop, a playroom, an au pair suite.
• Upstairs features a central hall with walk-in, tiled closet and sconces.
• Media room/ fourth bedroom has built-in bookshelves with framed large screen TV, built-in surround sound, as well as magnificent peaked, coffered ceiling. Eight-and-a-half foot dormers in all upstairs rooms, with full span windows, create interesting ceiling and room shapes with cozy nooks and inviting spaces.
• Large upstairs dormer bathrooms feature classic white mosaic and "subway" tiles, beaded wood paneling, elaborate trim work, built-in trimmed mirrors with sconces, and schoolhouse lighting.
• Walk-in closets and massive, easily accessible attic storage.

EXTERIOR

• Brick and stone paths, a curved brick retaining wall on the 3-car wide driveway, and brick driveway border.
• 5,000 square feet of lawn with spacious, traditional backyard. Included are plans for a large pool and and pool house designed by Stern's associate, Gary Brewer. 
• Custom decorative fencing and gates, a holly property border and fabulous plantings including willow oaks, Yoshino cherry, bald cypress, Yaupon Holly, espaliered camellias, scores of azaleas and roses, large rhododendrons, huge variegated hydrangeas, ivy and vinca groundcovers, and showy beds for annuals. 
• Backyard is bordered by forest (federally-protected wetland) with wildlife neighbors including deer, bunnies, chipmunks, squirrels, cardinals, hawks, woodpeckers, wrens, goldfinches, chickadees, hummingbirds, mockingbirds, and a glorious nocturnal symphony of frogs and owls. Sit on the verandah and watch the show of birds visit the feeder and birdbath. At night, the forest glows with fireflies.
• The perfect Southern verandah has solid, fluted redwood columns, brick floor, floor-to-ceiling shutters on French doors, beaded wood vintage painted ceiling with fan and lanterns, privacy trellis, and hand-operated, custom-designed sun awnings.
• Cedar shingle roof and siding enhance the nostalgic architecture.
• Lavish exterior trim and cornice designed by Stern and hand-cut just for this home includes magnificent window boxes, oval window trim, custom designed operative shutters by Vixen Hill, old-fashioned, half-round gutters with downspouts and decorative collection boxes. 

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