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FeedClassical Balance
A remodel that began as a terrace addition recreates a brick-clad Georgian
By Andrea Grazzini Walstrom
Photo by Susan Gilmore, Styled by David Anger
The assignment was simple: design a terrace that matched the demeanor of the brick-clad Georgian in suburban Minneapolis. Nothing to it. In 2003, Tom Ellison, principal TEA2 Architects in Minneapolis, tossed the assignment to Andrea Peschel Swan, a recent New York City transplant who specializes in classical architecture, to get her feet wet.
The project started innocently enough at a planning meeting, where the wife talked to Peschel Swan about the closed-in formal living room. “She described how it was this big ceremony just to go outside, how people had to traipse through the kitchen,” says Peschel Swan. From there, the master plan evolved from simply revamping the terrace to creating a series of exterior spaces that would flow seamlessly into the main house. Special consideration was given to the lower level, which was a gigantic playroom, but now needed to be a more grown-up space for the two kids, 16 and 12 years old.
Three years later, the project is finished. The owners now have a remodeled kitchen, a completely reconfigured lower level, a mudroom addition, new entrances, new landscaping, a two-story addition with a screened porch and tiled spa, a new pool, poolhouse, pergola, outdoor hearth room, and bluestone terrace, plus a new office for the lady of the house. All this, and the venerable Billy Beson, principal of Beson Kading Interior Design Group in Minneapolis, redecorated “every square inch” of the house. “We kept what we could, but ended up changing about 80 percent,” says Beson.
The dramatic remodel was unusual, not only because of its scale and substantial cost, but because Peschel Swan, Beson, and the wife fully embraced classical ideas of formal living—contrary to the trend of ditching the formal living room in favor of wide open, casual spaces. “They had a Georgian house, which adheres to the ideas of classical proportion and formal living, and I knew from the very beginning that I would like to carry that forward,” says Peschel Swan. “The owner’s eyes just lit up when I told her that.” Peschel Swan took her inspiration from the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio—who also inspired Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello—to design a plan with perfect proportions and alignment.
Peshel Swan, now principal of Swan + Simmons Architecture in Minneapolis, designed the bluestone terrace that steps out to the pool, surrounded by a 24-inch-high masonry wall with a bluestone cap. The exact center of the pool sits on a cross-axis with the red cedar pergola, which spans the exact length of the poolhouse behind it. At the very center of the poolhouse, a two-tiered custom bronze fountain with a lotus design overlooks an intimate dining area. “When you’re in that private eating area, you’re in your own little world,” says Peschel Swan. “It’s this intimate, private place of refuge.”
This outdoor paradise, with extensive gardens designed by Peschel Swan and David Tupper, principal of his eponymous landscape design firm in Minnetonka, is clearly connected with the rest of the house. Rather than waltzing through the kitchen, guests now enter the bluestone terrace through French doors off the formal living room.
The revamped lower level has no less than four entrances to the outdoors—from the great room, the screened-in spa, the billiard room, and the bluestone-tiled “wet hall” that leads to the exercise room and locker area. The great room, covered in woven linen and rift white oak, has a boxed beam ceiling anchored with Doric columns. The opening of the fireplace lines up exactly with the far end of the billiards room. This was no happy accident. Peschel Swan requested—and the owner agreed—to move the fireplace and its two stories of brick chimney 6 inches to ensure perfect proportions.
Peschel Swan’s meticulous nature made Beson’s job easier. “There’s harmony that comes from perfect scale and proportion,” he says. “When you have beautiful architecture like this, it makes the space planning so much easier. The spaces just feel right.” Beson arranged the owners’ 500-gallon saltwater reef fish tank to act as a transition from the great room to the theater, with chocolate leather seats and rich cocoa-brown wool flannel on the walls. The white oak–paneled billiards room was designed around a piece of Russian art the family bought on a ski trip to Park City, Utah. The imposing billiards table, with a carved lion’s head base, sits on a custom Richard Rehl rug, woven with the owner’s name. Down the hall is the serene spa, clad in the same shimmering Italian tile as the pool. Here, the 1-by-1-inch blue glass fragments were hand-laid in a complicated radial pattern.
Just above the spa sits the new uplit, barrel-vaulted screened porch, with a Palladian-style window, where the owners take many leisurely meals. But the lady of the house most adores her new Art Deco office, accented with a stained glass door designed by artist Phil Daniel, cream leather-topped desk, and mohair velvet-covered sofa, among other sophisticated feminine touches. With four dormers, the room is infused with light and is—of course—perfectly balanced. “Every detail was designed just for her,” says Beson, of the owner. “It’s a great place where she can go to clear her thoughts.”
“I’d never had my own office before,” confides the wife. “It’s entirely my space.”
Andrea Grazzini Walstrom is a Burnsville writer. Additional reporting by Alyssa Ford.
For more information on featured products and suppliers, please see our Buyer's Guide.
The project started innocently enough at a planning meeting, where the wife talked to Peschel Swan about the closed-in formal living room. “She described how it was this big ceremony just to go outside, how people had to traipse through the kitchen,” says Peschel Swan. From there, the master plan evolved from simply revamping the terrace to creating a series of exterior spaces that would flow seamlessly into the main house. Special consideration was given to the lower level, which was a gigantic playroom, but now needed to be a more grown-up space for the two kids, 16 and 12 years old.
Three years later, the project is finished. The owners now have a remodeled kitchen, a completely reconfigured lower level, a mudroom addition, new entrances, new landscaping, a two-story addition with a screened porch and tiled spa, a new pool, poolhouse, pergola, outdoor hearth room, and bluestone terrace, plus a new office for the lady of the house. All this, and the venerable Billy Beson, principal of Beson Kading Interior Design Group in Minneapolis, redecorated “every square inch” of the house. “We kept what we could, but ended up changing about 80 percent,” says Beson.
Photo by Susan Gilmore
Peshel Swan, now principal of Swan + Simmons Architecture in Minneapolis, designed the bluestone terrace that steps out to the pool, surrounded by a 24-inch-high masonry wall with a bluestone cap. The exact center of the pool sits on a cross-axis with the red cedar pergola, which spans the exact length of the poolhouse behind it. At the very center of the poolhouse, a two-tiered custom bronze fountain with a lotus design overlooks an intimate dining area. “When you’re in that private eating area, you’re in your own little world,” says Peschel Swan. “It’s this intimate, private place of refuge.”
This outdoor paradise, with extensive gardens designed by Peschel Swan and David Tupper, principal of his eponymous landscape design firm in Minnetonka, is clearly connected with the rest of the house. Rather than waltzing through the kitchen, guests now enter the bluestone terrace through French doors off the formal living room.
The revamped lower level has no less than four entrances to the outdoors—from the great room, the screened-in spa, the billiard room, and the bluestone-tiled “wet hall” that leads to the exercise room and locker area. The great room, covered in woven linen and rift white oak, has a boxed beam ceiling anchored with Doric columns. The opening of the fireplace lines up exactly with the far end of the billiards room. This was no happy accident. Peschel Swan requested—and the owner agreed—to move the fireplace and its two stories of brick chimney 6 inches to ensure perfect proportions.
Photo by Susan Gilmore
Just above the spa sits the new uplit, barrel-vaulted screened porch, with a Palladian-style window, where the owners take many leisurely meals. But the lady of the house most adores her new Art Deco office, accented with a stained glass door designed by artist Phil Daniel, cream leather-topped desk, and mohair velvet-covered sofa, among other sophisticated feminine touches. With four dormers, the room is infused with light and is—of course—perfectly balanced. “Every detail was designed just for her,” says Beson, of the owner. “It’s a great place where she can go to clear her thoughts.”
“I’d never had my own office before,” confides the wife. “It’s entirely my space.”
Andrea Grazzini Walstrom is a Burnsville writer. Additional reporting by Alyssa Ford.
For more information on featured products and suppliers, please see our Buyer's Guide.
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