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The ground floor is the public
realm and opens to a backyard, with
swimming pool, that extends the
entertaining areas. Compact and
serene, it is highlighted by a black
and white Zen garden.
The second floor is devoted to
personal space: bedrooms and a loftlike
lounge that overlooks the living
room. Everything is connected by
a staircase that offers glimpses into
various rooms, brings light into the
center of the house, and turns what
is often a utilitarian function – stairs –
into an art gallery space.
The ability to display their
expansive art collection in an
appropriate setting was where the
design approach incorporated more
contemporary elements. As Leskosky
explains, “Almost every wall has been
planned out to what art goes where.”
And those walls are not always walls.
“The big thing architecturally is that
we have these walls that don’t go
to the ceiling, that don’t go to the
corner. They’re doing a lot of different
things: creating views, playing on light;
they’re making special places for art.”
“It’s about displaying art in a
museum-quality setting,” Reed says,
standing against a charcoal black
wall. In fact, nearly everything in the
house is white or black, even the
bath fixtures. The exception is the
aforementioned exterior element, the
long red beam that extends over the
garage and the custom main entry door, peeking into the interior only through
that door. “The color comes from the art” Reed says.
Fusing an art gallery onto a home led to another of the house’s
distinguishing features: a twelve foot-wide, floor-to-ceiling window in each of
the main rooms. Reed and Leskosky’s former home, a Colonial on Townley Road,
had multiple windows in each room, on every exterior wall – common in many
traditional styles.
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