NORTHWEST LIVING
By Rebecca Teagarden | Photographed by Grey Crawford, The Taunton Press
In Star Company
With useful nooks and a dash of "wow," an Orcas retreat makes a list of 50 greats
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 GREY CRAWFORD, THE TAUNTON PRESS Architect Geoffrey Prentiss built the McNair house more than 10 years ago. But the house does not show its age. Jeremiah Eck, an architect on the "American Home" panel, conjures a Frank Lloyd Wright quote, "Houses should have style but not a style." Prentiss says, "If it's cool, it should still be cool 10 years later."
GREY CRAWFORD, THE TAUNTON PRESS Prentiss had a vision for the tough building site with woods, meadow and marsh. "'Geoff, I don't get it. I'm confused,'" McNair says she told the architect. "He said, 'Don't worry, it's going to be fine.' And it was." Prentiss called for a yellow wash for the exterior, much to McNair's delight: "Somebody said, 'Why did you paint it yellow?' I said, 'Florence.'"
GREY CRAWFORD, THE TAUNTON PRESS "Geoff always puts in some natural touches, like the madrona supports under the window seats, which I love," McNair says. "And we were very fortunate to have a contractor (Peter Kilpatrick of Ravenhill Construction from San Juan Island) with wonderful people who worked for him. They did a beautiful job."
GREY CRAWFORD, THE TAUNTON PRESS One alcove provides book storage. "There's another one that looks onto the marsh. The desk is in another one," McNair says with wonder. |
DEYERLE MCNAIR had stars in her eyes when it came to her little yellow Orcas Island house.
No, really, she did. Every night. Window seats in the great room double as twin beds, and when McNair spent the night there it was almost like sleeping outside. Only better.
"One night I heard all of this noise, and I woke up," McNair recalls. "I didn't know what in the world was happening. There was a raccoon on the deck right outside who was curious about who and what I was. He was right there. The house is almost up in the trees, you're way up high. And I was all wrapped in down. It was better than camping."
The contemporary cabin, designed by Geoffrey Prentiss of Prentiss Architects, was supposed to be an accompaniment to McNair's lap pool, which is no luxury. She swims to try to hold multiple sclerosis at bay. But a few years after the just-under-1,300-square-foot house was finished in 1994, she lived in it full time for a while. And that was perfectly fine with her.
"It is definitely a quiet retreat, but it's also a warm living space."
There are five building blocks to creating the extraordinary house, according to a who's-who panel of residential architects:
1) Right response to site and content
2) Comfortable scale inside and out
3) Livability for everyday life and special occasions
4) Deep respect for materials and craft
5) Distinctiveness, or "wow" factor
Seems simple enough. But simple isn't easy. And that's why the homes featured in the new book "Celebrating the American Home: 50 Great Houses from 50 American Architects" (The Taunton Press, $34.95) are worth taking a squinty-eyed look at. For this volume, the architects culled 50 North American houses from the 400 previously featured in Taunton books. It's an elite neighborhood: More than 1 million houses have been built in this country since 1992. They vary in location, looks, size, materials and cost. It is their sum total — greatness — that they share.
The book, a joint imprint with the American Institute of Architects, seeks to dissect and define American residential architecture in our time. To show that a great house can be built anywhere.
That and to give readers a Lookie-Lou view into other people's houses.
McNair, 67, is something of a house nut who tends to leave no joist unturned. She's lived in two in Seattle, two on Orcas, three in Birmingham, Ala., three in Georgia. She's built one, the Orcas house, remodeled most of the others and is game for yet another project. So she knows a great house when she's standing in one.
And she knows exactly why the Orcas get-away became one of the 50 chosen for "Celebrating the American Home: 50 Great Houses from 50 American Architects." In choosing homes for the book, a panel of architects settled on five criteria for what makes an extraordinary house. It's no mystery to McNair why her house met the fire requirements.
1.) Response to the site: "Geoff likes to be involved with finding the site. We went to look at this, and it was a funny little house site. It had been logged. It was ugly. It was messy. But he was galloping through the woods. Galloping! I heard him yell, "Over here! Over here! If we turn it sideways and build it this way! He knew where to put it on this ugly sort of a site and make it work."
2.) Scale: "This was on 10 acres. There is a neighbor not too far away, but we were very careful to stay out of his way and keep him out of our way."
Inside, Prentiss drew up nooks and crannies for fun and comfort. "I thought the house was just one room, but there were these alcoves! It was pretty amazing for one big square room."
3.) Livability: "The space could be changed very much for whatever I had envisioned. I had big parties, but you could make a cozy space, too. The kitchen space worked very well without having to live in it, which I don't want to do."
4.) Craft: "I just believe in good design and good work. Good design is often equated with how much clear fir you put in it or the expense. But this was not a very costly house. We used cement board with a stain on the outside and Sheetrock inside."
"I know when to call the architect. There are some houses I did without, just updating the kitchen. But when the time comes, I need the people who know what they're doing."
5.) The wow factor: Wow lurks in the use of light, the view, details, finishes, configuration of space. It's the spice, whimsy, elegance, mystery, serenity.
"It was like meeting a friend," McNair says. "The first time I walked into it, it was just framed, and I went "ahhhhh! Oh wow! It just felt right. When they're right you somehow know they're right."
Rebecca Teagarden is assistant editor of Pacific Northwest magazine.
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