|
|
|
Greenwich Post, Thursday, August 21, 2008 A cut above: Architect finds Greenwich home for ancient Chinese stones By Kristan Zimmer, Editor The long majestic driveway welcoming visitors to the estate gives an element of suspense as visitors approach Westerleigh, one Greenwich couple's dream home that is seven years in the making and still being realized. The stonework gives the estate an appearance of having been there for centuries, despite what the construction modulars on the front lawn indicate. Perhaps it's because the house, whose owners would not give their name for privacy reasons, has a deep connection with ancient civilizations from the Three Gorges region of China's Yangtze River. The driving force behind Westerleigh has been architect Richard Rhodes, owner and founder of Rhodes Architectural Stone, based in Seattle, Wash. His business began in 1998. At the time, he had a client who wanted to hire him to build a house in the United States but said that he had made some money overseas in China and had to spend it there. He wanted Mr. Rhodes to go to China for the building materials, buy what he needed over there, and ship it to the United States. When Mr. Rhodes visited the Three Gorges region, he discovered that about 1,700 ancient villages would be inundated with water when one of the largest hydroelectric projects in history went underway. When he heard that the villages, built centuries ago out of the limestone indigenous to the area, were being abandoned by the Chinese government, he decided to give the ancient stones new life in America. It took years for Mr. Rhodes to negotiate with the Chinese government to purchase the limestone and finance a factory where local masons cut and carved according to specifications made in his Seatle headquarters. It was less expensive for Mr. Rhodes to have the stone prepared into building materials in China and ship the finished product to the United States to be assembled. Thus began his business. Today, he has multiple factories in China and clients, including celebrities such as Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey, all over the world. Seven years ago, Westerleigh's owners came to him with interest in a few cobblestones for the driveway — a small, $3,000 project. What started with a few stones became Mr. Rhodes' largest endeavor in the United States. Today, the mansion, gate house, two gardens, two terraces, a pool house, pool terrace, pergola walk, entrance court and stone walls flanking the driveway are all finished in antique granite and limestone from China. Mr. Rhodes said for safety reasons, the home and many of the landscape features are built first with wood and steel beams but finished in three-inch antique stone veneer. Last Thursday, the estate was shown to the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, and many of them said it gives a whole new meaning and distinction to the concept of veneer. “The attention to detail is just incredible,” said Marion McNew, who traveled from the West Coast to attend the conference and see the estate. “I think one of the best things is how they married the old stone with the new.” Mr. Rhodes said some aspects of the project required new stone — particularly where rounded edges were designed. “Antique is great, but it's limited,” Mr. Rhodes said. “You can't really work it. It's dried. A big difference between the freshly quarried is you can chisel and shape it, but you can't do that with the antique.” His company not only salvages materials from the Chinese villages but also finds the source of any antique stone they find, so they can quarry new materials to match the old. A look at the wall made of antique limestone surrounding a grotto fountain between the gatehouse and the main house compared to another wall directly behind it in the rill garden shows an example of the difference between the new and old limestone. “In 200 years they will look the same,” Mr. Rhodes joked while giving landscape architects a tour of the grounds. In each aspect of the house, new is married with old. Mr. Rhodes and architect Jeffrey R. Matz of Greenwich worked with the homeowners to create combinations of different types of stone and different aged stone that worked. “The quality of the stone, the integrity of the stone, in terms of the choice of the stone and merging of the different kinds of stone, there aren't many projects like this,” said Katie Creighton of Oakland, Calif., also a landscape designer who attended the tour and conference last week. Recycling old stone is not unheard of, though doing so on the scale of which Mr. Rhodes works is. “Our organization is unique in that it's global in its reach and scope,” he said. “These antique materials have never been available before.” Westerleigh's homeowners do not have a particular affinity to China but they do have an interest in the story behind the materials and the quality of the product Mr. Rhodes creates. “It's recycled. More and more, that really matters to our clients,” he said. Using antique materials achieves another goal Mr. Rhodes is proud to say his company is known for — classic and tasteful design that is far from the cookiecutter McMansions that often pop up in well-to-do areas like Fairfield and Westchester counties. “It's definitely beautiful,” said Sonya Becker, a landscape designer from Arizona, also up last week for the conference. She said in Arizona, many of the materials Mr. Rhodes is using are not often chosen as building materials; however, her clientele is similar to that of Greenwich. While most projects are not to the scale that Westerleigh is, many of the ideas may be used on a smaller scale. “That's why we're at this conference,” she added later. “To find out new materials and new ideas so we can offer it to clients.” -Kristan Zimmer |
2011
East Olive Street