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A Florentine Villa
If you go to Florence, you’ll see that this house is a copy of
a Florentine villa. “We were there about four years ago and were
just astonished at what an exact copy this house is,” Peter says,
adding, “I like to say Reginald Johnson did his homework.”
The original home was built in 1929 as a country house
for a Dr. Howell. He and his wife were both short, even for
their day: Dr. Howell was apparently 4’ 10” or so, “and his wife
was even shorter,” Peter says with a laugh. “Which is why,” he adds, “the
ceilings on the second floor were so low (8’ 3”) and why we had to raise
them (to 9’ 2”).” They raised the master bedroom’s coffered ceiling height
to 10’.
The master “apartment,” in addition to the Cuckoo’s Nest and the
three fireplaces, includes a living room, a hallway, two baths, two walk-in
closets, an entry hall, and a bar/kitchenette area covered by antique walnut
doors dating from the early 19
th
century that Peter found emblazoned with
scenes from the legend of Diana the Huntress.
“The key to all good design,” Peter explains, “is proportion and scale,
so that the width and length of the rooms and the heights of the ceilings
match up. The first floor was adequate,” he says, but the second floor
didn’t work for him until he added the additional foot in height, not,
incidentally, by raising the roof but, Ray says, by “raising the tie points,”
explaining that by raising those tie points, “the point load changes, so we
had the roof re-engineered.”
A Period Piece
The finished roof contains all the original tiles from the 1920s; any
that were missing or needed to be replaced, they copied. During that
project, they discovered the tiles had been painted brown, to make them
look older, “so we not only had to copy their antique tiles from 1929,”
Peter notes, “we actually had to hand-paint them too.” Ray adds that the
way they put the roof on added a tremendous weight but “was necessary
for looks, insulation, and structural stability.” This was all done under
(below) Peter and Ray added an authentic kiva fireplace off the “Cuckoo’s
Nest” terrace outside the master bedroom. (right) Authentic carved 19th-
century columns were found and used in the renovation.
EAL ESTATES