Asheville Architect Robert Griffin has long appreciated Mediterranean Revival architecture. With its arches, balconies, and courtyards — and details like painted tile and handcrafted ironwork — the style, when masterfully executed, is at once graceful and grand.
In the mid-1980s, while involved in the restoration of a house known as the Frith (located on Frith Drive in Biltmore Forest), he needed to match a piece of Triana tile. Built in 1925 for Edith Vanderbilt, the Italianate-style house was designed by Palm Beach architect Bruce Kitchell, a contemporary of society architect Addison Mizner. Partial to Italianate and Spanish Revival styles, Mizner made his mark on Palm Beach and Boca Raton in the ‘20s, designing homes for the wealthy and socially prominent.
In their quest to match the tile, Griffin and his associates traveled to Palm Beach to meet with Joe Diaz who had supplied tile to Mizner’s projects and served as one of his carvers. It turned out that Mr. Diaz, who was in his 80s, had long since lost his vision. “Everyone I talked to said Joe would know,” says Griffin. “Of course when I met him and discovered he was blind I was discouraged. But he said, ‘let me feel it.’ The tile was called Cuenca tile and had a raised texture he was able to identify by touch. He said it was Mensaque Rodriguez. I found it in Triana, Spain the following spring on holiday after one of our buying trips to England and France.” Griffin was also able to use cast stone from molds, (many of which Diaz had carved for Mizner’s Palm Beach houses) for the Ingles family residence in Biltmore Forest.
Griffin’s experience with Mediterranean Revival architecture serves him well in his latest project, an elegant three-story Asheville home that upon completion will seem to almost grow organically out of the surrounding terrain.
The home, designed in the tradition of asymmetrical balance so familiar to the genre, hugs a small knoll in a “boomerang” shape, allowing a panoramic view from every room. Despite its European pedigree, the design blends well with its WNC environment. “The Mediterranean-style tile roof,” says Griffin, “seems to fit the mountains more intimately than does a steeper roof design.”
In fact, he adds, “There are many significant Mediterranean style homes in the Asheville area. But often people don’t think of Asheville in those architectural terms.”
However, there is more than mere aesthetics at play here. The home with its 100-year tile roof, geothermal heating system, and simple-yet-elegant design, is an heirloom in the making. Griffin says that his clients, who are moving from a contemporary home in another state, “wanted to build something that would be a contribution to the earth, not just something destined for the landfill.”
The materials used on the exterior of the home — stucco, clay tile, metal, glass, and wood — are echoed in the interior. The terra cotta roof, for example, becomes the terra cotta floor. “We love the honesty and integrity of the Mediterranean Revival style, the feeling of security and permanence that’s inspired by walls that are 18 inches thick.”
“We wanted to highlight the genre’s asymmetrical and abstract informality,” he explains. “And we really enjoy the flexibility and the simplicity of light-washed forms and low-profile roofs. The visual strength of solid masonry-style walls are a stark contrast to the thin walls of so many of today’s homes.
“Philosophically, we strive for comfort, utility, and aesthetics. Our design is based on collaboration. We believe that communication and empathy are essential to understanding the objectives of the client.”
For Griffin, his clients are the wellspring from which he draws inspiration and direction. “Fewer than ten percent of our clients,” says Griffin, “come to us and say, ‘Tell us what it’s going to look like.’ They almost always come with an idea in mind.”
“We celebrate the diversity of our clients,” he says. “Without diversity, there would be no need for architects. We like it when something interesting comes along. When we do a traditionally designed home, we try to make it authentic.”
Obviously, Griffin is proud of his project as it develops. But it’s more than that. Griffin says he is more grateful than proud…grateful for the opportunity to research and understand the connection between Mizner’s work in Florida and its influence on architecture in the mountains of Western North Carolina. He’s happy, he says, with the collaboration between his firm and the homeowners who will enjoy this home in the coming years.
As for the future of Mediterranean Revival architecture in the Asheville area, Griffin demurs, saying only that home design is an individual, case-by-case endeavor. “I’m a commissioned artist,” he explains. “It’s my job to take my clients’ vision and turn it into reality.” Most of all, Griffin says, he strives for a sense of harmony, no matter what the style or genre. “I would hope that all the buildings and homes in the area would be built with the earth and not just on it.”
Visit griffinarchitectspa.com or call 828-274-5979 to learn more about Griffin Architects.