To the Manor Made – Carolina Home + Garden magazine

English Arts & Crafts home required collaboration equal to vision

An impressive great room is the main story of any English-style manor home, and in the Phoenix House, it is the center of the transept from one side to the other. Architectural interior designer M. Scott Marks authored the cedar scissor trusses (Timber Frame Horizons) which cross rather than meet at the center. Artisan Nick Caristo (Sugar Hollow Craft) reveals that his wainscoting “conceals two doors leading into the pantry and kitchen with a multi-layered oak coffered ceiling leading up to the pantry door.” Venetian plaster fireplace by Orling Interiors. Smith McAulay of design-build firm WSM Craft worked with architect Evan Hauptmann.
Photo by David Dietrich

When The Phoenix House was named Best of Show at the finale of the Western North Carolina 2024 Parade of Homes Awards, it was akin, says builder W. Smith McAulay of WSM Craft, to receiving an Oscar for Best Picture.

Like the actual approach to the residence, outbuildings, and grounds evocative of an Anglo-European manor, it was a long and winding road to completion, with a cataclysmic plot twist that precipitated an extreme course correction.

The property was purchased in the 1990s by progressive philanthropist Adelaide Daniels Key. She built a sprawling home that was geared toward hosting large events, with surprisingly few private spaces. The current owners acquired it in 2018, and planned a renovation with McAulay.

Interior designer Kathryn Long was already on board, taking it on as her swan-song project before closing her well-known business Ambiance Interiors. Then architectural interior designer M. Scott Marks was brought into the fold. “Scott is very good at developing interior details,” McAulay says.

By the summer solstice of 2019, the extensive project was about 75 percent complete, and the trio was looking forward to the final push. And then, on July 3 at 6 am, McAulay received a call from the Reems Creek Fire Department — the house had burned to the ground.

The build and design team were in shock, but McAulay says the owners were resilient. “The conversation pretty quickly went from despair to: ‘We want you to build us the home we truly want there.’”

Their vision was an Arts & Crafts manor home, British Isles iteration, with a peaceful, welcoming air. “However magnificent the house is, it was never meant to draw a ton of attention to itself from the outside,” explains McAulay. “We were intent on being site-responsive and blending in. ‘How to do something like this without being imposing?’ was the challenge.”

Plans for The Phoenix began, with each team member returning to their lanes: McAulay with his business partner Evan Hauptmann (Kindred Architecture) in architectural design, massing, and build; Marks on interior detailing; and Long enlisting her close friend and fellow interior designer Deborah Noland Witherington (Noland & Associates) to help tackle the suddenly brand-new project. The landscape-sensitive stylings of English Arts & Crafts architect C.F.A. Voysey, 1857-1941, ruled in absentia.

Before they could place a single drape, though, Long needed to consult with the owners for a space plan. “I don’t start until [it’s] resolved what pieces [of furniture] go where,” she declares. “After that, it’s the fabrics, colors, design, rugs.”

Many hard and soft goods had been built or purchased but not yet installed. Their purpose and placement had utterly changed.

“We went to the ADAC [Atlanta Decorative Arts Center] to fill in the blank spots,” says Witherington.

McAulay concerned himself with the shifting program. “On a scale of this size, you have to work on different axes. … You end up with intersections or transepts in cathedral architecture. Scott’s addition of the arches is so elegant.”

Marks is quick to pull it all together. “Through this whole project, we were blessed with the most magnificent craftsmen,” he says.

Among the local specialists was Capstone Lifestyles, of Hendersonville, who — collaborating with WSM Craft — appointed the kitchen and baths with their house-brand cabinetry. Nick Caristo of Sugar Hollow Craft installed door and window casements, baseboards, crown molding, and his elite signature: masterful wainscoting that segues into ceiling installations and conceals hidden doors.

Marks also lists the artisans behind “the tile work, the Venetian plaster … all of it … they were absolutely committed. It truly came from their hearts.”

Duly noted by the Parade of Homes judges – The Phoenix House also took a Gold Craftsmanship Award.

Time for Recess

At the top of the staircase is the library; M. Scott Marks conceived the arched doorway. The fireplace — designed for a primary sitting room in the original home — finds its way to a nook between built-ins. A deep, jazzy Art Deco-blue lacquer covers the walls and ceiling. Kathryn Long placed the owners’ 100-plus-piece art and mirror collection. The rug (Textura) was chosen before final fabric selections. Ambiance Interiors and Noland & Associates collaborated colors and finishes for this complex, multi-phase project.

Of Time and Tartan

The dining den with its arched doorway projects a traditional Scottish mood, including tartan fabric, rough-textured plaster (Orling Interiors), and painted wooden ceiling. Mood lighting and upholstery by Witherington and Long, respectively. Nick Caristo, artisan finisher with Sugar Hollow Craft, is behind the oak faux beams, which he describes as being “connected by a large oak skirt along both walls and corbels.”

This boldly papered powder room (Ambiance) was placed for visitors’ use while entertaining, located next to the elevator just outside the foyer. The vanity is J. Tribble of Atlanta and the custom mirror was selected from Asheville’s BlackBird Frame & Art (Noland & Associates). Decorative painting of wainscoting and ceiling is by Joel Cole.
Photo by David Dietrich

Island of its Own

The homeowners went with the trio of designers to the Crossville Studios showroom south of Asheville and immediately landed on the iridescent green, hand-glazed porcelain Roku tile. Working with builder WSM Craft, Capstone Lifestyles, Inc. appointed all the custom cabinetry from its signature Robin Curtis Collection with a “Shelby” doorstyle — a mitered framed door with solid-wood flat center panel. “The inside edge of the door frame has a bead detail, complementing the panel details throughout the home,” says Capstone president Robin Weeter. Perimeter shade is Benjamin-Moore’s “Millstone Gray.”

Winner’s Column

M. Scott Marks is a proponent of pilasters to create rhythm in large and small rooms; in the primary bath he designed them for the vanity wall using the same “Blue Dunes” granite as the countertop (RockStar Marble & Granite). The center panels of the cabinet doors are reeded glass backed with mirror. Capstone Lifestyles did the home’s cabinetry. All drawer boxes and rollout trays are solid cherry with furniture dovetailing and soft-close technology.

Porthole windows are set in opposite walls of the tiled shower in the primary bath, letting in natural light. One is between the shower and the sleeping porch just outside the door; the other is a portal to the small, water closet.
Photo by David Dietrich

High Expectations

The owners requested a tall ceiling for their bedroom; beams, wainscoting, and applied moldings were installed by Nick Caristo (Sugar Hollow Craft) at the direction of Smith and Marks. Kathryn Long says the gilded cork wallcovering was intended for the foyer downstairs but emerged on the tray panels as the perfect complement to the heavy beams and dark walls. The custom Nourison rug was sourced by Noland & Associates.

Begin at the Beginning

An enclosed vestibule preceding the foyer shows off beveled glass door panels, a triptych of clerestory windows, coffered grid ceiling, parquet wooden floor inside (designed by Marks), black-and-white checkerboard entrance (Noland & Associates) and a sunburst overhead light. Custom rug and round marquetry table also sourced by Noland & Associates. The statement staircase with wrapped wainscoting was finished by Sugar Hollow Craft.

The English Approach

The Phoenix House was influenced inside and out by the work of English Arts & Crafts designer and architect C.F.A. Voysey, says that icon’s local attaché Kathryn Long. Outdoor leisure and entertaining — a swimming pool, hot tub, bocce-ball court, seating and dining areas — are tactfully enclosed behind the home, and amenities including a greenhouse imply the classic Arts & Crafts commitment to nature-led form and function. Exterior walls are Dryvit stucco. W. Smith McAulay (WSM Craft) worked with his frequent collaborator, the architect Evan Hauptmann.

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Builder/Designer: W. Smith McAulay, WSM Craft (Asheville)