Previous renovations had obscured the façade’s clean lines, adding elements such as an offset front door and a large portico. So residential designer Caroline Koons Forrest, with her firm’s Matthew Kragh as architect of record, went back to the drawing board—literally—by reviewing Gottfried’s original blueprints. Her plan included eliminating the portico, replacing the windows and doors, restoring the shutters and centering the entrance.
This march toward poetic symmetry continues inside. From the entry, a traditional hall serves as the home’s through line, with a library to one side and a lounge space on the other. The corridor then flows into the great and family rooms, all now visually aligned with uninterrupted views of the rear grounds. “We focused on finding those centerlines and axial moments,” Forrest explains, “so you can physically and visually proceed through the story of this house.” The structure’s classical conventions also loosened: Interior decorative columns were relocated to the façade, creating smooth thresholds between places such as the kitchen and breakfast room.
This dance between traditional and relaxed shaped the outdoor areas, too. “The front entry has more formality, with conical pleached trees,” observes landscape architect Dustin M. Mizell. “But the backyard becomes more casual and organic.” Amid the latter’s mature palm trees, for instance, are buoyant clusters of ornamental grass and tropical flowers.
In the breakfast room, Tuleste Factory’s Ripple table partners with Artistic Frame’s Syrah chairs in Dualoy Leather’s metallic Bling-Bling textile. Osborne & Little sheers and Philippe Bertho art enliven the Phillip Jeffries wallcovering. The Urban Electric Co.’s Pop lights stud the ceiling.
A high-gloss blue hue from Fine Paints of Europe envelops the foyer, where Ralph Lauren Home’s Langley lights illuminate artworks by Alexi Torres and eL Seed. A bench from 1stdibs adds a playful accent atop Hakwood planks from Absolute Hardwood Flooring.