A PERFECT PARADOX

photographs by digicampix.com - Derek Falzarano

How Do You Marry Antebellum Southern Charm to Twenty-First Century Modernity? It’s All in the Details.

This home on Lake Drive is named “Magnolia,” but could very well be dubbed “Steel Magnolia” instead. Architecturally, it’s a perfect representation of the antebellum South, with its columned front porch, circular drive, floor-to-ceiling windows, expansive fireplaces and crystal chandeliers. But this traditional home’s Southern
charm is surrounded by the very latest in technology and modern day amenities.

Marble & Bricks

Inside, you’ll find a Carrera marble backsplash in the kitchen, mingling with black granite countertops and antique white inset cabinetry. But just steps away is an elevator, to help the new owners navigate the more than 8,500 finished square feet of this home. Even the exterior brick of this new home is old—or at least it seems. The façade bricks aren’t perfectly rectangular and they’re not supposed to be. Textured and pocked, the bricks were custom-made quite recently from a wooden mold, as was the mortar which affixes them.

Making Everyone Happy

The mingling of new and old was no accident, says Jerry Stoltz, co-owner of Divine Stoltz Building and Development with partner David Divine. The Magnolia, located just off St. Mary’s Street on Lake Drive, was constructed on a teardown lot. Both Stoltz and his client Jason Stegall, president of MidAtlantic Real Estate and Development, wanted the home to complement the existing architecture and picturesque nature of the neighborhood.

The Magnolia is actually a perfect example of a good teardown project. When the practice of buying older homes on coveted lots first became popular, many builders quickly bulldozed and constructed behemoths that towered over neighbors and sat too close to the road. Builders and developers now are finding the market doesn’t reward that process.

“If it’s pleasing to the eye and it looks like it fits into the neighborhood and it’s tastefully done, generally speaking the market is going to respond positively,” says Stoltz. “If you get one of the three or two of the three, it’s not. If you get three of the three, you’re going to get kudos from the neighbors and from potential homebuyers as well.”

From the street, the home looks stately and dignified, but doesn’t give away the home’s true square footage—more than 10,000 square feet, including unfinished space. “We didn’t want the house to look like a monstrosity from the street. We wanted it to kind of blend in with the neighborhood. Most of the size you gain from the depth,” says Stoltz.

New & Old

The Magnolia’s lot is 1.2 acres and measures about 100 feet wide. Stoltz paid $725,000 for the lot, and Stegall hired him to build a home on it. Stegall and architect Jorge Abad of Raleigh did a lot of homework during the planning stage.

“Most of the design came from looking at all the old mansions in Natchez, Mississippi and Louisiana,” says Stegall. Abad and Stegall especially admired the work of architect A. Hays Town, who, in his sixties, left commercial work for residential architecture. Many credit Town’s designs for changing the face of Louisiana architecture. Town died in 2005 at the age of 101.

One of the features that make the Magnolia particularly “Town-esque” is the long hallway leading from the foyer. Floor-to-ceiling windows on one side call the outdoors in. On the other side of the hall are wide openings framed by molded columns, offering a wide view into the kitchen. The columns are slightly arched into the ceiling, providing a dramatic and inviting passage. 

Special Touches

Builder Jerry Stoltz says the house is “kitchen-centric,” which accounts for being able to see much of the first floor from the kitchen as well as the outside views of an English garden with apple trees and blueberry vines.

The kitchen boasts a full butler’s pantry, which you don’t see too much anymore but is indicative of the antebellum style. “Everything is very traditional,” says Stoltz. “We tried to be in keeping with the architectural style instead of just a smorgasbord of architectural details thrown together.”

Off the kitchen is the guest’s quarters with a walk-in closet, full bath and private covered porch. “We wanted to design a house so that when a guest came, the guest room is closest to the kitchen so they wouldn’t always have to involve the family if they needed anything,” says Stegall. Like several of the other bathrooms, this one has a custom vanity fitted from a piece of furniture.

Adjacent to the guest quarters is an office fit for General Lee himself, with solid cherry doors and paneling and a nine-box coffered ceiling. Pocket doors on two sides allow for privacy or can be opened to the rest of the home.  “It takes a little longer and it costs a lot more, but it’s a great look,” Stoltz says of the doors.

Ascending the stairs, you won’t find the wrought-iron pickets so popular these days in newer homes. Instead, the railings are wood, the handrails painted black and the pickets white. MJ Interiors was responsible for the details—from the paint colors and flooring to the miniature marble subway tiles surrounding the fireplaces.
 
As one would expect from a home of this caliber, all of the secondary bedrooms are large and each has its own full bathroom. One bath features black and white “penny” tiles intermittently arranged to create a flower in the pattern every so often.
 
The master bedroom itself is enormous, with a private sitting room and his-and-her closets the size of most homes’ secondary bedrooms. The bedrooms were designed with furniture placement in mind.  “If you don’t have certain spaces, you can’t show off certain furniture pieces,” says Stegall.

The master bathroom is outfitted with Carrera marble, which extends to the steam shower, complete with multiple shower heads and spray nozzles. The crystal chandelier and claw foot bathtub is yet another nod to the antebellum décor, but the bathroom is also designed to accommodate something the conventional Plantation home was not—a flat-screen TV. There is an additional unfinished 1,500 square feet upstairs that could easily fit another bedroom and a fitness room.

Entertainment Savvy

The basement is where things get really interesting. Initially, Jason Stegall planned to move into the Magnolia himself, and he had a clear vision of building an authentic Irish pub. Instead, the house was sold to a family whose members will get to enjoy Stegall’s touch for the genuine. 

“We decided to go with knotty alder wood because it’s indigenous to Ireland,” says Stoltz of the wood used in the pub. The wood is distressed but it’s not by accident. The pocks and marks in the wood were hand-done by Blue Sky Woodworks. “All that’s just designed to make it look like it’s an Irish pub that’s been here for 100 years.”
 
The actual bar top is African mahogany, reclaimed off a barge. All of this rich wood is accented by multi-colored slate tile floors. Accessible from the pub is the outdoor brick courtyard, complete with fireplace.

Also downstairs is a theater room which boasts a 133-inch screen, the biggest the vendor had ever installed, says Stoltz.  The entire basement ensemble is a great entertainment area. In fact, before the home sold, Stegall and Stoltz were able to accommodate 350 people while hosting a party for a winery releasing a new blend.

Speaking of wine, off the entry to the pub is a dedicated wine cellar, complete with brick archways framing the wine racks and special lighting.

It’s All in the Details

The Magnolia is a rare find in Raleigh these days, offering acreage and amenities while yielding to the character of the surrounding St. Mary’s Street homes primarily built in the 20s, 30s and 40s. Although it took Stegall and Abad months of planning and more than a year for Stoltz to build, the market did reward them. Stoltz and Stegall are working together now on another home on Beechridge Road, near White Oak Road and Glenwood. They’ll employ their detail-oriented strategy on their new project as well.

“A lot of people don’t know why something is appealing to the eye; it just looks right,” says Stegall. “There are thousands and thousands of details that you have to pay attention to in order to get the results that you want.”  

CHRISTA GALA IS A FREELANCE WRITER