Southern Style | Diane Lea | Modern Design in a Traditional Setting

Modern Design in a Traditional Setting

By Diane Lea

When visitors and longtime residents refer to Old Raleigh, they are usually talking about the homes and landscapes of the inside-the-beltline neighborhoods developed between 1920 and the late 1950s. Those venerable residential enclaves have stood the test of time by retaining their tree-shaded winding streets, one- to two-story traditionally styled homes, and walkable commercial districts with interesting retail and entertainment venues. Think of the neighborhoods around Glenwood South, St. Mary’s Street, Boylan Heights and, of course, the historic Hayes-Barton area and nearby Five Points, located at the intersection of Glenwood Avenue, Fairview Road, Whitaker Mill Road, White Oak Road and Glenn Avenue. Now a trendy blend of restaurants, clubs, offices and neighborhood service establishments — bordered by churches and schools — Five Points is positioned between Raleigh’s revitalizing downtown and the suburban chic of John Kane’s multi-faceted North Hills Midtown, a residential, shopping and entertainment complex off Six Forks Road.
The Five Points residential neighborhood, bordered by Whitaker Mill Road to the east of the commercial area, is characterized by period homes in styles ranging from various Colonial Revival designs and cozy bungalows to the now suddenly popular brick ranches. A left turn off Whitaker Mill leaving Five Points takes you down to a pleasant, upscale area surrounding Fallon Park, a historic space now part of the extensive Raleigh Greenway System. The leafy trails through Fallon Park are favorites of dog walkers and runners; streams, playgrounds and soccer fields add to its appeal.

A Walk In The Park

While running in Fallon Park one spring evening in 1991, neighborhood resident and burgeoning developer and UNC-Chapel Hill MBA student Gordon Grubb had the idea for his master’s thesis, a renovation plan for the nearby Whitaker Park Apartments. “The 200-unit, 1950s brick apartment complex was beginning to show its age,” says Grubb. “I knew that the decline of these formerly desirable apartment buildings would affect the value of the neighborhood around them.” So Grubb wrote his thesis and put away thoughts of the Whitaker Park Apartments while pursuing a career in his family’s North Carolina-based business that specialized in redevelopment of older infill properties throughout the state.
Under the imprimatur of his own development company, Grubb Ventures, Grubb took on new Raleigh projects and produced noted successes, including the Gardens on Glenwood, a luxury condominium community on Glenwood — featuring traditional architecture and numerous amenities and services designed for empty nester families, as well as younger professionals. (Glenwood Gardens was featured in the June 2002 issue of Metro. Go to www.metronc.com.)
“When we were able to obtain the Whitaker Apartments in 2005, we considered several alternatives for the property,” says Grubb. “We first thought of multi-family. Then we were approached by a national company who wanted to build 120 town homes. The density of those two options was pretty high for the surrounding residential neighborhood.”
What Grubb did not want to do was insert a pocket of mega-mansions in the traditional low-rise neighborhood. After several meetings with Raleigh’s planning department staff and the project’s prospective neighbors, Grubb decided to develop a neo-traditionalist community with scale, materials and architectural designs that resonated in context with the neighborhood.
“We knew we wanted to avoid having cookie-cutter designs with front-loaded garages,” says Grubb. “And we wanted low-maintenance, energy-efficient, one-and-one-half story homes of good quality traditional designs characterized by fine architectural details. In addition, we wanted the houses to settle into the landscape, not dominate it. That meant keeping as many of the old trees as possible, utilizing narrow rear alleyways for ease of access, and making room for private gardens.”
Those goals set a pretty high bar for a developer working in a recession economy and with a site bordered by older homes, a school and a park.

Careful Design

Grubb invited several designers, technicians and builders to join him in thinking through what would become The Oaks at Fallon Park. Among the key resource people he consulted were residential designers Carter Skinner, David Kenoyer and Gary Murphy. Kenoyer now lives in The Oaks at Fallon Park in a home he designed. “I was inspired to build my own house in The Oaks by the quality of design in the neighborhood,” says Kenoyer. Architect Cari Jones, of Cari Jones Designs, developed the Architectural Review Board (ARB) criteria and leads the Board in reviewing each house plan before construction can begin.
The energy-efficient construction techniques, systems and materials used in the homes in The Oaks at Fallon Park gain homeowners a 5 percent discount from Progress Energy by meeting the criteria for Energy Star, a government-backed energy efficiency program. Energy Star standards include using advanced techniques for sealing holes and cracks in the home’s envelope and in heating and cooling ducts. Other Energy Star standards are effective insulation, efficient heating and cooling equipment, high-performance windows, and cost-saving products such as compact fluorescent bulbs and appliances.
Another challenge was addressing the aesthetics of ensuring privacy and good views for houses that would be situated very close together.
“We were dealing with what one of our designers called four-sided architecture,” says Grubb. “We wanted our buyers to have a sense of privacy while dealing with 15-foot setbacks from their neighbors.”
The key to achieving this was the careful siting of the 88 homes’ footprints to take advantage of the natural buffering provided by the gently rolling site of the former Whitaker Apartments. Other strategies entail incorporating the use of high windows on some of the elevations, which front other homes in order to provide light without intrusive views. Private patio gardens often employ handsome brick walls for privacy or “borrow” visual space and scenery from the extensive creative landscaping provided by The Oaks at Fallon Park developer.

Ready To Go

By the time the 2007 Parade of Homes event arrived, The Oaks at Fallon Park was ready for its public introduction. Four building teams had stayed the course to fulfill the goals of Grubb Ventures and the resource team. Timberline Builders, Dixon/Kirby & Company, Legacy Custom Homes, and Poythress Construction provided a selection of quality architect-designed homes ready for viewing, each with myriad details based on historical precedent, but with the free-flowing floor plans that many families find so important to modern living and entertaining. Designer Kenoyer points out that each builder was striving to achieve a level of quality in construction and materials, which included correct architectural detailing for rooflines, dormers, front and back porches and, to the greatest extent possible, artisan-like workmanship.
A favorite design features antiqued brick exterior, sheltered balconies and appropriately sized shutters that actually close to cover the windows — a design requirement in the project’s architectural guidelines. The style is derived from the English and French country houses whose casual sophistication continues to appeal. The interior is equally well done with quartz counter tops in a kitchen replete with Thermador, Viking and Wolf appliances. A hammered copper basin accentuates a marble-countered vanity, and multi-part moldings and a clever beaded-board ceiling are additional interesting touches. Kathryn West, who promotes sales for The Oaks at Fallon Park, points out that every entrance door is special. For example, one residence is graced by a lovely two-leaf mahogany door set in an inviting recessed arch.
A cedar door at the top of a stair landing is the signature for another handsome home on view. Interesting interior touches include beaded-board accents and leather finished granite counter tops. Also on the list of viewable homes is an urban-style residence that features flanking wings set with front-facing pedimented gables. Ten-foot ceilings and a spacious great room with a baronial fireplace and a view off the elevated rear balcony give panache to the home’s public spaces. Another home features a bracketed copper canopy over the entrance door and triple windows across the lower front elevation. Equipped with an elevator, this home has four finished floors but still stays within the height restriction required for The Oaks at Fallon Park to retain a unified sense of scale for the neighborhood.

Deserved Recognition
Over the course of a successful career in Raleigh, Grubb and Grubb Ventures have been honored with the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Community Appearance from the City of Raleigh, the Honor Award from the North Carolina Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and the award for Best Multi-Family Development from Triangle Commercial Real Estate Women. In preparation for the opening of The Oaks at Fallon Park, Grubb invited friends and new residents to help inaugurate the pool and clubhouse, key amenities to the new community. “We’re the only inner-beltline, single-family community with our own pool and clubhouse,” says Grubb.
Gordon Grubb, Grubb Ventures, and the skilled team of architects, designers and builders have created a tasteful and compatible new neighborhood settled within an old and venerated urban space.