A Legacy Residence: The Settlement

Renovation and Addition, Unbuilt, 2018

Construction on this Frank-Lloyd-Wright-inspired legacy residence, originally designed by E. Fay Jones, was well under way when work was abruptly halted in the early 1990’s. Countless tons of Arkansas riverstone and the beginnings of a sweeping prairie-style house sat for decades. In 2018, acknowledging that the original Jones design would likely never be completed, the ownership group asked DFDG to make use of the considerable structure already in place, and re-imagine the home for a modern, contemporary family.

The design team at DFDG kept faithful to the spirit of Jones’ prairie-style roof lines and his sunken Great Room with its massive hearth. Nearly everything else in the plan was reconsidered and reconfigured to reflect current trends in residential design. The new design converted the lower level garage and motor court to a pool terrace and garden space. A three-car garage, perpendicular to the main house, forms a motor court at the main level so that a family arriving home has direct access to the mudroom, the kitchen, and primary living spaces.

Informal public living occurs east of the Great Room. A generous kitchen is set up to accommodate caterers when needed, but also functions well for daily family meals. A screened porch next to the Living area overlooks the pool terrace below, and a stairway leads down to a second kitchen and bar below which more directly serves swimmers and pool-side loungers.

The private wing of the house extends to the west of the formal Great Room. This wing contains an office, bedrooms suites for the family, and an elegant primary suite with two generous walk-in closets, a coffee-bar, a private hot-tub terrace, and a private screened porch.

In addition to the pool-side kitchen and bar, the lower level contains guest suites, a wine cellar, an exercise room, a sauna, and a large informal recreation room.

In total, the proposed house has six bedrooms, eight full baths, and two half-baths, with 14,346 sq.ft of interior space, and 9,055 sq.ft. of exterior screened porches, terraces, and patio spaces.