Merry Wood

Merry Wood

The owners’ love of France inspired this Norman-style residence in Atlanta. Large, mullioned windows and archways lighten the massing and update the classical style. The three gables, turret and porte-cochère provide a visual progression to the front of the home, which is at the crest of the four-acre property. This contemporary interpretation of time-honored French architecture continues in the interior, which is open and light-filled with an emphasis on the flow and connectivity between rooms.

The interior architecture program is based on two cross axes. The entry axis leads from the foyer to the dramatic, two-story stair hall, accessing the lower and upper floors. A cross-axis through the entry on the front side, unites the library, foyer, music room and dining room. An interior gallery connects to less-formal spaces—kitchen, breakfast room and family room with adjoining loggia. The center mass is flanked by one-story wings for the master bedroom suite and a mudroom leading to the porte-cochère.

The arrangement conceals two garages and a storage area in the back. Three bays project from the rear of the residence and a pool cabana opens to a spacious terrace with oval pool. Doric columns and pilasters, a stately fireplace and vaulted ceiling imbue a classical formality to the loggia. Materials used, including the metal roof over the pool cabana and breakfast room, were selected to relax the overall sensibility from this perspective.