By Camille Torres,
Home featured in American Dream Homes Magazine
The Nation's Premier Home Magazine
Overflowing with meticulously crafted features and one-of-a-kind
old-world style, this sprawling seaside estate is a step above your
typical luxury home.
Minutes away from the
Florida Gold Coast’s renowned beaches, amidst verdant palm trees, lies
the celebrated, by-invitation-only Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club.
With its first-class marina, high-end facilities, and acclaimed Jack
Nicklaus Signature Golf Course, the private Palm Beach country club
draws some of South Florida’s most elite. Nestled within the
prestigious yacht and country club development is this gated Italian
Renaissance-styled estate that overlooks the striking cobalt blue
Intracoastal Waterway of Boca Raton. Approaching the grand coquina
residence, an old Chicago brick motor court flows beneath a
column-framed porte cochere to the inviting main entrance. Details
such as quatrefoil upper windows, arched lower windows, and elaborate
coquina trim hint at the arresting interior spaces to come. At the
entrance of the home, the foyer sets the scene with its elegant
Florida and Dominican coral flooring. Columned and arched detailing
near the vaulted ceiling accents the Floridal coral walls. One is
mesmerized when walking down the lengthy coquina-clad halls under the
raised pecky cypress ceilings and atop the old-world marble floors.
“You are taken back
in time and feel like you are in the presence of something special.
It is a space with purpose and beauty,” says Guy Flora, project
manager with Boca Raton-based Mark Timothy, Inc.
When the owners set
out to make their dream home a reality, they followed friends’
recommendations and selected Mark Timothy, Inc., to build the estate.
Donald Starkey of Middlesex, England-based Donald Starkey Designs
fulfilled the roles of architect and interior designer. “The clients
wished to create a unique Mediterranean-style home with all the modern
amenities, while maintaining an old-world look and feel,” Flora says.
“The decorator and homeowner had a very specific old-world ambiance
they wished to create. Each room was a unique challenge to capture
this ambiance while still having all the modern-day conveniences.”
With construction
spanning from April 1999 to March 2002, much care and planning went
into the more than 25,000-square-foot estate, which features 19,938
square feet of air-conditioned living space, six bedrooms, seven full
baths, and three half baths. To help achieve the desired aesthetic,
Fort Lauderdale-based Mutual Woodworking crated built-in cabinetry,
and they sandblasted and applied special aging finishes to many of the
home’s doors. Because the desired appearance could not be found in
production, from the outdoor lanterns to the indoor chandeliers, every
lighting fixture was custom-designed from Starkey’s sketches. It is
this meticulous focus on details that makes the home so unique.
“With the help of
many talented people, we took an idea and made it come to life,” Flora
says. “The conception of a home begins with the architectural
drawings. From there, you make the dream come alive in the field on a
day-to-day basis…The architecture stays the same, like the stucco and
drywall, but from there, the house takes on its own form of life.”
Flora describes the
home as possessing inviting and unique spaces around every corner. In
the two-story living room, a baronial coquina fireplace (one of the
home’s seven hearths) is framed by four Corinthian-capped columns and
topped by a stacked mantel. Carved wooden sofas with crimson cushions
mirror each other perpendicular to the fireplace. Rom Kendall Masonry
of West Palm Beach installed the home’s abundance of coquina and
precast moldings, including the coquina arches that grandly lead from
one room to the next.
Pecky cypress
paneling decorating the formal dining room gives the space a sense of
warmth, while the broad coquina embellishments around the cypress and
beveled glass double doors maintain the home’s stateliness. The bold,
dark red walls above the paneling draw out the strokes of maroon on
the upholstery of the 10 high-backed dining chairs. In the spacious
office, dark paneling and built-in shelves contrast with the lighter
hickory flooring and pecky cypress ceiling. A plush sofa and chairs
offer a place to relax from work, or one can take a break by slipping
outside through the French doors.
Bursting with
entertainment options, the home contains a family room, media room,
game room, pool room, and bar. Each room features stunning
architectural enhancements. To replicate the appearance of old
English pubs, the game room and main bars were crafted in England.
According to Flora, “The entire home is breathtaking. … Every element
was fine-tuned and taken to perfection.” All the kitchen cabinetry
was custom made and is offset by coquina column-framed windows.
Light-colored granite countertops sweep the perimeter, contrasted by a
black granite-topped center island. A pond, originally designed to
serve as part of a shark moat, runs beneath the adjacent breakfast
room and is visible on either side.
The majestic
two-story master suite totals more than 5,000 square feet. Comprising
the first level is the bedroom, sitting room, onyx his and her baths,
a boutique-style dressing room, and his and her closets. The master
vestibule’s New Altez gold and French limestone walls are a prelude to
the palatial grandeur that awaits. In the bedroom, 18-foot coquina
columns accentuate 20-foot pecky cypress ceilings. The richly hued
wooden four-post bed and nightstands pop against the lighter New Altez
gold and French limestone walls. The flooring mimics the contrast
with its hickory wood border and light-colored carpet inlay. A
freestanding fireplace helps and spacious room maintain a sense of
coziness.
Separate master baths
feature vaulted ceilings overhead and honey onyx and white Perlino
underfoot. “The master bathrooms came out stunning with the talented
team effort of Mark Timothy, Inc., and the interior designer Donald
Starkey,” Flora says. The awe-inspiring carved marble mosaic flooring
was created in Italy by Mec Marmi and shipped like a puzzle to the
builders. “The master baths are amazing, with the most beautiful
honey onyx {countertop} slabs I have ever seen,” Flora says. To
provide entertainment without interfering with the formal décor,
television screens are hidden behind the vanity mirrors and become
visible at the touch of a button.
The second floor of
the master suite boasts a spa retreat, complete with a sauna, steam
room, massage room, and exercise room. A far cry from what one would
find at a gym, the exercise room has exquisite New Altez gold and
French limestone floors and walls, offset by a pecky cypress ceiling.
For added luxury, the master suite opens to a pool area and private
waterside terrace. With its own entrance and two-car garage, the
suite is almost a home unto itself.
Around the indoor lap
pool, plastered walls showcase custom murals of the Mediterranean
countryside, and ornate ironwork embellishes a landing above. Just
off the living room, the loggia is enhanced by formal estate gardens
designed by Bill Isenhower of Destin, Florida. “He is so talented and
has an uncanny ability for creating beauty,” Flora says. Lush
landscaping and fountains scattered throughout the property provide a
peaceful atmosphere. A resort-style tiled pool and spa as well as a
cabana and bar overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway transport the
homeowners to paradise each time they walk outside. Built on two
corner lots, the home boasts panoramic canal views, ocean access, and
470 lineal feet of protected deepwater frontage space to dock a yacht
or boat.
“This world-class
estate represents one of Royal Palm Yacht & County Club’s most
important architectural statements, which rivals the legendary estates
of Palm Beach,” says Gerald P. Liguori, broker and co-owner of Premier
Estate Properties. The Boca Raton-based luxury real estate company
currently has the house for sale, priced at $25 million. Brimming
with what Luguori terms “rarefied and distinctive beauty,” the estate
truly is a masterpiece. “There is no doubt in my mind that, thus far,
this home has been the pinnacle of my 26-year career in the home
building industry,” Flora says.
Home featured in American Dream Homes
Magazine, December 2007 edition
Aerial Photography by Tony Agius / A.A. Marketing
Interior Photography by Robert Brantley
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