Milam Residence | |
---|---|
Alternative names | The House of Seven Levels |
General information | |
Type | Single-family home |
Architectural style | Late modernism and Cubist architecture |
Address | 1033 Ponte Vedra Blvd., Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, US |
Coordinates | 30°10′26″N81°21′34″W / 30.17389°N 81.35944°W Coordinates: 30°10′26″N81°21′34″W / 30.17389°N 81.35944°W |
Completed | 1961 |
Cost | $88,074 [1] |
Client | Arthur W. Milam |
Owner | Jonathan and Sheila Lee Davies |
Technical details | |
Material | Concrete and glass |
Floor area | 6,858 feet (2,090 m) |
Grounds | 2 acres (0.81 ha) |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Paul Rudolph |
Awards and prizes | One of Architectural Record 's 20 "Record Houses" of 1963 |
Designated | June 7, 2016 |
Reference no. | #16000323 |
References | |
[2] [3] [4] |
Milam Residence is an oceanfront residence in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, United States. It was designed by architect Paul Rudolph in the style of Sarasota Modern. The late modernist home has an unusual facade of large geometrical shapes facing the ocean. Completed in 1961, it was one of Architectural Record 's 20 "Record Houses" of 1963. In 2016, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Milam Residence was completed in 1961 and named after Arthur W. Milam, the philanthropist who commissioned the project. [4] It was designed in the style of the Sarasota Modern by architect Paul Rudolph. [4] Rudolph designed almost 60 homes in Florida, and the Milam Residence was the last one. The home appears on the cover of Rudolph's 2002 book, Paul Rudolph: The Florida Houses. [3] In 1963, the home was named one of Architectural Record 's 20 "Record Houses". [1] [4]
Rudolph returned to design other outbuildings when Milam was married in 1969: the additions included a small guest house, a three-car garage, and a swimming pool. [5] The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. [6]
The building was put up for sale in 2017 and 2020. Jonathan and Sheila Lee Davies purchased the building for $3.45 million, approximately $1 million under the asking price. [7] Sheila Lee Davies, an Atlanta-based architect, planned to repair the building at an estimated cost of $1.3 million. [3]
The home has 6,858 square feet (637.1 m2) and sits on 2 acres (0.81 ha), 60 feet (18 m) above the Atlantic Ocean. It has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. [5]
Rudolph designed the home with an orthogonal facade; the geometric shapes are a striking and unusual visual element. [8] The building has been referred to as an example of late modernist and Cubist architecture. [7] The squares and rectangles are not only a striking visual element, they also serve a purpose by providing shade to the interior rooms. The large overhang and side extension of the facade elements provide shade for the building interior. [8] Additionally, the large openings have floor to ceiling glass which deflect sun and wind. [4] The Milam Residence was the first residential property designed by Rudolph which included air conditioning. The air conditioning allowed Rudolph to design the home without worrying about the Florida weather. [9]
The Sarasota School of Architecture was known for designing buildings with straight lines, and seamless transitions between indoor-outdoor spaces. The architects of that school attempted to make use of natural elements like wind and outdoor light. [10] In keeping with the Sarasota ideology, Rudolph tried to connect the inside and outside spaces with the design. [11] One example of this method is where he designed the home with terrazzo floors matching the color of the nearby sand. [3]
The interior has rooms which are elongated and parallel to the ocean with large windows. [8] The home has been referred to as "The House of Seven Levels". The interior features built-in storage and level changes. [3] There are functional interior floor-level changes: a sunken living room. There are also level changes in ceiling height: a lowered ceiling in some areas and raised ceiling in others. [8]
Paul Marvin Rudolph was an American architect and the chair of Yale University's Department of Architecture for six years, known for his use of reinforced concrete and highly complex floor plans. His most famous work is the Yale Art and Architecture Building, a spatially-complex Brutalist concrete structure. He is one of the modernist architects considered an early practictioner of the Sarasota School of Architecture.
Mid-century modern (MCM) is a design movement in interior, product, graphic design, architecture, and urban development that was popular in the United States and Europe from roughly 1945 to 1969, during the United States's post–World War II period. The term was used descriptively as early as the mid-1950s and was defined as a design movement by Cara Greenberg in her 1984 book Mid-Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950s. It is now recognized by scholars and museums worldwide as a significant design movement. The MCM design aesthetic is modern in style and construction, aligned with the Modernist movement of the period. It is typically characterized by clean, simple lines and honest use of materials, and it generally does not include decorative embellishments.
Gene Leedy was an American architect based in Winter Haven, Florida. He was a pioneer of the modern movement in Florida and later a founder of the Sarasota School of Architecture, whose members included Paul Rudolph, Victor Lundy, and others. After beginning his career in Sarasota, Leedy moved his practice to Winter Haven in 1954. He is best known for his bold use of precast concrete, especially in long-span, "double-tee" structural elements.
Riverview High School is a four-year public high school in Sarasota, Florida, United States. Riverview educates students from ninth grade to twelfth grade. The school has 2,654 students and 129 teachers. The school's mascot is the ram. As of the 2012–2013 school year, it is the largest school in the county.
The Sanderling Beach Club is a historic Sarasota School of Architecture building in Sarasota, Florida, United States. It was designed in 1952 by architect Paul Rudolph.
The Sarasota School of Architecture, sometimes called Sarasota Modern, is a regional style of post-war modern architecture (1941–1966) that emerged on Florida's Central West Coast, in and around the city of Sarasota, Florida. It is characterized by open-plan structures, often with large planes of glass to facilitate natural illumination and ventilation, that address the unique indigenous requirements of the regional climate. Many of the architects who pioneered this style became world-renowned later in their careers, and several significant buildings remain in Sarasota today.
The Revere Quality House is a house located in Siesta Key, Florida that was designed by architects Paul Rudolph and Ralph Twitchell. It is a breakthrough in twentieth-century residential architecture which blends elements of the International Style with site-sensitive design that is considered one of the notable examples of the Sarasota School of Architecture. The house represents a substantial advancement in how people should live within their environment, and established a new paradigm in tropical home construction.
A conversation pit is an architectural feature that incorporates built-in seating into a depressed section of flooring within a larger room. This area often has a table in the center as well. The seats typically face each other in a centrally focused fashion, bringing the occupants closer together than free-standing tables and chairs normally would. In residential design this proximity facilitates comfortable human conversation, dinner parties, and table top games. Their disadvantages include accidental falls and uncomfortable interactions with those standing above in the main room.
23 Beekman Place, also the Paul Rudolph Apartment & Penthouse, is an apartment building between 50th and 51st streets in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Built c. 1869 as a five-story brownstone residence, it was substantially redesigned in the late 20th century by Paul Rudolph, an American architect and one-time dean of Yale University. It is one of the few known projects Rudolph designed in the city.
Jack West (1922–2010) was an architect in Sarasota, Florida and briefly in Southern California. West was one of the leaders of the Sarasota School of Architecture.
Ralph Spencer Twitchell was one of the founding members of the Sarasota School of Architecture. He is considered the father of the group of modernist architecture practitioners, that includes Paul Rudolph and Jack West, and other modernist architects who were active in the Sarasota area in the 1950s and 1960s like Ralph and William Zimmerman, Gene Leedy, Mark Hampton, Edward “Tim” Seibert, Victor Lundy, William Rupp, Bert Brosmith, Frank Folsom Smith, James Holiday, Joseph Farrell and Carl Abbott. He bridged the more traditional architecture of his early work in Florida during the 1920s with his modernist designs that began in the 1940s.
William J. Rupp was one of the modernist American architects considered part the Sarasota School of Architecture.
Guy Wesley Peterson is an American architect based in Sarasota, Florida. Peterson is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and the recipient of the AIA Florida Gold Medal for his outstanding contributions to architecture. He has designed more than 200 structures in southwest Florida, including notable private and public works. Peterson is an adjunct professor of architecture at the University of Florida, College of Design, Construction and Planning, and the author of Naked: The Architecture of Guy Peterson.
Edward John "Tim" Seibert was an architect based in Sarasota, Florida. Seibert was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and one of the founders of the modern movement known as the Sarasota School of Architecture.
The Healy Guest House is a small guest cottage located in Siesta Key, Florida, originally built for Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Healy. It was designed in 1948 by Paul Rudolph and Ralph Twitchell during their five-year partnership that sparked a modern architecture movement in Florida; the Sarasota School of Architecture. Its radical shape, featuring an inverted catenary roof, was an experiment in structure and technology. It is considered one of the most significant architectural works of the twentieth-century.
Lamolithic house was the term given by Sarasota concrete businessman John Lambie to describe his unique method of building modern reinforced concrete residential structures. This building technique enabled the fabrication of thin ceiling and wall planes, thus enabling architects to draft efficient and lightweight designs. Several historic lamolithic houses were constructed by renowned architects Paul Rudolph and Ralph Twitchell on Siesta Key, Florida using this technique. These homes were among the earliest examples of reinforced concrete residential construction.
The Hiss Residence is a mid-century modern home designed by architect, Paul Rudolph. Built as the show home for Sarasota's Lido Shores neighborhood in 1953, the structure blends international style modernism with indigenous tropical design. It is among the preeminent works of the Sarasota School of Architecture and considered “one of the most remarkable homes of the twentieth century.”
The Zigzag House (1959) is a residential house in Sarasota, Florida, United States. It was designed by architect Tollyn Twitchell in the style of the Sarasota School of Architecture: the style is also referred to as a mid-century modern. The home has been named for its zigzag roofline which resembles saw teeth.
Bass Residence (1970) is a home in Fort Worth, Texas classified as Modern architecture and designed by architect Paul Rudolph, a founder of the Sarasota School of Architecture, and he designed the home in that style. It was designed for Sid Bass and Anne Bass. The house features cantilevered horizontal shapes.
Louis Micheels House was a single family home in Westport, Connecticut, designed in the style of the Sarasota School of Architecture by founder Paul Rudolph. Built in 1972, it was considered an example of Modern and Brutalist architecture. The home was commissioned by Louis Micheels, and it was razed in 2007.