March 2010
House on the Block > Sewickley Heights
Architectural Digest
Meticulous attention to detail
and design yields a house like no other.
By Nicole Barley | Photography by shelley lipton
An aerial view of the 10-acre grounds.
“It’s a grand place to live,” says Don Solow, partner with Siegle Solow Horne Architects, of this Sewickley Heights home.
Solow is the architect who worked closely with the home’s current owners, Shelley and Jeff Lipton, designing every inch of the contemporary structure’s 13,000 square feet, as well as parts of the interior design. Built on two five-acre lots at the end of a private drive, the newly constructed home is just seven years old.
Despite its newness, Solow had a certain authentic and antique feel in mind for its residents. “I wanted the house to look like it was always there. We used the idea of a stone farmhouse that had been added to, evoking the kind of character of when it would have been a rural area. We played off of the stone homes, stone walls, and grand mansions in Sewickley Heights.”
Take a dip in the private pool.
Though it is not built in the French country style, it still gives off that same feeling, “very natural, very comfortable,” explains Shelley Lipton in agreement of Solow’s opinion.
Their design took into consideration establishing views, privacy, and sunlight into and around the home, says Solow. Most notable is the sun that comes through the house. “It is enveloped with sunlight all day long, summer and winter,” he says.
Love to cook? The kitchen is equipped with three ovens and a grill.
Components of the architecture are angular, and the home is organized in the shape of a long rectangle, somewhat maze-like in its open and inter-connected halls and stairways. Warm taupe paint covers the walls, while white-painted molding completes the look. White oak wood in the stairways and throughout the home combine with the basic color palette to create a calming aura. “The elements the owner and architect have chosen make this a very earthy home. Ithas a casual elegance,” says Howard Hanna Real Estate listing agent Mia Kail-Bojalad. Also enticing, she notes, is the option of first-level living.
The exterior’s stone design is carried out as a theme indoors. In the foyer, a peek down the hallway, both right and left, gives view to towering, white doors, detailed with intricate carving, close to 30 feet in height. Custom-designed furniture and décor fill out the sitting room waiting directly in front of entrants to the home. Singular details, such as a see-through fireplace, three “Cloud” chandeliers made by Artemide in Italy, and golden beadboard ceilings with accompanying acoustic capabilities, are quite captivating. It’s a space that’s perfect for parties, able to fit up to 100 guests and flow nicely, says Lipton.
The vantage point from the upstairs office.
Above the kitchen is an office; its open balcony looks over the cook-top and island. A second office, which sits above the other half of the home, is enclosed and more private. From the kitchen’s attached family room, filled with low-slung, cozy couches, sliding doors lead to the screened-in patio, complete with a pizza oven. A Jacuzzi and in-ground pool, equipped with a diving board and automatic cover, sit right off the home’s porch.
Flourishing just around the corner is a gated vegetable garden where peas, basil, tomatoes, garlic, apple trees, and grapes grow. A curling trumpet vine climbs the stone wall around the patch and onto the trellis above — it’s a plant that promises to attract hummingbirds in large number, promises Lipton.
A screening area, plus plenty of recreation space in the downstairs den.
The surrounding 10-acre lot is partially wooded, and nestled in the specially lit trees are a tee-pee, totem pole, and two fire circles. Along with plenty of foliage flourishing in summer, camping out in the backyard feel like a trip to the great outdoors.
Back inside, the two bedrooms are designed with auxiliary spaces built for relaxation and activity, allowing them to be just for sleeping. The master bedroom’s lounge is cozy, and the bedroom’s windows fill the walls and look on the backyard and side of the home.
Functional and comfortable custom-designed furniture
All of the powder and bathrooms are outfitted with Dornbracht fixtures, and the master bathroom has two toilets, showers, and vanities, along with an attached dressing closet located within. Directly outside of which, a wall-to-wall mirror is hung.
Wired throughout is an integrated music system, operated from a control room in the lower level, equipped with hookups for iPods, iRadio, CDs, and more. Another unique component of the home is a growing room that has platforms with space to raise more than 100 orchids, a fogger, and a source of reverse osmosis water. Extensive area is devoted on this level to a recreation room. Fill fun evenings there with the movie-viewing screen, usable for Wii and PlayStation too, a wet bar, billiards and poker tables.
A view of the home’s left wing, lit at night.
When asked which part of the home he would classify as his favorite, Solow explains that this is a very difficult question to answer. “Every part of the house is meant to be exciting as the next. The whole project is the favorite, not just one aspect of it,” says Solow.
No doubt the current, and future, owners couldn’t agree more.
Price upon request. For more information, contact Mia Kail-Bojalad at Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, 412.741.2200.
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