Tuscan
Rhapsody
When Chairman of the Board for Gates McVey,
Todd Gates and his wife Angela were looking to build their personal residence,
they decided to make it a true dream home. Gates began with a design concept
- an age-old country Tuscan estate - and then searched for a suitable
piece of property on which to build.
“We needed a fairly large piece of property,” explains Gates,
“and we eventually found two acres located in the Pine Ridge Estates
area, a central Naples location, where you can still find substantial
land on which to build a large residence.”
Gates set about building a home that would resemble, as closely as possible,
a two hundred year old Tuscan country estate. Using age-old building materials
and period antiques, the resulting 13,000 square foot residence has not
only achieved this goal, but has also won many prestigious design awards,
including The Sales and Marketing Council of Southwest Florida’s
Home of the Year Award. In fact, the Gates residence garnered awards in
so many categories that the Council instituted a newly created honor -
the Perfect Score Award.
“We worked with three respected designers, one of whom traveled
back and forth to Tuscany in search of furniture and artwork,” says
Todd Gates. “Our favorite piece is the antique chest in the two-storied
formal living room, which is quite old and was made in the area just outside
of the Vatican from olive wood.”
In addition to one-of-a-kind antique pieces, the residence boasts Venetian
plaster throughout, as well as stain grade finishes. There are no traditional
paint finishes to be seen, except as they appear in the five hand-painted
murals located throughout the house. Located between the billiard room
and the dining room is a ceiling mural, which features the Gates’
two daughters peeking through out through the clouds, while the master
bath boasts a scene of the Tuscan countryside on the ceiling above the
Roman bath.
An abundance of stonework is also featured throughout, including floors
of hand- laid chiseled stone, which have been friction fitted in order
to eliminate grout joints. Other rooms feature floors of distressed wood
and all the interior doors are solid core doors that have been hand-distressed
in order to achieve an Old World feel. The look was completed by using
door handles that have been pitted in order to impart a time worn appearance.
Wood framed arched windows and French doors have been used throughout
the home and the soaring wrought iron stair railing leading from the living
room to the floor above has been graced with grape vines which meander
through the railings and invoke the feel of an Italian estate.
Such levels of period authenticity were used in every room of the home,
which took more than two years to build and furnish. The family room and
kitchen were given a rustic feel by using Pecky cypress beams and the
home’s three fireplaces are all conventionally wood-burning.
The home offers seven bathrooms and each of the five bedrooms were designed
to stand as an individual master suite and each features ten-foot, hand-carved
double Mahogany doors with arched tops, and private Juliet
balconies which overlook the pool area.
The Gates’ use their residence to host numerous fund raising events,
with the most recent being a scholarship drive to benefit the Collier
County Education Foundation, attended by upwards of 350 guests. The family
regularly hosts upwards of 200 to 300 people for an average event.
According to Gates, “Because we often have a large number of guests
at one time, we met with caterers when we were designing the house in
order to make certain that the traffic flow in the home would have no
choke points. In the end, we decided to install three separate catering
stations within the home in order to disperse large crowds of people throughout
the house and to avoid having them congregating at a single catering point.
In order to handle the needs of
the caterers, we designed what is probably the largest private kitchen
most people have ever seen, with every element a commercial caterer might
require, including gas stoves and ranges.”
While the kitchen might be commercial grade in every respect, aesthetics
were not sacrificed in the least. Distressed maple cabinetry, three-tiered
granite counter tops and handcrafted wrought iron light fixtures all serve
to
add warmth to the space.
While the home’s award-winning interior is stunning, Gates applied
the same determination for period authenticity to the exterior of the
home as well. Outside, a guest cabana serves double duty as both an outdoor
living area and a Category 5 hurricane shelter, complete with a backup
gas generator and separate water and sewer lines. Technically, one could
live for three weeks in the shelter.
As Gates explains, “Throughout the construction process, we were
always on the lookout for ways to incorporate period details to the house,
in order to make it as authentic as possible. When we brought in the gas
tank in for the back up generator, I took advantage of its proximity in
order to install real gas lanterns on front of house, the entry columns
and the privacy gates. It’s the original mood lighting and truly
looks special at night. I believe that it is one of the only homes in
Southwest Florida to feature authentic gas lighting.”
Further period touches were added to the garage, where Gates chose to
install pecky cypress doors which were crafted to resemble the double
sideways-opening doors of an old horse stable. This Old World charm was
also incorporated at the front of the home where, walking up the approach
to the residence, the first thing one notices is the large Italianate
fountain beside the brick-paved, circular drive.
Gates began by deciding upon Tuscan architecture because he felt it was
the perfect medium to impart a warm, friendly and inviting atmosphere
to the residence and thus create a timeless masterpiece. The premise has
been a resounding success. While the home is grand and fit for the most
formal entertaining, it is also a family residence that offers a blend
of luxury, warmth and comfort.
“I wanted to bring all the senses into play with this residence,”
says Gates, “to make it a home where the sights, sounds and smells
have all been thought out so that they fall together and recreate the
ambiance of a night in Tuscany. Most importantly, I wanted to give the
home a timeless feel so that people seeing the house a hundred years from
now will still be able to appreciate it’s timelessness.”
Courtesy of Gates McVey Builders, Inc.
12810 Tamiami Trail North,
Naples, FL 34110
239 593-3777
Written
by Kristine Hughes
Photography by Mark Strong
