A Parade of Homes find at The Founders Club

March 4, 2007

By MARSHA FOTTLER
marsha.fottler@heraldtribune.com

The promotional material for the 13 planned golf cottages at The Founders Club in eastern Sarasota promise "low-country architecture and high-style living," and there's truth in that advertising.

Because these one- and two-story homes overlook the 10th fairway and are within walking distance of the clubhouse, playing the game and enjoying high-style club amenities are right outside the garden gate. And the architecture is definitely low-country style.

But these golf cottages are anything but plain or budget-constrained, features one generally associates with cottages. The Magnolia and the others in the collection are downright elegant, with recessed entry, pretty shutters, brick entrance courtyard, old-fashioned lanterns and copper downspouts and gutters.

Are they really cottages? Fair question, considering that The Magnolia, for example, includes a big Sub-Zero refrigerator, a huge natural-gas range, granite counters and a butler's pantry with two wine coolers (one for reds, one for whites), and a secondary dishwasher just for stemware. How about a master bathroom that could swallow up a cottage of old?

By contrast, yes. These cottages homes are in a chic, gated community, where some of the custom houses consume 8,000 square feet and sell for just under $5 million. Consequently, a dwelling of about 4,000 square feet that sells for less than $3 million could be called a cottage, at least in The Founders Club. After all, the Newport millionaires of the Gilded Age referred to their marble seaside palaces as just cottages -- and there was nothing cozy or cottage-like about them.

There's coziness wherever you sit at the Magnolia. Part of its charm is built into the sensible, Florida-friendly floor plan, but the rest is supplied by interior designer Lori Fountain. She used a combination of new and vintage furniture, subtle paint, damask-like wall coverings and high-low accessories to create a modern space that is still persistently reminiscent of Florida, circa 1910.

"In that era, there were residents recently arrived from Scotland, or other parts of Europe and America, and they came here with family heirlooms, hand-crafted furniture, and then added local things as they could get them," said the designer, who also did The Founders Club's clubhouse in the same motif.

"Their curtains would have been simple and rough," she added. "Their furniture was upholstered in leather, velvet or tapestry. Their carpets would have been wool Orientals that had been in the family for years. Their wooden pieces were a mixture of mahogany, pine and walnut."

Fountain also noted that furniture at the turn of the century was often painted to disguise imperfections or conceal inferior wood. "In this model home, you'll notice painted tables, standing clocks, beds and dressers," she said. "I especially used a lot of flat black paint, because that was popular then. For the furnishings, I went with soft chenille fabrics, linen, cushy leather, distressed woods and some genuine antiques for an eclectic and evolved look that speaks about the way people put their homes together in bygone days."

The architecture of the Magnolia certainly supports an Old Florida look, with high-pitched ceilings clad in umber-glazed, tongue-and-groove beadboard and transoms over many of the mahogany doors and tall windows. Dark floors are wide-plank Brazilian cherry, and the walls are painted in soft nature hues with crisp white trim everywhere.

The main wall color throughout is a Sherwin Williams shade called Roasted Almond. "I used a satin finish for the walls," said the designer, "and high-gloss white for all the trim. The white trim is definitely a design feature in this house. Notice that in all of the bathrooms, the mirrors are framed in wide white wood trim to make them look as if they are hung on the wall rather than attached. And, except for the kitchen, there is no recessed lighting. Everything is surface-mounted, even in the walk-in closets, to maintain the vintage feel."

With doors that open into the central courtyard, the home's floor plan fully integrates inside and outside spaces without compromising privacy. Although the Magnolia model is surrounded by green spaces and water features on The Founders Club property, you could plop the Magnolia down in the middle of a busy street in a big city and you'd still have most of the privacy advantages. The beauty is in the design.

The main house and detached guest suite are U-shaped around a central courtyard. A wall (with water spouts that give the swimming pool a fountain aspect) completes the enclosure. French doors from nearly every room in the home open to a shaded gallery and brick courtyard forming a perfect union between nature and architecture.

This kind of floor plan ought to remind Parade of Home visitors of gracious and practical residences in Charleston, New Orleans, Key West and the Caribbean islands. They were originally constructed for maximun ventilation in the time before air conditioning.

In Sarasota, at a much-lower price point (under $350,000), one can find this architectural scheme in a modified version in condominium complexes, such as Glen Oaks Manor. Those courtyard residences were designed in the 1970s by Sarah Paver, but are still fresh and welcoming today.

"The important feature of the Magnolia," says Fountain, "is that except for the kitchen/family room, it's not an open floor plan. There are many separate rooms, and the guest suite is detached. There are many places in this home to retreat to for privacy, and that's something I am seeing more and more people ask for in a Florida home."

The Magnolia model, on its 10th-fairway lot at The Founders Club, is offered at $2,790,000. If you want to keep Lori Fountain's interior-design installation, add another $205,000. Golf-cottage home sites range from $382,500 to $554,000. The price of each golf cottage includes an equity golf membership in The Founders Golf Club, currently valued at $100,000.

Although each cottage is different, they share common design elements, such as architectural shutters, deep porches, French doors, tall windows and shaded verandas. The cottages have front, rear and second-story porches and brick outdoor terraces that feature fireplaces and swimming pools.

Thirteen maintenance-free cottages are planned, with four floor plans from which to choose. The Magnolia model represents U.S. Assets Group's first foray into a Parade of Homes.

The U.S. Assets Group partners, Thomas Brown and Jay Tallman, are the creators of Orchid Beach Club, Beau Ciel, en Provence and the brand new Wicker Beach on north Longboat Key.

The Founders Club is a gated community; Parade-goers must park car across Fruitville Road in a church lot and board a trolley that takes visitors to all of the model homes within the community. If you intend to inspect all seven Parade models (five different builders), plan on being there for nearly two hours.