It’s not every day you see a very modern house win a prize from an organization dedicated to preserving historic character, but the home of Miller and Yadon is not your ordinary dwelling.
The couple built their dream home in Nashville’s Little Hollywood neighborhood. The East Nashville community is populated with Spanish Mediterranean-inspired houses built in the 1930s and 1940s. Many of them feature stucco and flat roofs, giving the area a feel that’s more Golden State than Volunteer State, hence the nickname.
Art is an important part of the household, and it’s showcased in the entry. A painting called Soul Brother 007 by Thomas Saliot hangs above a vintage Eames Eiffel bench. A pair of artworks called Holder were sourced through the David Lusk Gallery.
When building a new house in a historic district like this, modern might not be the first aesthetic to come to mind. But the couple had longed for a contemporary home since they left their newlywed digs, a loft in downtown Nashville. They loved the location, the look, and the feel of Little Hollywood, but they desired a 21st-century house for their growing family. They turned to Baird and Guilbeau, partners in life and at Building Ideas, for an answer.
It wasn’t the first time the quartet had collaborated. The architect and designer worked on the Miller-Yadon family’s previous house, a much more traditional residence due to the context of the neighborhood. This time around, Baird believed that they could go much more modern, because of the lines of the existing homes. “The Mediterraneans there are blocky with flat roofs,” he says. When, in his mind’s eye, he stripped them of their Spanish ornamentation, he saw the simple forms that inspired the design for the new home.
“The new house is fairly simple, with a flat roof, a stucco exterior, and a large wooden trellis,” Baird says. “It seems in keeping with the rest of the neighborhood.” (continue reading)