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By Tom Levine | Photography by Geoffrey Hodgdon
Greg Younger of Younger Construction has spent over a decade renovating and upgrading many of the Pate family’s previous homes. So, when the Pates bought an older house on the South River, Younger’s team anticipated a fairly straightforward renovation. The owners wanted something new, an updated, modern home with clean lines. As Younger looked at the shell, though, he realized that a renovation would not achieve their creative vision. A new start was needed.
Younger knew that despite its deceivingly simple look, this would be a very complicated building. The straightforward design, with little ornamentation, meant that everything needed to fit perfectly, that any overhang needed to be engineered without visible support, that the cleanliness of the design left no room for error. And in the end it was the drive to do it right, to not compromise on the quality but build to the highest standard that propelled this home’s crisp geometry of white boxes punctuated with large expanses of dark glass, custom-made by Loewen Windows of Annapolis.
Brad Creer, of Bradford Design in Bethesda, had originally been brought in to design a kitchen as part of a relatively modest plan to renovate the old house. When the renovation plans changed, Creer gamely offered that he’d be happy to design the entire house, and the Pates took him up on it. Although not an architect by training (Creer retired from a career in marketing with large companies, including IBM), Creer has spent the last ten years developing a reputation as a top kitchen designer in the mid-Atlantic. It is unique but not surprising that Creer would conceive and fine-tune this home’s exterior and interior design. Architect Carrie Walker finalized the plans and made it work to satisfy county regulations. Creer used a simple color palette, consistent materials, and strong horizontal lines to create a house that looks far larger than its modest size.
One of the pleasures of this house is its technical magic. The guest room shower is an LED induced bit of synesthesia. The water glows a cool blue and heats up to a hot red as the temperature rises. The master bath has a walk-in shower, where you could wash a good-sized pony. Its smart enough that anyone in the family including the pony can type in their user number and in a few seconds be standing under not just their preferred shower heads, but also water heated to their desired temperature.
Smart house features, installed by Audio Lighting Solutions, let Jill and her husband control their home from their phones, no matter where they happen to be. Lights, temperature, security system, and window shades can be operated from almost anywhere in the world with a swipe of a finger, a helpful feature when your work requires extensive travel.
The house has more than a touch of glitz and glamour. The custom metal front gate, with a row of stars incorporated into the design, makes you think you’re in Miami or L.A. One of the things the Pates wanted was a house that reminds them of the hotels where they spend much of their time. Elizabeth Horne, a Washington, D.C. designer who collaborated on the interiors, says that “inspiration from hotels was a running influence” for the Pates. Her challenge was “to capture what the hotels had without repeating it.” Horne helped the Pates add color and texture to the interior. 
There’s a beautiful insert of backlit blue glass in the master shower. Its wavy texture, a subtle homage to the river outside, repeats in a red tile kitchen backsplash and a rippled accent wall in the bedroom. And then there’s the uber cool Roche Bobois dining table, which Horne discovered in a shop in her D.C. neighborhood. A set of large gears, as finely engineered as a Swiss watch, rest under the glass top. Hit a remote control and they silently turn, sliding a pair of glass leaves out from both ends. It’s a great marriage of modern and industrial with just the sort of Jetsonian convenience you’d expect here.
The Pates, who are both dancers (Jill was a Radio City Rockette), produce large dance competitions across the United States and around the world. Their work is about glamour and showmanship, and their new house, in a sense, reflects that. Like an exquisite performance, it’s about managing the details until it’s just right, until the audience is left awestruck by the show.
Resources:
Custom Builder: Younger Construction Co., Inc., youngerconstruction.com
Architectural Conception: Bradford Design, bradforddesignllc.com
Architectural Drawings: Carrie Walker
Interior Design: Elizabeth Horne Design, elizabethhornedesign.com
Custom Granite Top: In-Home Stone, inhomestone.com
Kitchen Appliances: The Appliance Source, theappliancesource.com
Audio: Audio Video Lighting Solutions, avls.tv
Landscape: Lasting Impressions, lilclandscaping.com
Metal Front Gate: Atlantic Spars & Rigging
From Vol. 6, No. 5 2015
Annapolis Home Magazine