Rugged Modern Luxury Groves Co
Russell Groves, New York architect and designer has responded to the client’s brief creating a casual, yet elegant “camp-chic” estate on the Napa Valley property. Having designed over seven projects for Adam Weiss and Lydia Callaghan, Groves was given another opportunity to create a family retreat for his loyal clients.
The estate sits on the crest of a 130-acre mountain ridge, surrounded by a rugged natural landscape. It’s these natural surroundings that drew the couple to the property in the first place, and Grove’s design captures views from every direction.
Home owner Weiss tells Architectural Digest, “you get this coastal fog that settles in at night… After I wake up, I’ll walk around the gardens and watch the mist burn off. When the sun breaks through those clouds, it’s just spectacular.”
Groves notes “the expansive property contrasts layered modernity with a Spartan placidity—intelligently connecting the dwelling’s arrestingly detailed interiors with the lowland’s rugged surroundings.”
Maximising the view and useable space, Grove has opened the double-height family room onto a covered porch. The expansive retractable glass helps create an immediate connection with the outdoors and leads to a dramatic infinity pool.
“Merging indoors and outdoors was a top priority,” Weiss tells AD. “We wanted the house to be the kind of place where everyone would feel relaxed and at home and in nature.”
Perched above the mountainous terrain, the pool is positioned to allow swimmers the feeling of being immersed in the landscape. When not poolside, the evenings can be spent huddled around the fire pit enjoying the starry nights.
Callaghan tells AD, the family’s days at the Napa estate are active with games of tennis, splashing in the pool or hiking the many trails that weave through the 250-acre property. As sun falls, the star-filled skies are their entertainment.
“In the summer, especially, we like to light a fire on the porch and make s’mores and play board games,” says Callaghan.
It’s not just the outdoor design and amenities that meets the brief for a camp-like feel. The neutral palette and materials choice throughout the interior provides a rustic, yet sophisticated character that echoes the natural terrain.
The interior features all the modern elements you’d expect in a home of this caliber including luxury finishes and generous sized rooms. However, by incorporating materials such as the Nakashima wood-plank table, bespoke oak cabinetry, stone and vintage brass Groves says combines old and new for “a serene congenial ambiance”. Secluded escapes like the master bedroom’s private outdoor spa with an open-air shower and an intimate secret garden continue to connect interior living with the outdoors.
Groves is somewhat modest in what he and the clients have managed to create on the Napa Valley property telling AD, “I don’t mean to deny our creativity, but you could have done practically nothing to this house and it would have been amazing because of its setting.”
To see more of this property and others by Groves & Co. click here.
Architectural Digest photography: Douglas Friedman.
