The architectural details on the
door allows light to enter the
home. The magnificent waterfall
and garden was professionally
landscaped by Michael Dul of
Birmingham.
rooms within the house, and the house within its setting.
Adding further to this rich array of architectural and furnishing
details was an addition in 1987 that required another architect —
Turner was by now deceased — Troy architect-builder Frank
Carnovale. He was confronted with adding 1200 square feet to
the original Turner structure.
The extra space involves a hydro spa, which became part of the
master bath, and an additional two-bay car garage with a hobby shop.
The hydro spa has a hexagonal configuration that conforms to the
basic module of the house.
Carnovale designed the walls framing the additions to follow the
angular orientation of the existing walls in the house. The pitch of
the roof over the garage addition dovetails with the original roof of
the house. The added spaces seem to grow out of the house like
branches on a tree.
On the outside, the eave soffits of the new roof overhang required
the same pecky cypress used for the pre-existing eaves. Since cypress
is not a readily available building material, Carnovale had to do a
search and found a source in Arkansas where the wood was still
milled.
Carnovale deferred to the integrity of the Turner-designed house
as did Turner on the houses he built for Wright. An abstract wood
relief panel was designed by
Carnovale for the front door,
inspired by a design Frank Lloyd
Wright incorporated into his
famous Larkin Building in
Buffalo, N. Y. (1903).
The house on Lower Long
Lake is a testament to the domino
effect of good design, passed from
architect to builder to client. The
original owner for whom the
house was built, Watson Gilpin,
wrote the following inscription in
a book he gave to Harold Turner
as an expression of gratitude: "To
an outstanding builder and architect from a client who will be ever
grateful for a new way of life."
A. Dale Northup is a college professor whose area of focus is 19/h- 20th-
century American architecture and design.