A TOUCH OF ZEN
A Touch of Zen
Mid-century elegance for two
By Deborah Salomon
Photographs by John Gessner
Architectural styles can take a while to develop a following. Like bouillabaisse and paella, their ingredients are myriad, complex. They can age like fine wine.
Apply these guidelines to mid-century modern, made popular by a coterie of forward-thinking architects — some associated with N.C. State, others espousing Japanese concepts — who left their mark on central and eastern North Carolina beginning roughly in the 1950s.
Then, for a stunning rendering, stroll through the mid-century modernesque home of Richard and Molly Rohde on the Southern Pines Garden Club’s Home & Garden Tour on Saturday, April 5. Notice the ways, some subtle, that the Rohde residence differs from neighbors at the Country Club of North Carolina — a pebbled area at the entrance; jumbo glass wall inserts; five strategically placed mini-gardens, one walled and sunken; and a wraparound Juliet balcony. All are born of Richard’s landscape design prowess, as is the giant golf ball atop a stump pedestal at the front walkway that was carved from a tree that grew on that very spot.
The house was built in 1980. The Rohdes have lived there for 10 years. “We are a blended family,” Molly explains, totaling seven children and 13 grandchildren. They keep a townhouse in Raleigh and a house at Topsail Beach, where the gang gathers May to October. Molly calls it their “happy place.”
Richard grew up in a stucco in Miami before moving to Winston-Salem; Molly in an interesting mountaintop residence in New York State. While living in Raleigh Richard enjoyed golf excursions to Pinehurst enough to suggest a grown-up retreat that he could combine with his office.
“The architecture, the sightings, the dogwood and azaleas in bloom — we decided on the spot and made an offer,” they recall. Another appeal: The house was designed by Hayes-Howell and Associates, the pre-eminent modernist architects of the era, who left significant marks on Moore County.
Richard planned whatever adjustments and additions that were required. The walk-out basement “playroom” with “wet bar” (in previous parlance) became his office. His desk was formerly a trestle table. He added a terrace with a firepit and an extended Juliet balcony ending in a metal circular staircase. Beyond, artistically arranged boulders define gardens where a sea of daffodils bloomed in late February.
The diversity of landscaping makes the pie-shaped 1-acre lot sloping toward the lake appear larger. Although the house layout is longitudinal with two wings — totaling 3,250 square feet — nothing suggests a single-story 1950s ranch. Enter the front door, step into a foyer flooded with light, and gasp at the dining room, directly opposite, with line-of-sight to the lake. Black and soft milky white dominate here. The black lacquer sideboard, which came with the house, is covered in Asian motif carvings. The table with a thick plate glass top, also a holdover, picks up sunbeams. Petals on a low-hanging light fixture suggest a lotus flower. Framed architectural renderings of the house, a testament to its provenance, hang on a side wall. Wallpaper adds texture in neutral, solid colors, no patterns.
Off to the right is the living room with an 18-foot ceiling, white carpet, white upholstery, a high triangular window, and a plate glass coffee table. In a corner surrounded by windows and glass doors stands a round glass-topped table where Molly and Richard take meals. Near the fireplace hangs an exquisitely embroidered framed kimono, once part of Molly’s wardrobe.
So far, elegant, very adult, perfect for entertaining.
The kitchen rates a giggle from Molly. Judged against today’s extravaganzas, it is modest yet stylish with black and white floor and tile backsplash, simple cupboards and pulls designed by the original architects, perfectly adequate for preparing meals for two, Molly notes.
The bedroom wing stretches off the foyer, the length of its hallway emphasized by a seemingly endless row of Chinese screen panels. Where they end the master suite opens into a large sitting room, doubling as Molly’s office, with built-in bookcases, TV, sofa and door onto the balcony. The highlight in her bathroom is a sunken Jacuzzi whirlpool tub in a deep red enamel, inspiring Molly to paint a fanciful hall tree for hanging towels. Richard’s bathroom: sedate black tiles.
Molly continued the Asian theme in jewel-toned fabrics and figurine lamp bases, some from her daughter’s boutique, Union Camp Collective, in Raleigh. She also framed a child’s kimono, worn by her daughter.
Molly and Richard, both longtime collectors, have curated and combined their possessions in the master suite and two guest bedrooms, one with a second set of built-ins filled with books. The result: a blended family, combined furnishings, historic Carolina architecture, a whiff of the exotic, and a home office overlooking the golf course. Richard recalls his first impression of life at CCNC: “I came through the gates and thought, whew, this is relaxing, another world.”
Lucky Richard. Fortunate Molly. In semi-retirement they found Zen.