"You can’t build a house in the middle of the ocean,” admits Alys Beach, Florida, homeowner Dan Castro. “We knew this. But when our architects asked us what we wanted, we said, ‘Water, water, everywhere.’ We wanted to replicate what the ocean does for you, the way it relaxes you both physically and mentally.”
Castro wasn’t speaking in abstracts. The ideas he developed with local architectural firm Khoury & Vogt for his family’s unbuilt beach house were precise and refreshingly original: among them, an ultra-serene master suite designed around an open-air courtyard and fountain; a rim overflow rooftop swimming pool; and a soaring, Pompeii-esque atrium with a glimmering splash pool. Novel as these feel behind the doors of an American beach house, they are fitting in the somewhat undiscovered coastal enclave of Alys Beach. Here, whispers of Antiguan and Guatemalan architecture, with plentiful hits of Moorish influence, whoosh through lush allées and sun-drenched courtyards like white-hot secrets. It’s arguably the most low-profile of the New Urbanism resort communities along Florida’s western panhandle. “The town truly is a hidden treasure,” says Castro.
His wife, Anna, grew up down the road in Destin (the couple’s full-time home is in Palm Beach), yet neither were familiar with the tiny town until they visited at the suggestion of her parents.
“We felt like we were in a different world,” recalls Castro. “There’s a very European vibe here.” That’s all it took for the pair to seek out the very same design team—Marieanne Khoury-Vogt and Erik Vogt—who’d dreamed up the town’s expansive pool, with its romantic sun canopies and exotic mesh panels.
Alys Beach House Tour
The architects began drafting a plan for a 5,300-square-foot house that would draw upon northern and southern Mediterranean influences, including Moorish archways, decorative figural windows, and natural elements like oak and plaster. And there was, of course, plenty of water. “We had not done an atrium in a house before, but the notion was immediately appealing to us,” says Khoury-Vogt. Adds Vogt: “The idea draws from ancient Roman architecture; with a shallow pool forming the floor, it catches the rainwater and facilitates air circulation. So it essentially becomes the lungs of the house, along with a really beautiful social center for the family.”
A wooden terrace overlooks the pool. “That’s why we designed the mosaic of dancing fish,” Khoury-Vogt says. “It’s visible from overhead, and mosaics in such pools were quite popular in classic Roman atrium houses.”
It’s as big a hit with the Castros’ four children, who splash around in the limestone “fish pool” (as they’ve crowned it) while their parents make breakfast. And this brand of form-meets- family design was very much the point. “We wanted the house to be versatile,” notes Castro. “Rooms designed so the kids can throw down and it’s appropriate, and you can invite friends over and be glamorous and it’s appropriate.”
Elements of Style
Atlanta-based interior designer Shirlene Brooks adopted a similar versatility with the fabrics and furnishings, imbuing rooms with a tactile, understated mix of creams, naturals, and whites (many in the form of performance Perennials fabrics); mixed into the ultra-quiet palette is a deep, saturated shade of blue borrowed from the Tyrrhenian Sea. “It mirrors the Gulf,” she says, noting the ocean is visible from many of the windows and in full resplendence from a stainless steel rooftop pool.
“We’re up there year-round. The kids romp in the pool or just pile into the cabana chairs and read books,” says Castro. “They love this house as much as we do.” Still, he recalls one “mistake” he made. “One year on April Fools’ Day, I told them we were selling the Alys Beach house. It was a disaster. They all melted down, and I found myself shouting, ‘Whoa, just kidding, just messing around!’ ” he laughs. “But that’s the real beauty of this house. We love watching them grow up here and seeing our connection to this home and to this beach build over time.”
Featured in the July/August 2018 issue.
