Modern History

Ben Park and Allison Loudermilk’s 4,000-square-foot Decatur home was built from scratch using simple materials with minimalist applications. The couple’s desire was to create a facade that melded with the character of the neighborhood, satisfying their penchant for something modern. The residential design that architect William Carpenter and his firm Lightroom delivered features a traditional front facade and rear modern structure-a harmonious compromise between the two.

Interior design decisions were made with the help of Katherine Hojnacki, but Loudermilk added her own decoration, such as a single sweet Americana chair often pulled up to the dining table. Knoll Rissom chairs, a George Nelson Saucer pendant and Eames molded-plastic Eiffel chairs serve as modern grace notes. Carpenter engineered the house to have a south-facing passive solar side and overhanging eaves to shade the home from summer heat. In the winter, the sun’s warmth is captured in the energy-efficient home.

In the family room at the front of the home, a sliding door creates privacy when guests are visiting. The stairwell tread turns up vertically to become the railing, evocative of sculptural Southern staircases.

The master bathroom is a clean-lined combination of warm-toned walnut and Georgia marble, much like the materials Wilburn used during her own era, among them pine, oak, cypress, granite and marble. “To me, she was so far ahead of her time,” Carpenter says of the early 20th-century architect. A bathroom door leads to a jaunty outdoor shower.

Ben Park and Allison Loudermilk’s 4,000-square-foot Decatur home was built from scratch using simple materials with minimalist applications. The couple’s desire was to create a facade that melded with the character of the neighborhood, satisfying their penchant for something modern. The residential design that architect William Carpenter and his firm Lightroom delivered features a traditional front facade and rear modern structure-a harmonious compromise between the two.

The family’s bedrooms are located right off the main corridor. In the master, a custom-designed platform bed provides a seamless solution for storage.

The open-format, eat-in kitchen contains sleek wood and glossy SCIC laminate cabinetry. The clerestory windows were a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired touch. “From the kitchen, you can see straight up to the sky,” Carpenter intimates.

The home’s enclosed courtyard is a reference to the layouts of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Usonian structures. Wright was one of Carpenter’s greatest inspirations for this project, as were idols like Norman Jaffe and Leila Ross Wilburn-whose design actually resided on this site many decades ago. “Wilburn’s approach emphasized universal space, sense of openness, natural light, use of sustainable local materials, detail and capturing the views on a site,” he says.

William Carpenter may have numerous accomplishments to his name, but it’s the Decatur architect’s 4,000-square-foot “Leila House”—an affectionate nod to Georgia’s first major female architect, Leila Ross Wilburn—that he considers his firm’s most pivotal project to date. Built for young couple Ben Park and Allison Loudermilk at a modest $120 per square foot, Leila House boasts high-efficiency geothermal heating, numerous custom furnishings and modern-classic accents ranging from George Nelson light fixtures to Eames Eiffel chairs.

The forward-thinking Loudermilk is an Atlanta native and graduate of Barnard College who works as an editor for How Stuff Works; Park is a scientist with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention whose work takes him around the globe. Both wanted Carpenter to push the envelope with their abode.

“Ben was more interested in the modern part of the house, while Allie was more interested in a modern view of history,” Carpenter explains. “What you see here is a marriage between their two views.” Leila House, which appeared on the Modern Atlanta (MA) home tour in 2012, is the first modern residence in Decatur’s historic MAK district, but you wouldn’t know it from the street.

Its charming facade recalls a Wilburn house that resided on this site decades ago. Carpenter maintained the rhythm of traditional homes in the neighborhood by combining the classical, Ecole des Beaux-Arts spirit of Philip Shutze in the front with high-concept Bauhaus ideals in the back. Wilburn, Carpenter explains, was notable for straddling these two disciplines. “But as with any precedent, you have to transform it,” he adds. Clapboards are set back at the corners by steel angles, and rafter tails are capped with sleek metal casings.

Evoking a classic Southern dogtrot, the floor plan touts a strong central shotgun axis that flows from the front to the back. Hardwood planks run this same linear path, with bedrooms situated just off the main corridor. An open-format kitchen spills into the living room and courtyard on one end, while the front section of the home often serves as guest quarters—easily closed off in the event of company with a sliding wood door—while also housing Park’s home office and a family room for watching TV.

Embracing minimalism at every turn, Lightroom delivered exactly what the homeowners desired—complete with clean lines, white walls and lots of built-in storage—all while keeping the project right at their desired budget. “The clients really trusted me with their house,” Carpenter notes. “They let me handle everything.” Perhaps the greatest mark of that trust has been their continued familiarity after Leila House’s completion. They still call on him to house sit when they’re out of town. In fact, he’s become just as good friends with the family dog, Lucy.

Architect William Carpenter is highly influenced by the historic vernacular of the American South. The award-winning Decatur architect, who trained under such greats as Norman Jaffe and Samuel Mockbee, is a 20-year professor at Southern Polytechnic University, author of Dwell magazine’s Modern Sustainable Residential Design and the lead architect of projects ranging from the acclaimed Dominey Pavilion to a modern restaurant in Sao Luis, Brazil. But it’s the historically rooted “Leila House” in Decatur’s MAK district of which he’s most proud.

ARCHITECTURE William Carpenter, Lightroom, 115-A N. McDonough St., Decatur 30030. (404) 377-6889; lightroom.tv