Design House a triumphant ending to a five-year plan

When the Porter Summer House was moved from Houston Road to the edge of the Wesleyan College campus in 2013, the idea that the house could be restored to its former restrained grandeur seemed like a pipe dream.

On June 15, the house, this year’s Design House, was a dream come true, standing in a clearing surrounded by old growth trees and glittering with lights inside and out — an evening that would have been the perfect milieu for James Hyde and Olive Swann Porter, the couple who built the house in 1928.

Stories of the Porters entertaining friends at their country retreat are legend to Maconites who have heard about the swimming, the award-winning roses in the parterre garden and the picturesque outbuildings that could accommodate numerous guests on weekends, including students from Wesleyan who were frequently asked to enjoy a respite in the farm country south of Macon.

The preview party for the Design House opened a 10-day run of events for Historic Macon’s Design, Wine and Dine Festival, which ends Sunday. Party guests could see the original plans drawn by the same Dunwody architectural firm that worked on plans for the restored and relocated Porter house while touring the house and grounds to see the interpretations of the spaces by today’s interior and landscape designers.

The shady spot bordering Tucker Road is not as expansive as the estate from which the Porter house was moved. However, landscape architect Wimberly Treadwell used the entrance piers from the original property as a focal point for the backyard landscaping, orienting outside activities in the V created by the arrangement of the Porter’s multipurpose great room to the left and the housekeeper’s cottage to the right of the turreted entrance. The gentle slope toward the brick piers is an intimate setting for outdoor dining, which can spill from the covered loggia that connects the two living spaces.

Sally Draughon, owner of Preview Interiors, updated the main living area with a sophisticated monochromatic color palette and provincial, washed finishes on the furniture. Two large swirls of burnished gold provided subdued lighting from the beamed ceiling, a contemporary counterpoint to the texture of the old stone fireplace.

The kitchen was taken from the mundane by Valerie Garrett, who redesigned the surfaces and fixtures and made the limited space more efficient for present day use with the addition of cabinets to the ceiling and technology’s most advanced appliances.

Steve McKenzie, a designer from Atlanta, dressed the dining room in chinoiserie linen and French farmhouse elegance, with antique porcelains arranged on the walls with the care of a collector. Warmth for a cozy evening was provided by a replicated brass tavern light, which extended the length of the center of the farm table. After dinner, a guest could take brandy to the front porch where local designer Terry Holland made the most of a small space with comfortable wicker seating and lacy ferns arranged around an outdoor patterned rug.

The two bedrooms in the housekeeper’s quarters were converted to office space by Wesleyan College, with the removal of the partition wall. Designer Carrie Robinson, also of Macon, treated one room as a bedroom and the other as a private den for the fictional residents, with a distinctly contemporary sensibility. The lighting mobile suspended from the ceiling of the bedroom provided dramatic indirect lighting over the sleek bed and emphasized the richness of the original wood floors.

The traditional kitchen porch, architecturally appointed with the same care as the rest of the house, was decorated with plants — some freshening the entrance from the back door — and featured some seating for the cook who needs a break, by designer Lisa Bellwin, whose talent with plants added some of the finishing touches to her charming porch.

Another Macon designer, Tracy Benton Toney, has worked on many show houses, but devoted her time to exterior planting, which enhanced the landscaped area designed by Treadwell.

There was a triumphant spirit in the air after five long years of moving and restoring the Porter house.

This story was originally published June 25, 2017 at 10:10 AM with the headline "Design House a triumphant ending to a five-year plan."