Bienvenu. Benvenuto. Welcome.

How often, when traveling abroad, do you wish you could transport another country’s aesthetic back to your own? Whether touring a château or a villa, architectural details rarely found in more practical American structures — a stained glass window, perhaps, or wrought iron balcony—might catch your eye. The memory of them lingers when you are home again in practical, ordinary surroundings. You wonder if it could be possible to live in a château or a villa in your own country. Not only is it possible, it’s being done.

An intimate, gated development called The Coves brings a slice of the Old World to Winston-Salem.

The brainchild of the husband-and-wife team David and Carol McKie, owners of Maestro Properties, The Coves is a concept long in the making. David had a background in architecture, Carol, in interior design. When the two lived in Belgium for a period, older European styles fuelled their collective imagination. “I was fascinated by the designs and architecture in the Old World,” Carol recalls. David liked their simplicity. Retirement and a move to the Triad in 2004 allowed the McKies to realize their dream, beginning with the purchase of tract of land—a former dairy farm on Rolling Knoll Lane, off of Shattalon Drive. By 2007 they began construction on their house based on a Southern Living floor plan that Carol modified to suggest a French château. It is the first three—including an English-style manor and an Italian-style villa—that will comprise half of the development, Rolling Knoll Cove.

The second half of the development, called Carriage Manor Cove will consist of three smaller houses. The overall effect? “It’ll be as though we’ve transported a little European community into the heart of Winston-Salem,” explains David.

“We” includes not only The McKies, but North Carolina architectural designer Jim Phelps and Winston-Salem’s June & Garland Adams Builders who will construct the remaining five houses. For Phelps, The Coves represents a return to the romance of architecture prevalent in older styles. He is drawn to “the passion and creativity driving the project, all the way down to the details of the construction,” especially natural building materials. For Garland Adams and his son Brent, working with Phelps is a privilege. “He has such beautiful designs and elevations,” explains Brent. Garland agrees, citing Phelps’ unique layouts as a key feature. As for Carol, “I liked the flow and simplicity of his floor plans,” she says. “They seem to fit better with with today.”

And that’s what everyone involved in The Coves understands: Beauty and practicality can go hand in hand.

That balance strikes you when you enter the McKie’s house, “Mon Château.” At about 10,000 square feet, it is spacious without being cavernous. From the double doors in the dining room that open onto a small lot and fountains, to the high beamed ceilings, to the arched windows with deep sills, there is airiness about the house. And yet every inch of it is used efficiently. The dining room flows into the hallway that flows into the common area; the sunroom flows into the kitchen and hearth room. Not one square inch is wasted, as strategically placed closets, cabinets and shelves reveal. This is a house where a family can move about comfortably but, with five ensuite bedrooms, can find quiet retreats. This is a house perfect for working away from the office, as David’s downstairs study and Carol’s upstairs aerie suggest. This is a house made for entertaining weekend guests looking for a bit of country just minutes from the city, for pool parties and grilling on the back patio or movie nights in the downstairs home theater.

But it is the craftsmanship and architectural details that lend an Old World ambiance to the house and give it a visual richness. These flourishes—the custom-built wooden cabinets in David’s study, carved corbels, a mosaic in the kitchen around which the entire room was designed, seeded glass doors—look as though they were imported. But they are not. “We tried to use as much local talent as possible,” David notes. Perhaps the most charming touch of all is a hobbit-sized balcony overlooking the front hallway that’s still big enough, jokes Carol, “to stand here and say ‘Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo.” All joking aside, the romance of architecture that Phelps noted does feed the busy American’s soul; here, one can live out a European fantasy. Monsieur can sit down before the computer in the study, and pretend for just a moment that he is the next Voltaire penning a play, while Madame in her design studio might imagine that she is Mary Cassat at her easel. And just think: When the Italian-style villa and English-style manor go up next door, an aspiring Michelangelo or Shakespeare might move in, completing the European community that the McKies envisioned.

Vendor List:
Cabinets throughout the house: Adam Kolbus Fine Furniture, 336-475-3655
Bathroom fixtures: Beeson Hardware Company, www.beesonhardware.com
Lighting: Butler Lighting, www.butlerlighting.com
Finish and trim: Piedmont Preferred Craftsmen
Carved corbels: Enkeboll, www.enkeboll.com
Seeded glass: Clearlight Glass and Mirror, www.clearlightglass.com
Bathroom tile: Imagine Tile & Stone, www.imaginetile.net