Status: Under Construction
Location: Springfield, MO
This was a multi-year project designing a 70,000 square foot house, which Purva worked on while at RDDA. The total air-conditioned floor space is 61,408 square feet. The total covered floor space is 70,640 square feet, which makes it the ninth largest house in America by floor space. The house is under construction at the top of a hill on the owners’ 188-acre thoroughbred farm. They have been living in a house on the property, and have built three large horse barns.
The clients knew from the start that they wanted a classical American style house. We opted for the Federal style, which was popularized (and "Americanized") during the late 1700s and early 1800s by architects such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Latrobe, and Charles Bulfinch. The Federal style utilized by RDDA in this design is America’s version of English Regency, and is also the style of the White House.
The whole exterior of the house is cream-colored marble, quarried and fabricated in the mountains outside Sofia, Bulgaria.The grand front façade of the house features a projecting portico and two-story porch with 25-foot tall marble columns. Fitting for a house of this magnitude, the columns, when in place, will be the tallest single-shaft columns ever fabricated in the history of the world. A large veranda spans the rear of the house, offering spectacular views of the estate’s acreage. The pool and gardens were designed by Harold Leidner Landscape Architects of Dallas. The pool area includes an open-air pavilion, designed by Leidner in collaboration with RDDA, with a bar and seating area. Verandas and balconies extend across three levels on the rear of the house. The exterior walls are poured-in-place concrete between rigid insulation panels. The rest of the structure is steel.
The lower level of the house is designed as a walk-out basement, cut into the downward slope of the hill. This lower level opens onto the veranda, pool, bar pavilion, and gardens. The lower level includes a display garage that can house up to twelve cars, and is designed to double as a ballroom. The space also contains a golf simulator and a race car simulator. This level has a game room, designed to emulate a jockey club at a racetrack. This floor also houses a movie theater, indoor swimming pool, steam room, sauna, fitness center, locker rooms, two-lane bowling alley, gun room and gun range, and an all-seasons kitchen. The home has three stairways and two elevators serving all three floor levels. One elevator and one stairwell go all the way down to a wine cave below the walk-out basement.
The 6,000 square ft. wine cave will house the creation of the owners’ private label wines in French oak barrels. The space also includes a wine tasting room and dining room.
The exterior entrance to the wine cave is shown here on the left. The wine cave is finished and operational. It was designed by Russ Noble of Slone Architects in collaboration with Bacchus Caves of Napa. The wine cave interiors are by Stephanie Slone-Snadon of Slone Architects and Brenda Van Eps of Studio V Design.
The Great Hall with its monumental fireplace and elliptical staircase will be the focal point of the main floor. The second floor includes the master suite with “his” and “her” bathrooms, dressing areas, closets, and an adjoining laundry room. Also on the second floor are six guest suites, each complete with a bedroom, bathroom, and separate living and dining areas with kitchenettes. Service quarters are on the third floor above the primary garage.
