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Photography by Sam Fentress
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a sumptuously decorated living room with a grand piano.
Linda and Paul Lee's house is the belle of the ball.
Grand and gorgeous, the couple's wooded estate in Chesterfield hosts parties nearly every weekend: large parties in the great room with concert-quality performances by Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra members, including Concertmaster David Halen; dinner parties in the courtly dining room with textured walls as dark as midnight; family parties in the lower level with a 56-inch flat-screen television and open spaces for frolicking grandchildren.
Indeed, the Lee house was made for entertaining. Literally.
Entertaining was foremost on the Lees' minds in 1998 when they began planning their custom-built, 10,000-square-foot home in a gated neighborhood near a lake.
They called upon architect David Schaub of the Schaub Design Group in Kirkwood to create an airy abode with soaring ceilings, serving stations on both floors, an elevator, a wine cellar and a great room large enough to comfortably hold 80 guests and a Boston piano (and once, risers for 20 chorus members from Cornerstone Chorale & Brass). The house was built by Dean Teiber.
The Lees enlisted Debbie Lewis from Interiors by Design to make their home warm and welcoming. The result is a sophisticated space that showcases the couple's art collection and fine furniture, while also inviting visitors to relax and revel in the moment.
"We wanted a place to enjoy with our family and friends," says Linda, who moved into the home with her husband four years ago this May. "Entertaining is important to us."
The Lees hold at least four large parties each year, many benefiting institutions and organizations. Last fall, two classical singers delighted about 40 supporters of Webster University, where Paul is a board trustee. He is president of Delta Environmental Consultants, an energy recovery business focused on recycling rubber products.
Their home also hosted a new-member gathering for the Assistance League of St. Louis, a nonprofit group for which Linda is slated to become president for the second time in May. (She served as the chapter's first president during the late 1980s.)
Their home was the epicenter of fundraising events for the Saint Louis Symphony Volunteer Association last spring. Linda serves on the symphony's board of trustees. At that soiree, Mark Sparks, the symphony's principal flutist, dazzled 60 attendees with a performance.
"Going to the Lees' house is an event," says Kay Kaiser, a friend and artist who created two graphite drawings for the Lees' great room and a series of framed photographs that hangs in the back entryway, documenting the home's construction.
"Their house is full of music and art," Kaiser says. "With its varying roof lines and windows, their house is a work of art. No matter where you are in the house, it is an experience. An event."
At first, the Lee house plays hard to get. Visitors must drive more than a mile on a wooded lakeside road before discovering the dwelling nestled among three acres of dogwood and redbud trees.
But like a seasoned flirt, the house imparts a feeling of importance the moment it greets guests with its stately stone facade, circular driveway and glass entryway.
Once you're inside, a truly great room reigns. Maple pillars, moldings and hardwood floors embrace the space. Tall walls of windows unveil nature's beauty. Paintings, sculptures and objets d'art add class and character.
The Lees' art collection reflects their love of Africa. Built-in shelves next to the great room's brick fireplace display tribal artifacts, many amassed during travels to the continent: a red wedding hat, a mask used in purification rites, a clay beer container.
On the wall hang three serigraphs--depicting a water buffalo, a lioness and a leopard--created by Dylan Lewis of South Africa. Holding court on a wooden step table is a stone sculpture of a husband and wife by Agnes Nyanhongo, a Zimbabwe artist.
Nearby, the Lee's 735-square-foot kitchen entices the senses, whether with the aroma of Linda's Montana blue cheese beef tenderloin or an aesthetic appreciation for the room's craftsmanship and design.
Glass-fronted maple cabinets frame a pass-through to a built-in serving station with honed granite countertops and outdoor views. Thick tempered glass with sand imprints hovers over part of the island. A cozy family room, modeled after a Brighton summer home in the United Kingdom, lounges off the kitchen with plush seating and clerestory windows.
The kitchen, designed by brooksBerry & Associates, boasts professional quality appliances, including a Sub-Zero refrigerator, two refrigerator drawers and a bar refrigerator in the serving station; double Thermador convection ovens, two warming drawers and a five-burner gas stovetop, and two high-performance Asko dishwashers.
After an evening of entertaining, the Lees retire to their sprawling master suite with tree house-like views, a spiral staircase leading down to a his-and-her office and a 375-square-foot bathroom with a porcelain tub, chaise lounge and a large, multiple-fixture shower enclosed in glass block .
The home's lower level offers more retreat. A great room and bar incorporate contemporary furniture mixed with ethnic punches--a wedding cloth from Zimbabwe and Botswanian baskets. An antique--a turn-of-the-century oak table and chair set that Linda once bought for $25--is the room's exclamation point.
"I don't want to be overwhelmed by one style," says Linda, relaxing on a brown leather couch in the lower-level great room. "Adding items that are important to you makes a room personal."
Three ample downstairs bedrooms, including one with a kitchenette, provide respite for guests. The lower level also includes an exercise room with a steam shower and a temperature-controlled wine cellar built to hold up to 1,200 bottles.
"I love to share our house with people," Linda says. "It's the people who make the house special."
brilliant. steal it.
Light infuses the Lee house. Part of it comes from an abundance of big windows, airy spaces and help from a professional lighting designer. But the Lees' home is full of "false windows," or framed cutouts in walls that let light stream in and open up rooms. Creating one in a home of any size or style is an inexpensive alternative to knocking down walls and other costly remodeling projects.
