Palladian Inspired Beauty
BY MICHELLE MACHADO
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Extraordinary environments are sometimes found within ordinary settings.
Such is the case with the Spatafore home, planted on 23 acres at the end of a rural road in the Tracy flatlands below the Altamont Hills. An expansive vision, detailed planning, high-end materials and flawless execution are combined to create an estate majestic in its simplicity; a quality that Charles and Marge Spatafore said is the result of having a “master plan.”
Their classic Italian home stands behind ornamental iron gates, at the end of a driveway overarched by Fruitless Mulberries – its presence far beyond the structure’s moderate 4,000 square feet. The Palladian-style, 3-bedroom, 3-bath floor plan is symmetrical: Rooms of similar size and shape sit on both sides of the living room, which is distinguished by 14-foot ceilings, crown molding and 10-foot-tall arched windows and wide doors topped by transoms. These elements are repeated in the adjoining rooms. There, the scale shrinks: Ceiling heights gradually lower to 10 feet as one travels from red-birch paneled library to loggia to bedrooms on one side of the home and dining room to loggia, kitchen and family room on the other.
Smooth taupe-colored interior walls – 12 inches to 18 inches thick – stand cool against warm-stained hardwood floors. “We chose unifying colors that create a very comfortable background,” said Lana Rogerson, the interior designer who helped the Spatafores select a palette of soft earthen tones for the exterior plaster, roof tile and interior paint, and rich brown for the white-ash floor inlaid with walnut wood. “The colors change all day,” Marge Spatafore said. However, the home’s classic framework is lasting. “Because it’s classic, it doesn’t get dated as quickly,” she said. Still, she continues to follow interior design trends, updating elements that no longer feel fresh. “You have to keep moving or things get stale,” she said.
Both Marge Spatafore and Rogerson agree that the dining room with its intimate scale and lovely crackle-finish buffet is one of the house’s high-points. As with every element of the estate, how the room was to be used – typically for dinner parties of about eight – drove its design. “It’s formal but comfortable. That’s a hard thing to accomplish,” Rogerson said.
The Spatafore home, which has access to an outside terrace from nearly every room, serves as a hub for the rest of the landscape – square and triangular plantings of wine grapes; olive and other fruit trees; vegetables; and ornamentals arranged in a grid.
Charles Spatafore, a third-generation Italian farmer, sells the six varieties of grapes grown on the property to boutique wineries and home winemakers, and the oil pressed from the fruit of its 600 olive trees to wineries, companies and individuals.
The environment is comfortingly unified: Outdoors and indoors, farming and gardening, work and play seamlessly meld.
“The integration of the home, the landscape and agriculture is unique,” said Jeff Gamboni, a Stockton landscape architect whose role was to make an unattached office and outdoor kitchen, added later, seamlessly fit into the existing home and gardens.
Completed in 2005, the Spatafores’ 1,500-square-foot office, just steps away from their home, contains a conference room, an additional bedroom, bathroom and a 2,200-bottle wine cellar.
“It’s a short commute,” Charles Spatafore joked. Other landscape features include statuary, fountains and a tiered reflecting pond that mirrors either the house to its front or the trees to its rear, depending upon the time of day. “The grand scheme is what is important about that home,” Gamboni said.
The plan for the home, orchards, vineyards and gardens was two years in the making and took two more to execute before being completed in 1999. “We had great fun from the design stage to when we moved in,” Charles Spatafore said. “We still are.”
Such is the case with the Spatafore home, planted on 23 acres at the end of a rural road in the Tracy flatlands below the Altamont Hills. An expansive vision, detailed planning, high-end materials and flawless execution are combined to create an estate majestic in its simplicity; a quality that Charles and Marge Spatafore said is the result of having a “master plan.”
Their classic Italian home stands behind ornamental iron gates, at the end of a driveway overarched by Fruitless Mulberries – its presence far beyond the structure’s moderate 4,000 square feet. The Palladian-style, 3-bedroom, 3-bath floor plan is symmetrical: Rooms of similar size and shape sit on both sides of the living room, which is distinguished by 14-foot ceilings, crown molding and 10-foot-tall arched windows and wide doors topped by transoms. These elements are repeated in the adjoining rooms. There, the scale shrinks: Ceiling heights gradually lower to 10 feet as one travels from red-birch paneled library to loggia to bedrooms on one side of the home and dining room to loggia, kitchen and family room on the other.
Smooth taupe-colored interior walls – 12 inches to 18 inches thick – stand cool against warm-stained hardwood floors. “We chose unifying colors that create a very comfortable background,” said Lana Rogerson, the interior designer who helped the Spatafores select a palette of soft earthen tones for the exterior plaster, roof tile and interior paint, and rich brown for the white-ash floor inlaid with walnut wood. “The colors change all day,” Marge Spatafore said. However, the home’s classic framework is lasting. “Because it’s classic, it doesn’t get dated as quickly,” she said. Still, she continues to follow interior design trends, updating elements that no longer feel fresh. “You have to keep moving or things get stale,” she said.
Both Marge Spatafore and Rogerson agree that the dining room with its intimate scale and lovely crackle-finish buffet is one of the house’s high-points. As with every element of the estate, how the room was to be used – typically for dinner parties of about eight – drove its design. “It’s formal but comfortable. That’s a hard thing to accomplish,” Rogerson said.
The Spatafore home, which has access to an outside terrace from nearly every room, serves as a hub for the rest of the landscape – square and triangular plantings of wine grapes; olive and other fruit trees; vegetables; and ornamentals arranged in a grid.
Charles Spatafore, a third-generation Italian farmer, sells the six varieties of grapes grown on the property to boutique wineries and home winemakers, and the oil pressed from the fruit of its 600 olive trees to wineries, companies and individuals.
The environment is comfortingly unified: Outdoors and indoors, farming and gardening, work and play seamlessly meld.
“The integration of the home, the landscape and agriculture is unique,” said Jeff Gamboni, a Stockton landscape architect whose role was to make an unattached office and outdoor kitchen, added later, seamlessly fit into the existing home and gardens.
Completed in 2005, the Spatafores’ 1,500-square-foot office, just steps away from their home, contains a conference room, an additional bedroom, bathroom and a 2,200-bottle wine cellar.
“It’s a short commute,” Charles Spatafore joked. Other landscape features include statuary, fountains and a tiered reflecting pond that mirrors either the house to its front or the trees to its rear, depending upon the time of day. “The grand scheme is what is important about that home,” Gamboni said.
The plan for the home, orchards, vineyards and gardens was two years in the making and took two more to execute before being completed in 1999. “We had great fun from the design stage to when we moved in,” Charles Spatafore said. “We still are.”
Palladian Architecture
Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the designs of Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). The term “Palladian” normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio’s own work; what is recognized as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of Palladio’s original concepts. This evolution of Palladianism as a style began in the 17th century and continued to develop until the end of the 18th century.
For further information on Palladian architecture:
www.essential-architecture.com
Home design concept:
Beach Alexander, Sonoma
Architect:
Gerald C. Taylor (deceased), San Francisco
General contractor:
Dana Smith (deceased) and Joe Stimich, Tracy
Landscape architects:
David Gates, Gates & Associates, San Ramon
Martin Hoffmann, Martin Hoffmann Landscape Architect, Danville
Interior designers:
Lana Rogerson, Designs By Lana, Stockton
John Tobeler, Tobeler Designs, San Francisco
Chris Reed, Chris Reed Interior Design, Modesto
Office design and landscape:
Chris Schrimpl, Chris Schrimpl Architecture, Stockton
Jeff Gamboni, Jeffrey F. Gamboni Landscape Architect, Stockton
For further information on Palladian architecture:
www.essential-architecture.com
Home design concept:
Beach Alexander, Sonoma
Architect:
Gerald C. Taylor (deceased), San Francisco
General contractor:
Dana Smith (deceased) and Joe Stimich, Tracy
Landscape architects:
David Gates, Gates & Associates, San Ramon
Martin Hoffmann, Martin Hoffmann Landscape Architect, Danville
Interior designers:
Lana Rogerson, Designs By Lana, Stockton
John Tobeler, Tobeler Designs, San Francisco
Chris Reed, Chris Reed Interior Design, Modesto
Office design and landscape:
Chris Schrimpl, Chris Schrimpl Architecture, Stockton
Jeff Gamboni, Jeffrey F. Gamboni Landscape Architect, Stockton