ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST ERNATIONAL MAGAZINE OF DESIGN : it Aon Pe South fe olina, ate en Maine: ; ELLs Michigan, Ste ae Missouri US S500FOREGN 09 Mi 06> > (Mi oe en comTennessee ‘Tale of Toad Hall A‘TASTE OF ENGLISH COUNTRY STYLE IN THE SMORY MOUNTAINS Architecture by Jack Davis, aia/Interior Design by Suzanne KaslefpAsiD. Pee ate ae ed Me ee Man rw ec \ 1] Fe Lae erect eae Perey eee ere oat Pe Aerie arenes aon see, Tadpole Cottage,a two-room pondside folly i= Ree Petree teen en ee es Pesthei tne h Uta Fafor—buileall the cabins from abtque timbers.Striking contrasts of rough and rugged with smooth and polished abound at Toad Hall. and art—pu -19th-century pa sideboard and chinoiserie tables. Stark sisal earpet. Lee Jofa drapery fabric. andlove ofthe The logs in question are mixed with amore than amply proportioned antique timbers collected, that Kreis, have built -acre site background for the Bealls’ vast collectior of I8th- and early-19th-cen- tury European furnishings nd household ornaments, as they do also adamantly refuse t0 1 ground. J 88 boulder s, the tone for the inte- akable and comfort- plantatic 60 - com“It’s an English country house made out of logs,” sa the interior designer, Suzanne Kasler. [Larr: Atone end ofthe great room Blackberry Farm 18th century. The oak rack is 19ch-century English. conformist dwell- and log cottages, which sit on a cycled from one of former vacation ing talented artisans such as Hall, it was designed by ter cheese maker and a lanta architect Jack Davis chocolatier. abin style and named In planning their new hor involved in their C Mountains prope! and construction and about nplifying everything.” at first so simple ‘ou take a log house and in- —— i i]as Ope cee sine ar ce Riera aieos e fo eee ayuEST COTTAGE Lerr: Tadpole Cottage was “bui froma simple sketch" says Kas “The builder just put it together.” Brow Lerr: The bedroom’ walls ud eilng inspired the high-con- trast palette ofthe furnishings ‘ding the cream bed hangings for the hickory-log four-poster. troduce the fabulor asked herself. “Ie an English country house made out of logs—a dark surround you're working with, and everything had to have texture and di- mension. Fabrics had to have enough weight to hold their own. Scale and strength were “The Bealls love archit ture and design, and because of it, they really push the en- velope. Working with them isspecial, because you get to do things that are unique. They pay attention to the details of everything, just as they do at Blackberry Farm.” Striking contrasts of rough and rugged with a Chippendale sideboard is backed by the timbered walls, as is an antique Chinese lac- quered screen, Below it is a second sideboard, which dis- lays boldly colorful late-I8th- entury Coalportchina in what Kasler describes as the “fab- ulous, enormous, all-in-one” great room, where the owners entertain. There are gleam- ig antique silver and glow- ing creamware collections in antique cabinets. A large and jaunt northern Euro- tapestry cartoon is key in taming a rough-hewn wall There are velvets, damasks, aisleys and tapestry fabrics mixed together in upholstery and accent pillows. Antique Oriental rugs are layered on larger sisal earpets. “Tone and texture, weightand texture, are in balance,” Kasler observes. “Every visual you go toward has such interest and pulls the inte- rior together.” There are fabrics from the house of iconic which Kasl exy room of Blackbe ging Brook C nison’s well-known, relaxed if y grand and very Regency and pears to inform much of Toad Halls interior, although his fabrics are the only immedi ate presence of pure Benniso- nian styl Gracefully conceived and thriving English-style gardens, designed by Mary Palm Dargan, cover the site sur- rounding and articulating the compound’ five log structures. There is every possible native herb, shrub and flower, along with boxwood, rosemary and lavender, espaliered pears and apples, antique roses and even herbaceous terrestrial orchids ‘A madly picturesque two- room log cabin baptized Cottag universal function of all that ‘Toad Hall embraces: “charm and folly!” O ‘Warrer’s Corrace ‘Omposrre:The cutting garden, ‘whichis illed with both perennials and annuals, is “old-fashioned,” ‘ays Toad Halls landscape archi- ‘ect, Mary Palmer Dargan. Beyond ieare a newly planted apple or- ‘chard and, nestled a the edge of the woods, the Writer's Cortage.