The House in the Hill
After these homeowners bought this property, they discovered the surprisingly steep slope.
By Christy Marshall Photography by Carmen Troesser
After years of living in St. Albans, the children were grown and gone. She (they prefer not to be named) was ready to move closer to the action, and he was ready to have the house of his dreams. After working with Kim Taylor West of K. Taylor Design Group LLC for more than a decade, they enlisted her help in finding the perfect spot. They landed on a lane in Town & Country that abuts Queeny Park.
From the street, the house gently disguises the dramatic slope in the rear. Designed by architect Susan Bower, the downspouts in the short walls work as fountains. A young neighbor down the street calls the home “the magazine house.”
Shot a dusk, the house glistens. Poynter Landscaping did the design and plantings.
“I said I wanted a 4,000-square-foot ranch,” the homeowner says, adding that if the house needed help, Kim would handle it. However, her husband was ready to tear down and build from the ground up.
“He didn't want anything where you don't know what's behind the walls,” she says. They were ready to put in a bid on one house, which had struck them as extremely well built. But then the house next door to it came on the market so they bought it in March 2020 (in the throes of the pandemic), leveled it, and hired the neighbor’s contractors, Huffton Construction.
A month later, they called architect Susan Bower, founder of Bower Leet Design. “If you're interested in a modern style, she's the go-to in St. Louis,” the homeowner says.
The husband had a file full of pictures of house styles he liked, which he describes as “a mixture of modern and mid-century.” He sent them over and the plans began.
“They didn’t have to say anything,” Susan says, adding that she had “the picture book.”
“We had concepts for the interior and concepts for the exterior and those were based on their ideas,” Kim adds.
But it was shape of the lot that presented the greatest challenge. The homeowners knew they wanted to be able to walk out of the main living area straight into the back yard but they didn’t realize that from the highest point in the back to the lowest point in the front, it slopes down a staggering 28 feet.
“When it's the front of the house, how do you make that look right?” Susan asks. “How does it work? And fortunately, [the homeowners] had lived in a house that had an entry from the lower level.”
He explains: “I grew up in South America. I was born there, and one house we lived in in Chile was modern from the ’70s or late ’60s. It had different levels, different sorts of hidden areas, living areas, and gardens mixed in with the rooms.”
“To do the front we needed to come in closer to the street at the lower level,” Susan says. “And then we had to make the main living level up so that it was easier to walk out to the back of the site. Once we all got our heads wrapped around that, everything fell into place.
“We were able to mediate the slope with the grading so that the lower level is 11 feet below the main level, and the garage is 2 feet down from the main level,” she explains. “The main level of the house can access the lovely back yard and park at the higher grade.”
This four-seasons room is constantly in use. “This is what I wanted,” the wife says. “I wanted a backyard that was cozy and we could walk right out into it.”
The driveway sweeps up around the house so it ends at the garage with four steps up to the door into the laundry room and kitchen. The plan left room for a ramp if the steps were no longer negotiable.
“We definitely kept universal design in mind so they can be here in their late ’90s and on,” Kim says, adding that designer Anna Motz, helped with the interiors. All the rooms and bathrooms (including a kitchenette) on the first (street) level are all accessible and an elevator negates the necessity of using the steps.
The homeowners both picked the bedroom as a favorite room. “It feels like a hotel but not,” she says, while her husband adds, “I love how nice the bedroom is. There are so many windows. I love rainstorms and I love seeing them."
Clean and serene, the master bath perfectly captures the modern vibe of the house.
The walls are covered in a Schumacher Shantung black wallpaper. The vanity is floating. “I love these gigantic cabinet pulls,” says Kim Taylor West. “And this is the only room where we did herring bone on the floor.”
The planning took close to a year. “Even though we knew the style, the specifics took a while to come up with,” the husband says. “Then we wanted to add this or add that. Susan had to make adjustments and she built a [physical] model.”
“She had it terraced to the elevation,” the wife adds. “Then you could see how high the back was so it helped make sense to me why it had to be that way.”
Huffton Construction broke ground in the spring of 2021 and completed it in 2023. The house ended up around 7,000 square feet.
“Everything was crazy because of the supply chain,” Susan says. “Getting the steel was difficult. There were all sorts of bumps along the way. I will never get over the architectural review board.”
“The civil engineering took quite a long time,” Kim says. “The permits took a long time. And then getting all the quotes to know the budget and everything took longer than it normally would, just because everyone was trying to work with all the suppliers and find out what was available and what manufacturers had what right now.”
The homeowners had specific requests: A metal roof. Stucco. Stone. Wood under the eaves.
“I grew up in Texas and wood under the eaves is a thing in Texas,” the homeowner says. “And Susan made the eaves big so you could get some shadowing.”
From the front two-story entry, there is a glass-paneled stairway to the main floor. The open room has a double-island kitchen which opens up to the living and dining room areas. The ceilings are made out of the same Douglas fir as is used in the adjoining four-seasons room. “So, everything just flows really nice and calmly,” Kim says. “It just gives it a more modern feel.”
The primary feature of the main living area is the wall of windows. “People say indoor, outdoor, but this just feels it,” the homeowner says. “You don't have to open the doors and go outdoors. You just feel it.”
Susan Bower points out that it isn’t often that “you get to do an arched vault for a living room.” In this house there are two. Designer Kim Taylor West points out the addition of the Douglas fir adds a warmth and softness; “Sometimes modern homes can be a little too stark. I think adding the wood really made a big difference.”
The cabinets throughout the house were designed by Serena Williams of Beck/Allen Cabinetry. In the kitchen, one island is used as beverage center. Facing either end are custom cabinets—one for cocktails, one for coffee. “And it works out really, really well,” Kim says. “They can entertain a lot. It's got a nice versatility.”
The cabinetry in the office, created by Beck Allen, has garnered a national award. Adam Walters of Espion created the desk.
The homeowner says the view from the kitchen is one of her favorite elements of the house. “If I'm in the kitchen cooking, I can see out the front and I can see out the back,” she says. “I know indoor/outdoor is kind of a cliché, but the way the windows are, it feels and it lives very indoor/outdoor.”
There is one cabinet for coffee, another for cocktails in the kitchen beverage center. The couple entertains frequently and one of their daughters comes over and uses the area for her baking.
The dining room table and chairs were custom built by Adam Walters, a local artisan who founded Espion Furniture Co. In the corner of the very large room is a limestone fireplace. Down the hall is the homeowner’s office. The cabinetry, again by Beck/Allen, recently won a national award. At the end of the hall is the primary bedroom, a favorite of both the homeowners. Flanked by windows, the room has the ambiance of a high-end treehouse.
Adam Walters, a local artisan who owns Espion Furniture Co., created the dining room table and chairs.
On the street level are another three bedrooms, for when those grown children or relatives come to stay, and a center area with kitchenette and mid-century design billiards table. Off to one side is a reading nook for the homeowner, which she expects to transform into a play area once grandchildren arrive.
The desired mix of modern and mid-century exudes serenity throughout the house. The dominant feature is the view outside into the lush woods of Queeny Park.
“It’s a relaxing house,” the homeowner says. “I’ve had a few friends use the word ‘cozy.’”