Castle Contractors: Creating a Sense of Place through Architectural Integrity

"Architectural integrity is a fundamental precept in custom home design and construction," says Alan Looney, president of Castle Contractors LLC. "Homes which have architectural integrity evoke a time and a sense of place in both their overall appearance and in their details."

For more than 15 years, Castle principles Alan and Heather Looney have brought their passion for creating a true sense of place to numerous projects in Middle Tennessee. The typical Castle home is 3,000 to 8,000 square feet, varying in style and design, but consistently elegant and timeless. Almost all have a signature item: a gas lantern, a flickering accent that provides a warm finishing touch.

A Castle creation starts with the Looneys' personal explorations of the client's wants and needs to determine the desired result: a true sense of place. The couple uses this method throughout the construction process to create homes that are distinctive, yet in keeping with the most beloved home concepts.

"When we travel the country, we visit the Belle Meades and Cherokee Parks in other cities to research and document the details that make these homes timeless," says Alan. "I take lots of pictures and use them as a historic database when a client comes to us to design a home."

Alan utilizes this extensive pictorial file to determine the style of the house, its form and structure. He also accesses reference books such as A Field Guide to American Houses by Virginia and Lee McAlester. According to experts like the McAlesters, most U.S. homes can be grouped into four main architectural traditions: Ancient Classical, Renaissance Classical, Medieval or Modern. Each of these traditions has been interpreted in numerous variations through the years, which produced several different styles.

Ancient Classical, for example, can mean early Classical Revival, Greek Revival or Neoclassical. Renaissance Classical has produced Italian, with an emphasis on arches; French, with steep, pitched roofs; and English which focuses on entrances. Gothic Revival, Queen Anne, Richardsonian Romanesque, Tudor and Shingle homes are all examples of Medieval style; and the Arts and Crafts movement stemmed from the Modern style of the early 1900s.

By studying the myriad of details like design and time periods, along with the client's specifications, Alan can ensure that each house will be unique, yet still retain its historic accuracy. From the first concept to the final result, Castle Contractors takes every step necessary to produce a true dream home.

From Concept to Plan
Everyone involved in a Castle construction - from the architect who turns Alan's and Heather's ideas into working plans - to the subcontractors who lay the brick, share their vision for the architectural integrity of the finished product. Heather carries the historic accuracy into the interior of each home, helping clients select cabinets, counter tops, flooring, fixtures and other details that blend easily with contemporary comfort and modern convenience.

Merging the architectural integrity of a Tudor or Italian Renaissance style to contemporary client preferences (such as open, inviting floor plans) is a Castle specialty, and the Looney's own house is no exception. The French eclectic-styled home has spacious, welcoming archways, magnificent large windows and flawless stainless steel appliances. Light fixtures, reminiscent of the 1920s, highlight the 3-1/4" oak, blended with coffered ceilings and a new, custom mantle with a newel post that is 100 years old.

According to A Field Guide to American Houses, this French-Eclectic style was popular in America from 1915 - 1945. Although it offered many variations, the dominate features were the steeply pitched hipped roof, eaves that usually flared upward, and wall cladding made of natural materials.

"Architectural integrity means being faithful to the nuances that define a home's particular time or style," says Alan. "If it's French, we'll address the roof pitch, the combination of stucco and stone, the trim, the right colors, the type of door. The entrance has to have character. Inside there's hardwood and marble."

From Plan to Reality
Castle recently completed a new house in Cherokee Park, which is a neighborhood with a historic overlay. New houses are required to resemble the Tudor-styles of the neighborhood, which were built in the 1920s.

"You have to break down to the details that make a timeless home," says Alan. "So with Tudor, there should be a steep roof pitch. You expect to see materials such as brick, stucco and stone. There's timbering. And when you take a historically accurate approach, then 10, 20, 50 years from now, the house will still have architectural integrity."

The Tudor style emerged in America in 1890. It often features non-structural half-timbering and tall, narrow windows. A fine example of a distinctive subtype of Tudor can be seen in a home Castle built on Lauderdale. The rolled-eyebrow eaves convey the essence of the picturesque thatched roofs of rural England.

Another Castle construction that reveals this architectural integrity in both design and materials is a Louisiana-raised cottage on Otter Creek Road. This distinctive home style, according to A Field Guide to American Houses, was brought South, first to Louisiana, by French Canadian immigrants who favored long-span, roof-framing. Such homes typically have the front wall moved back, with the porch under a steep, sloped roof line.

"What's interesting about this particular project is that the man we built the house for grew up in the house that used to be on this spot. It was built in the early 1800s. The original family owned all the land in the Otter Creek area. When our customer bought the land from his parents, the original raised-cottage home was torn down to build this new one. In the interest of historic honesty and as a physical link to the past, we took the shutters off the old house and put them on the new one. We also saved some of the brick and some of the interior lighting to reuse. This brick was used in constructing the fireplace."

Alan and Heather are currently working on more of these timeless constructions, some of which can now be seen in the Abbottsford neighborhood. The houses in Abbottsford range from French-eclectic to Charleston single.