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The spacious and well-appointed kitchen was a bright spot in the house. It needed
Ornate dormers and pediment windows provide a blend of architectural styles.
The house is surrounded by grounds that will be cleaned up, seeded and landscaped.
The architecture is a bold blend of styles, Gaslight-style fixtures brighten the lane that leads to the house. |
BY RICHARD AMRHINE
Houses in this area often come with some history, maybe a role in the Civil War, or a historic figure listed in the chain of ownership.
The house at 11300 Astarita Ave. in Spotsylvania County has more recent history of a different sort, and it's because of that history that it's now being transformed into the luxury property it was always supposed to be.
The grand, 12,000-square-foot house sits on 30 acres and was built in 2001, suitable for someone of wealth seeking plenty of privacy. Astarita Avenue is located in Whelan Ridge subdivision, a large-lot community about 12 miles southwest of Spotsylvania Courthouse in an area of the county that residents would fondly describe as the middle of nowhere. It's probably closer to Partlow than anything else.
The company doing the transforming is Old Town Builders, which has been renovating and building area houses since 1994. Its agent, Danielle Davis, is listing the property at $2.225 million.
She said plumbers, electricians, climate-control contractors and structural engineers had deemed the house and its systems in excellent shape.
"This house isn't going anywhere. Someone is going to love it just for the solitude," Davis said.
SHORT-TERM HISTORY
It was the acreage and the remote location that made the home just the place for the prior owners. On Oct. 21, 2004, Spotsylvania sheriff's deputies, joined by agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, raided the house. The raid was based on a tip that a number of high-powered weapons were inside the house.
The officers seized 26 high-caliber weapons. They included a Tech-9, an AK-47 and a fully automatic M-203 military rifle with a 40 mm grenade launcher attached to it, Sheriff Howard Smith said at the time.
Also found were 60 Rott-weilers in what was determined to be a legal dog-breeding operation.
The dogs were apparently allowed throughout the house. Davis recalled that when Old Town Builders first took on the rehabilitation project, the stench in the house was unbearable.
"The guys had to wear respirators when they first went in," she said. "Then we started noticing all of the oddities."
There were many features of the house that were first-rate. The kitchen was done in a handsome brown granite with top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances and a tile floor.
"We've decided that the kitchen was just fine, so we're leaving it alone," she said.
But there were ill-fitting windows in the kitchen, breakfast area and elsewhere that had to be replaced and refitted.
The master bathroom was handsomely tiled with an oversized, multi-head shower and a jetted tub. But the vanity was topped with inexpensive laminate and fixtures.
There are eight gas-fed fireplaces throughout the house, but many had no mantel, surround or trim of any kind with them.
A powder room has a rich-looking wood vanity and medicine cabinet, but a small, nondescript lighting fixture clings to the tall ceiling.
In the foyer and dining room are standard, home-improvement-store chandeliers that are sadly under-qualified for the purposes they serve.
Davis said it was as though the house was initially built to be a palace, but then completed with many run-of-the-mill components.
Altogether, the house boasts eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms and two half-baths.
Old Town's challenge has been to bring the home to its intended grandeur and find it an appreciative owner.
The smell is almost entirely gone now, and as work proceeds it will eventually be forgotten. Much of the drywall has been ripped out and replaced, and nearly all of the flooring has been removed. Missing trim is being added, and misapplied trim is being replaced.
Davis said it will soon be time for decorating work to begin. The colors and textures will carry a Tuscan theme throughout the house, she said, starting with Brazilian cherry hardwood flooring, known for retaining its warm beauty despite heavy use. Trim will be stained in harmonic tones to create a continual flow to the decor.
All the lighting fixtures and ceiling fans will be replaced--except for a couple of inexplicably tasteful ones here and there.
The standard door hinges and knobs, many of which were not masked when rooms were spray-painted, will be replaced with oiled bronze hardware.
"When we're done, this place is going to be amazing," Davis said.
The house sits on a 30-acre lot, with retention ponds and a large cleared area that will be cleaned up, seeded and landscaped. The property envelops a cul-de-sac at the end of Astarita Avenue. A gracefully curved and lighted lane leads to a circular drive in front of the house.
Reach Danielle Davis at 540/845-3786.
Richard Amrhine: 540/374-5406
Email: ramrhine@freelancestar.com
| The house at 11300 Astarita Ave. is of thoroughly modern construction, but the design seems to be a combination of styles, at least one of which qualifies as historic.
The beige-brick house has On the other hand, the steep, double-hip room with protruding, ornate dormers suggests French Provincial style. The front columns on the house provide a bold look but stray from the classic architectural style. --Richard Amrhine |
