Steven Harris Architects, Jessica Helgerson Interior Design, and Rees Roberts and Partners Transform a Lakefront Property in Florida

2021 Best of Year winner for Residential Transformation

As you approach this lakefront property by Steven Harris Architects, a simple white-stucco facade conceals the spatial complexity and nuanced sophistication lying beyond. Crossing the shell-paved entry court, you are greeted—à la Odysseus—by a live oak growing through one wall. You’re then guided to a glass-walled courtyard enclosing more ancient oaks, native plantings, and a lap pool, its surface fairly reaching the stone-slab floor plane of the airy spaces shimmering alongside it. Nearly every room in the 8,000-square-foot, single-story house looks out over the lake, sky, and sloped site. “By keeping the house relatively low and the vegetation lush, the project feels simultaneously private and generous,” Interior Design Hall of Fame member Steven Harris says of the cantilevered roofline and the tropical landscaping by the firm of fellow Hall of Famer Lucien Rees Roberts. Curvaceous, relaxed furnishings—supple leathers, richly textured fabrics, plush rugs, abundant wood—masterminded by Jessica Helgerson feel at once a contrast to the rectilinear architecture and a continuation of the natural surroundings. “We strove for comfort, livability, and a quiet palette that would make room for the architecture,” Helgerson says of the collaboration, “which in turn was designed to make room for the beautiful site.”

Steven Harris Architects: Steven Harris; Abir Ahmad; Peter Mcinish

Jessica Helgerson Interior Design: Jessica Helgerson; Alisha Borden

Rees Roberts and Partners: David Kelly; Regina Cassorla