Virginia, teaming up with London avatars of the English
room, Mlinaric, Henry and Zervdachi Ltd. as decorators.
The result is winsome and winning: charm preserved,
modern spatial and other exigencies fulfilled.
The owner, scion of an old Chicago family has ancestral
ties to the area; the road he lives on, Prince Road, is
named after his grandfather who acquired property there
generations ago. Phantom Fox was first constructed
by different owners as a hunting lodge, designed by
their architect with a sophisticated eye on a neighboring
property, Salamander House, dating from the 1920s.
The present owner was ensconced for ten years as
tenant and used it as a bachelor retreat from his main
residence in Georgetown. When he married, in 1999,
he purchased Phantom Fox, and commissioned Fairfax
and Sammons to enlarge the house and reform aspects
of it to give it the air of a permanent residence.
The house, in its original plan, is happily Palladian, with
a central three-bay block containing the living room on
the piano nobile over dining room and library, flanked
by lower "pavilion" wings containing bedrooms and
kitchen. Fairfax and Sammons retained the form of the
original house but rebuilt the north wing on two stories
to accommodate a larger kitchen and service area
and master bedroom suite. Elements of the internal
plan were redesigned and finishes replaced. Having
said this, Anne Fairfax simply upgraded and preserved
certain noteworthy architectural details: the red tin
HYLAND
