Designed by Geri Yantis, this Shingle-style home creates visual interest through the use of such architectural elements as a balcony and a porch.
JULY/AUGUST 2010
Since Bill Sutton started his architecture firm in 1980, it has grown from what he describes as “one guy and a drafting table” to a thriving company of 20 architects. Geri Yantis joined the firm in 1984, becoming a partner in 1993; today, their residential design business covers suburban Maryland, the Eastern Shore and Northern Virginia.
“We do custom work and renovations,” Sutton says, explaining that the largest portion of their business is high-end infill speculative homes “where a builder buys a lot—possibly a tear-down—and puts up a custom home designed for that spot. It’s a hot new market with homes that tend to be high-end traditional in style.”
The Shingle-style home featured here was designed by Geri Yantis for builder Laurence Cafritz. According to Yantis, Cafritz has changed the face of this 1960s Bethesda neighborhood, replacing ramblers one at a time with spacious homes—more than one of which was designed by Sutton Yantis. “The goal is to design with sensitivity to the neighborhood,” Yantis says. “For instance, we keep the scale as diminished as possible by including one-story rooflines, so rooms are underneath the roof. And we try to create the least amount of disturbance during construction.”
The narrow corner lot presented some challenges to the architect, who ultimately designed a linear house with five bedrooms and four baths, at 6,800 square feet including the finished basement. It sold for $2.2 million after only 45 days on the market.
INQUIRIES: Sutton Yantis Associates Architects, 8300 Boone Boulevard, Suite 800, Vienna, VA 22182; 703-734-9733; www.syaa.com