South Carolina Homes & Gardens (July 2005)
Text: Renee Killian-Dawson.
Photography: Teatro Vita Development Inc.
Architect: Group 3
Builder: Andrew Stringer
Designer: Dan Flannery.

This sensational Italianate villa on the coast of Hilton Head Island is simply breathtaking. From intimate courtyard gates to the fourth floor of this magnificent structure, every detail is stunning. Antiques mix with the most modern technology to form a rare treasure indeed.

Pass through the intricate wrought iron gates and there's an inkling of another world just beyond. Navigating the narrow wooden bridge it's an effort to concentrate and not simply stare at the Italianate villa bathed in ochre stucco.

Senses are hit from all sides, the ocean stretching out just ahead, the gurgling of an antique limestone and marble fountain occupying the central courtyard, an entire beachfront lot. Swathes of delphiniums, acres of box hedge line the antique Charleston brick drive. Is it the home of a transplanted Italian count? No, though anything is possible under the guiding hands of Gail and David McRorie. They've created the ultimate expression of their passions for Italian architecture, antiquities, and Hilton Head's glorious dune contoured beach. The result is this magnificent compound and their own residence, Toscana Mare with 9,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor rooms, masterfully handcrafted with architectural antiques and impeccable modern construction from the finest materials.

Gail says, "It took three years to finish the house. Some months seemed like years."

"But we absolutely refused to compromise on quality and detail," adds David. Friends say they feel like they've been here before, and the house has been here for ages. Architect Rick Clanton of Group 3 offers, "Gail has a rare talent for pulling things together, accessorizing. And David's energy and enthusiasm could build pyramids. What we and the designers did was merely the background for their own stunning vision.

The couple have owned houses in Hilton Head for 20 years and realized that in order to create their dream they'd have to go it alone. Each development had volumes of regulations that restricted building to particular styles. The opportunity to purchase in parcels three acres with the estuary dividing it and over 225 feet of beach frontage broadened their vision.

The McRories thought they'd build just one home but the idea of an exclusive community began to overtake them. Rick was bowled over by David and Gail's vision. "I met them while working on a house planned to go here. David bought the land piece by piece and at the time this area called Bradley Beach was a sleepy backwater. Now, I get chills every time I go through the gate. Around each corner, past each vista, there's something surprising and wonderful.”

Morning beckons through the mahogany lined, metal-clad French doors of their bedroom suite as sunlight spills in at dawn. The sound of the surf lures away sleep to morning coffee on the two terraces enveloped by limestone balustrades. Pieces of antique embroidered panels grace the space over their vanity mirrors, artfully installed so as to seem almost like trompe l'oeil.

The master bathroom is illuminated by a sky blue dome which cradles a crystalline 19th century Venetian chandelier. The walls are lined with silk damask in watery aquamarine, and the creamy Spanish marble lining the bath is veined in a rich shade of milk chocolate. Connecting the suite is Gail's intimate dressing room. The master bedroom walls are dressed in velvet, a subtle moss green both elegant and understated, and the silver lamps on the bedside tables were, David sheepishly admits, once 19th century samovars. The hall beyond is more boldly swathed in platinum on gold Fortuny silk damask. An early Grecian urn rests insouciantly on a rotating platform in a hall window recess, inviting one to touch, not just look.

The 18-inch thick walls ensure there are inviting window seats in a comfortably upholstered guest suite and that views, which can be seen from each room, are framed with integrity and a complex interplay of light and color that changes each hour. A sense of fun invites anyone to cozy up in the paneled banquette while waiting for the elevator at the end of the hall. It will transport one up to the state of the art cinema/observatory which also cleverly houses Gail and David's self designed offices in paneled wall-recesses. The complicated wizardry of electronics was engineered and installed by Custom Audio Video, a Bluffton business that specializes in high-end, high-tech luxurious features for an upscale, sophisticated lifestyle.

But to make an entrance it's imperative to ascend via the grand staircase. Curving seductively skyward, bathed in light from the inset octagonal window David designed, the fluid wrought iron staircase in the main hall is a masterpiece. "We had John Boyd Smith, the ironwork artist from Savannah, working with us for about two years," says David. "We were competing for his services with The Sanctuary on Kiawah Island but pleaded the case that this was our home! He created this staircase, all the gates in the compound. His work was integral to the place. John is so creative, probably only a handful of people in the world could do what he does. Imagine mixing metaphors of the Carolina marsh grass and Tuscan purity - and he came up with a beauty in the design that exceeded our expectations."

According to David the original entrance railings were straight, but Boyd Smith insisted on a more sinuous, elegant design. The result serves only to enhance the surround of the entrance porch, made from antique polychrome terra-cotta. The designs are simple, using green and terra-cotta colors. Various pieces appear throughout the house. It's a singular art that according to Dan Flannery, the Kansas City based interior designer who's worked with Gail and David for 10 years, "is too expensive to reproduce today. We collected it for several years in Kansas City. In the 1920s an Italian businessman brought Italian craftsmen over and started a factory to produce and build with it."

An arresting example of this art is the vast cornice that holds court over the range hood in the kitchen. It once graced a building's entrance and now looks perfectly at home amidst the marble columns, hand carved mahogany cabinetry and four-inch thick rondels sunk into the walls surrounding the professional stove. It transforms the kitchen from functional beauty into a work of art.

Through the arched paneled doorway to the dining room one finds a custom built round table, inviting and playful. The 1920s Murano glass chandelier in its trumpeting blues and roses hangs above as a collectible conversation piece. The massive painting of Bathsheba, attributed to Eyre Crowe, harmonizes with the wooden paneling ensconcing French doors that open onto the front balcony. As designer Flannery muses, "The house has a certain whimsy to it, ball gowns or bathing suits." (see "More Photos" below.)

Each corbel supporting the dining room balcony overlooking the estuary in front of the villa is hand-carved limestone and weighs about 950 pounds. The guttering is solid copper, and each square of the parking area paving is outlined in close-cropped grass. Even service areas flanking the house are paved in antique Charleston brick, a standard which recalls the days of abundant, inexpensive and highly skilled labor.

Indoor service areas utilize marble, limestone, hand painted walls, and custom cabinetry. The McRories have done what many would argue is impossible today. Rick Clanton adds, "The architectural antiques afford opportunities that would be otherwise impossible. Most would be too expensive to recreate." Even 10 feet of John Boyd Smith's incredible staircase could cost $40,000.

A noteworthy local firm amongst the daily heroes of this massive project is Rick Bent Flooring and their master craftsmen. As one enters the front door ascending the outer hall, even with so many objects of importance and breathtaking beauty competing for attention, it's impossible not to notice the deeply polished walnut parquet floors. Each board has been hand carved and placed in an intricate Versailles pattern

Gail and David attended an annual gala fund raiser for Patrons of Versailles and fell in love with the oft tread patinaed floors. Their floor may look precious, yet like most everything in the house, it's durable. It must withstand the McRories, two golden retrievers and frequent guests padding from pool to barbecue to sitting room. "Our goal from the beginning was to give the flavor and grandeur of something old," enthuses Flannery. "It was also really important to allow them to maintain a casual lifestyle for themselves and guests."

Whilst fabrics throughout the house are of superlative quality, the Pierre Frey cloud-covered upholstered chairs in the library are durable and can accommodate someone flopping down in a swimsuit with a book and a Dr. Pepper. The antique chairs in the dining room are upholstered in a pretty but functional period document fabric from Clarence House. Even the 17th century chairs covered in their original tapestry in the cozy morning room on the mezzanine level are not too precious to sit on.

The glass-topped table across the room, the base in ormolu and ebony, beckons David and Gail to sit with iced tea or a glass of wine over a game of backgammon. The McRories are continuing a long European tradition of living amongst beautiful things and not relegating them to china cabinets and museums.

Even outside the cloakroom hangs a small landscape by scientist and painter Louis Pasteur. Passing the columns which artfully divide each space on the first floor, the main sitting room boasts an arresting 17th century Ascension of Christ carved from a single piece of walnut. The 1880s Persian rug lives in perfect harmony with the adjacent library's and hall's Tabriz and Serape because they would have been produced in neighboring villages using similar motifs.

Amidst this great beauty the overriding sense one gets is that each feature, each view, each material, each object, has been planned with a rare and abiding passion unequalled in today's "fast and now" world. The couple are eager to share this as they continue their creative journey to build the final four villas. Gail smiles and quietly unrolls three gorgeous hand embroidered panels searched out whilst traveling.

"These will be placed within the coffered ceilings in the drawing room at Toscana Centro." With their home completed they'll concentrate their formidable energies lavishing as much care on the villa next door, a home that will take as its historical reference 15th century Venice. (According to Gail there's a warehouse of magical things waiting for each villa.)

Dan Flannery recalls the first party for friends and people involved in the project. "It was a night with thunderstorms and lightning, drama but no rain. The marble fountain was working and back lit for the first time, the house was all lit up, music drifted through from the musicians and caterers served sumptuous food. The sea swelled in the background and I felt transported into another time. I knew that as far as I was concerned, all our efforts had not been in vain."

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