Posted: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 03:18 PM - 11,889 Readers
By: Nicole Villalpando
Blair and Julie Drenner's 12,000-square-foot home is a wonder of domes and arches. Taking influences from Germany, Spain, France, Morocco and Italy, the couple worked with Luxor Custom Homes, a company he is a part owner of, to design a home that while grand, works for their family of six.
Blair Drenner is a manager for IBM. Julie Drenner is an attorney who is a lobbyist with the Heartland Institute. Building custom homes is a hobby for them. This is the second one they've completed for their family, but they've also worked on homes for other people, Julie Drenner says.
They have put the house on the market for $3.85 million. Kathleen Bucher of the Bucher Group at Keller Williams Realty has the listing.
The house at 3900 Pearce Road is down the street from Emma Long Park and has views of Lake Austin and the Pennybacker Bridge. The Drenners positioned the house so that the back would face Pearce Road. This allowed the pool to be shaded in the afternoon.
Driving up the driveway of the three-acre gated estate, guests see three stories of backyard living from the third-story balcony to the second-floor veranda with a hot tub that creates a waterfall into the first-floor pool beside the large patio with an outdoor kitchen. A large semicircular black granite counter provides an eating area and cooking space. A built-in grill, sink, dishwasher and trash compactor make this a very usable kitchen. The pool, surrounded by flagstone, offers a walk-in beach leading to the 9-foot deep end. Rocks along the side with waterfalls provide jumping platforms for the kids.
From the back of the house, it's clear to see that this is a home that flows with arches and columns. Around at the front, the door is atop a sweeping cantera stone staircase. The main floor of this house is actually the second floor. Through the custom-made wrought-iron, glass and wood front doors, guests immediately enter a 37-foot-tall domed rotunda. The circular room has travertine and black marble floors and travertine columns. In the center, thick black-and-tan carpet sits below the massive 22-foot-diameter dome with hand-painted three-dimensional scroll work. The Drenners hired a German pastry chef to pipe dimensional designs on all the domes in the house.
One side of the rotunda leads to the master suite and study. The two-story study features hand-scraped walnut floors and alder built-in shelves. Julie Drenner says the inspiration for this room was "My Fair Lady." A winding staircase leads to the upper floor, where a built-in computer desk fits two people. This floor of the library also can be accessed from the third-story overlook by the rotunda.
A half-bathroom by the master suite features a marble sink and basket-weave stone walls that give the room dimension.
The master suite offers its own private balcony as well as access to the second-floor balcony with the hot tub. The suite features a barrel-vaulted ceiling with cove lighting and an arched alcove for a window seat. The house is considered a smart house, with five touch-screen monitors that control all the functions of the house from the security system to the front gates to the lighting and window shades. One of those touch screens is in the master suite.
The master bathroom features a large tub surrounded by asterisk granite with shimmering bronze veins running through it. Old World Michelangelo marble with hues of black, orange and white encases the shower room that offers a dozen shower heads. The Michelangelo marble is also on the floor of the bathroom. Both the vanities are done in asterisk granite; his is tall, hers is two-sided for good storage.
His closet features a washer and dryer inside. Hers has almost 300 square feet and provides a granite-topped island and many levels of built-in shelves.
Across the rotunda, the dining room offers multiple stone-encased, Gothic arched windows. The same type are in the study. Across from the 12-foot dining table, a slab of rainforest gold marble covers an alcove wall. A glass and wrought-iron door separates the temperature-controlled wine room. The room can store more than 400 bottles.
The large, open kitchen flows to the breakfast nook with a curved wall of glass. A large island topped in red fire granite holds the induction cooktop. The kitchen offers a steam oven, two Miele convection ovens and a Sub-Zero refrigerator. L-shaped counters across from the island hold a farmhouse sink and a dishwasher.
The kitchen leads to a family room with access to the patio. Slate floors connect the kitchen, breakfast nook and family room.
Next door, the large game room features a curved bar accented in glass tiles, wood and copper counters. The bar offers a dishwasher, refrigerator, ice maker and microwave. A built-in banquette of semicircular seating is tucked into an alcove with Gothic arched windows.
A half-bathroom sits between the game room and the media room. Two rows of black reclining chairs with cup holders face a 133-inch movie theater screen that takes up a full wall. The coved ceiling features recessed lights. Detailed wrought-iron faux window arches on each side give this room light.
Tucked into the landing halfway up the staircase to the third story is a craft room.
The two girls' rooms and a playroom make up the third floor on this side of the rotunda. The girls share a large bathroom with a tub and shower on one wall and a shower room on the other. Each girl has her own sink area.
The third-floor balcony becomes a perfect spot for viewing fireworks or looking out onto Lake Austin and the West Austin hills.
The house features a marble-encased elevator that goes to all the floors and is convenient to the five-car garage, kitchen and utility room.
Two boys' bedrooms occupy the first floor. They share a large bathroom with a slate and river rock floor that looks like a river flowing through the room. The slate flows three-quarters up the wall and tapers into a jagged edge. A large geode sink further creates a rugged setting. There is a large shower room as well. This bathroom also doubles as the bathroom for the pool.
A guest suite with a full bathroom, an exercise room, a second front entrance and the back door to the pool round out the first floor.
The guest house sits across the patio from the boys' rooms. At 1,700 square feet, it offers a full kitchen with double ovens, granite counters, plenty of cabinet storage and an eating area big enough for an average table.
The living room provides built-in cabinets and many windows as well as a separate entrance at the front of the house.
The large full bathroom is swathed in onyx, copper quartzite and marble. The bathroom offers both a tub and a shower room. Two walk-in closets and dressing areas flow off the bathroom.
The bedroom becomes one large bay window with a massive pane of glass taking up one wall.
While the Legislature is in session, Julie Drenner's father, Rep. Charlie Howard, R-Sugar Land, stays in the guest house. It was designed to be wheelchair-accessible for aging parents.
The Drenners say they enjoyed the process of building this home. And while they focused on elegant finishes, it had to be a home that fit them.
"It's really beautiful," Blair Drenner says, "but's it's also really functional."
