home of distinction
THEIR first hire was the late Nick Garrett. The builder used his Southern charm
to navigate the permitting process, which allowed them to build a substantial
7,900-square foot home on contiguous oceanfront and oceanside lots. The team
also included Michael Ross Kersting, who had recently relocated from the south-west
to lead Garrett’s architecture division, and project superintendant Trevor Lanphear,
now a Wrightsville Beach-based custom homebuilder. Hunter Coffey, now a successful
Boone architect, was also an early team member.
“It’s one of the most complicated projects we’ve ever designed and built,” Kersting says.
After arriving on the East Coast, Kersting quickly became known for developing an
idiomatic architectural expression rooted in contemporary lines and nautical details. Early
in the design process, the house took on yet another coastal nuance, that of a sandcastle.
The homeowner wanted the home to be as hurricane proof as possible. It was built from
cast-in-place concrete pilings to support concrete slabs on the first and second levels, “very
rare for a residence around here,” Kersting says.
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WBM june 2020
HANK CARTER
Spanning two lots, the
home’s exterior blends
Italian roof tiles, stucco,
glass and mahogany,
and aluminum rail
details. A circular drive-way
provides access
to and from Lumina
Avenue by way of the
porte cochere hidden
behind the front eleva-tion.
From the Mason
Island Audubon Sanc-tuary,
this aerial view of
Shell Island looks south
along Lumina Avenue.
Seamlessly recessed
hurricane shutters zip
off the exterior, includ-ing
the furnished porch,
while the entire house
can be shut down with
automatic, roll down
hurricane shutters.