FROM THE CARIBBEAN TO ROSEMARY BEACH
The Malugen House, in Rosemary Beach, FL, was influenced by a trip to Barbados
where architect Eric Watson toured the island’s grand plantation houses.
Overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, a residence influenced by the grand plantation houses of the Caribbean sits in
the New Urbanist resort town of Rosemary Beach, FL. Minimally ornamented on the exterior, the Malugen House
fits perfectly with its neighbors, while making a unique statement through a subtle mix of color and texture
from its white stucco walls and dark stained timberwork.
The $1.2-million, 5,976-sq.ft. house, completed in January 2002, was constructed “to withstand the ferocious
Gulf Coast hurricanes with concrete-reinforced masonry block walls and wood truss roof and floor framing,”
explains architect Eric Watson. The house features four formed-concrete gable parapets crowned with spherical
cast-concrete finials, timber porches, tall wood sash windows and mahogany French doors and shutters.
The interior has tall pine timber ceilings, black-iron chandeliers, bead-board paneled walls and custom-made
three-panel interior doors painted black. The foyer floor is composed of black granite and travertine tile
arranged in a geometric pattern that recalls the three divisions of the entry porch. There is a double living
room, a dining room, five bedrooms, five-and-a-half bathrooms, nine covered porches and a courtyard garden with
a circle terrace paved in a checkerboard pattern of handmade Cuban tile. A detached garage with guest quarters
above is constructed with concrete block on the first floor and a wood frame clad with western red cedar siding
on the second. The change of materials on the garage/guesthouse contrasts with the main house, reinforcing its
“reading as a secondary structure,” explains Watson. The guesthouse has a living/dining room, bedroom, bathroom
and two covered balconies.
The shower pavilion, an appropriate amenity for a beach house, anchors the base of the exterior stairway to
the courtyard and functions as the third and smallest building element within the overall site plan. The
exterior stairway is contained within a thickened wall, defining the boundary separating the courtyard from the
vehicular lane at the back of the property.
The design for this house survived through three clients. “The initial client requested a large, gracious home,
but didn’t have a strong idea of what it should look like or what materials should be used. That client sold
the lot with the plans, which were sold once more. The property became more and more valuable and the design
remained intact,” says Watson. In designing this house, the architect was interested in achieving the feel of a
Barbadian sugar plantation house he had visited a few years before: “That house used simple yet durable
materials, clearly defined architectural massing and spacious interior volumes.” Watson arranged the plan of
the house in a clear “bookend” diagram that resulted in bold massing and a simple roof shape. “The bookend
diagram was chosen because it fit with the owner’s program requirements of four first-floor guest bedrooms with
the principal living rooms and the master bedroom on the second floor,” he says. The space was divided into
thirds, arranging the primary rooms with maximum frontal exposure and locating the secondary rooms such as the
foyer, stair hall and kitchen within the center. The dining room is given special emphasis, located above the
entry, where the room captures a view of the Gulf of Mexico from its projecting bay window.
Another provision of the design involved the town in which it was sited. Andrés Duany and Elizabeth
Plater-Zyberk, the town planners of Rosemary Beach, created an architectural design code to encourage the use
and application of elements found in the traditional architecture of the Caribbean to Florida’s Gulf Coast. The
code encourages the use of authentic materials and elements like cantilevered balconies, smooth stucco exterior
walls, wood sash windows, metal roofs, cedar shingles and decorative brackets. “These materials and elements,”
explains Watson, “offer an authentic patina over time. For instance, the concrete stucco on the Malugen house
will eventually develop small cracks.”
The new construction was influenced by Rosemary Beach’s design code in other ways as well. “The principal
design challenge of the Malugen House,” says Watson, “was the translation of the traditional architectural
style of the Caribbean to the Neotraditional style of Rosemary Beach.” Privacy is an issue in the town since
lot sizes are relatively small and public spaces are emphasized. “My strategy was to arrange the rooms, porches
and garden areas to maximize the best views possible, while providing a measure of privacy from the neighbors.”
Each bedroom, for instance, has its own porch, which functions as a transition space between the public and the
private. The porches of front-facing bedrooms, facing the public boardwalk, are enclosed with louvered panels
that can be opened.
Materials were chosen that were consistent with the Caribbean architectural style. The smooth stucco exterior
is painted white, contrasting with the dark-green-stained porch timbers and other exterior woodwork. “The
exterior ornamentation was minimized in favor of expressing the inherent visual qualities, textures and
characteristics of the durable and authentic materials chosen,” says Watson. The shaped gable parapets, on the
front and rear façades, are crowned with spherical finials, “recalling the decorative parapets found in much
Caribbean architecture,” he adds. The roof is clad with corrugated metal.
The living room features a pine timbered 13-ft.-tall ceiling and 4-in.
dark-stained quartersawn white oak flooring, provided by Seashore Flooring, Inc., of Santa Rosa Beach, FL. The
black iron chandelier and sconce match the black slate fireplace surround and mantel. Painted custom mahogany
French doors and transoms complement the Caribbean style.
The south façade showcases the house’s decorative timber-framed porches and timber rafter tails. Masonry piers
are used on the lower porches to emphasize a heavier “base” reading for the house, with lighter timber posts
topped with decorative carved brackets on the porches above. “Because the house has little masonry ornament or
detail, the exterior wood elements introduce detail and texture – for instance, the shaped ends of the porch
beams and the sawtooth ends of the vertical siding on the porch gable ends. The dark-stained wood contrasts
with the white stucco walls,” says Watson. Both the shutters and the garden gates were fabricated in mahogany,
tying these features to the finer detailing of the French doors. The masonry garden walls are accented with
rough-sawn cedar slats. Twin gas lanterns, fabricated by New Orleans, LA-based Bevolo Gas & Electric Lights,
adorn the courtyard terrace. “The exterior lighting was inspired by New Orleans’ French Quarter, which is
another source the town planners looked to for its spectacular courtyard gardens,” says Watson. At the lane at
the rear, a shower pavilion anchors the base of an exterior stairway leading to the guesthouse. On the north
façade, the “symmetrical window arrangement is reflective of the floor plan.”
On the first floor, four identical guest bedrooms, each with its own porch, bookend the center circulation and
entry zone. On the lower porches, 1-ft. square handmade black and white Cuban tile is laid in a checkerboard
pattern, “a hint of Caribbean atmosphere and materials,” explains Watson. Thickened property walls along the
lane enclose the exterior stairway, shower pavilion and mechanical areas, while defining the courtyard garden
between the house and the garage. “The walls are a secondary sculptural element reflective of the shaped gable
parapets. The walls anchor and provide mass to the exterior stair,” he says. Painted 1x6-in. double-bead-board
walls accent the foyer, along with its unique flooring. Custom black-painted three-panel interior doors
complement the black iron spindles and black-painted wood handrail on the staircase.
Prominently located in the town, the Malugen house is appropriately reflective of some of the fine Caribbean
houses after which the community was planned. Eric Watson built an exemplary house with the details, materials
and forms of traditional Caribbean architecture and the feel of Rosemary Beach.
Eric Watson received his Master of Architecture degree from Yale University and is a registered architect in
Florida and New York. He established and opened his office in 1992 in Seaside, FL. Now located in Tampa, the
firm is a two-time recipient of the Southern Home Award sponsored by Southern Living magazine. Florida Trend
magazine has listed Watson as one of the state’s top designers. Watson is a member of The Institute of
Classical Architecture & Classical America, the American Institute of Architects and is NCARB certified. His
work has been featured in Architectural Digest, Southern Accents, Southern Living and The Institute of
Classical Architecture’s The Classicist and A Decade of Art & Architecture, 1992-2002.
See details about the winning entry in the Summer 2004 issue of Period Homes Magazine.
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