Custom Residential Building & Renovation Services by Worth Builders of Palm Beach, Inc

Architect who wins first-ever Schuler Award brings formal style
and ‘a degree of surprise’ to new, symmetrically balanced Palm Beach home.

The vaulted gallery hall leading to the living room is one of two main axes the architect created on the main floor.

The loggia along the south façade is designed to be enclosed with glass sliders when the weather is inclement

The free-standing staircase adds a dramatic effect to the two-story entrance hall positioned at one corner of the house

The design directive was brief: a brick house that responded to lavish gardens.

With that, Jupiter architect Thomas M. Kirchhoff went to work creating a new 15,000 square foot, two-story home for Fitz and Edie Dixon on an estate-section lot covering almost 2 acres.

“I was really given creative license, “said Kirchhoff whose effort on the Dixon residence resulted in his receiving the first Elizabeth L. and John H. Schuler
Award from the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach architecture.

The Dixon house was built over a two-year period, from 1997 to 1999.

Schuler Award-winner Thomas Kirchhoff stands in the walled garden created
in front of the principal street façade of the Dixon house, which
is symmetrically arranged around a first-floor library bay.

A concentrically shaped swimming pool is situated on the east side of
the property off the living room’s loggia.

“We chose the Georgian style, which was dictated by the desired materials, “said Kirchhoff, who worked with contractor Worth Builders to realize the design.

On the ground floor, the architect laid the house out on a dual axis, creating vistas through the tow main wings, dedicated respectively to living and dining functions. Though the overall plan of the house is asymmetrical, each of the three elements of the composition was designed to be symmetrically balanced. Rooms are arranged for optimum views of the surrounding gardens, created by the Hobe Sound landscape architecture firm Innocenti & Webel, which Kirchhoff selected for the project.

Symmetrically placed French doors in the living room open into a loggia
and east garden beyond. Decorator Lois Wideman worked with
the Dixons to furnish the home.

The positioning of the house, with a motor court on the west side of the property instead of the usual circular drive on the street side, said Kirchhoff, allows for additional garden apace and removes any views of automobiles from the principal rooms or the street.

Though the rose-colored brick facades give the house a thoroughly solid – built look, Kirchhoff made sure that window openings were large and plentiful enough to make the interiors bright and light.

“It was important to add a degree of surprise,” said Kirchhoff, who characterizes the Dixon’s style of living as formal.

Within the traditional, somewhat imposing context, the architect created an immediate sense of drama once inside the front door with a double-height foyer and curved flying staircase that stands in contrast to the staid brick exteriors. But taste and tradition reign in terms of classical detaining and arrangement or entertaining, private and service spaces.

“The house has a degree of graciousness that is rare in new architecture,” said John Mashek, president of the Preservation Foundation, who oversaw the Schuler Award selection committee, which evaluated about a dozen submissions from architecture firms competing for the new award.

“Tom is an exceptionally talented architect,” Mashek said. “His house for the Dixons’ sits beautifully on the property and, it should be noted, integrates well with the street.”

Foundation Names
Schuler Honoree

First award goes to Jupiter architect for Georgian-style brick residence

Architect Thomas M. Kirchhoff was presented with the Preservation
Foundation’s Schuler Architecture Award for his design of the Dixon residence.

Jupiter architect Thomas M. Kirchhoff received the Elizabeth L. & John H. Schuler Architecture Award from the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach at its Peruvian Avenue headquarters.

The award honors a newly build design that exemplifies the best in Palm Beach architecture.

Kirchhoff’s Georgian-style brick residence for F. Eugene and Edie Dixon in the estate section, completed in 1999 was selected as the first winner of the Schuler award.