Sumner Bohannon House // Malone Maxwell Dennehy Architects

Built on a sloping, heavily wooded lot fronting a creek, the Sumner Bohannon House was designed to preserve over 50 mature trees and the Dallas property’s natural grade.

The new structure is largely built over the foundation of a home that had stood there since 1949. The detached garage, placed at the highest point on the site, is connected to the new house by a terraced stair, sheltered under a stepped steel and cedar pergola.

The entry to the house goes directly into a large living space, divided by a freestanding fireplace and millwork elements into a dining room and an upper and lower living room. A sculptural steel and wood staircase provides vertical circulation and acts as a hinge and screen between the public areas and the bedrooms.

To clarify the interior spaces and emphasize the views, the material palette is limited and consistently utilized throughout. Large-format terra cotta flooring anchors the ground plane, minimizing glare from the many windows. Clear-finished maple forms the basis for a variety of architectural expressions: millwork, paneling, and, most conspicuously, as the undulating ceiling plane of the living room. The wave metaphor is a lighthearted gesture to the creek beyond.

Decks are suspended between the house and retaining walls with cutouts around the trees. The native limestone cladding on the 1949 house was salvaged to use in the retaining walls that support the exterior decks, terraces, and pools.

Architectural Design Team: Michael Malone, FAIA; Danielle Anderson, Assoc. AIA; Erin Hackler, Assoc. AIA; and Amy Stewart, Assoc. AIA

Contractor: William P. Manning Co.

Civil Engineer: G&A Consulting

Geotechnical Engineer: SAM Engineering

Interior Design: Malone Maxwell Dennehy Architects

Landscape Architect: Bonick Landscaping

Structural Engineer: Stenstrom Schneider, Inc.

Completed: 2019

Square Footage: 4,500

Photography: Dror Baldinger, FAIA