The Golden Hour
A STRIKING, SHOWPIECE HOME OCCUPIES THE WESTERN BANKS OF GRAND ISLAND NEAR BUFFALO, NEW YORK.
This is a space for quiet relaxation, when needed and desired, but it’s also a family hot spot where people gather on decks and patios to enjoy the changing seasons.
Grand is a fitting description for this 4,505-square-foot house. Each evening, rich, gilded light pours into the home’s western window walls, drenching the monumental, white-on-white great room with a luminous, honeyed glow. Long before the majestic great room, the resort pool, the statement style, and before the property was even acquired, the homeowners would drive to Grand Island to watch the sunset. These little escapes were a time to dream. Years later, when it came time to build, they wanted to capture that golden hour and share those inspirations with their family and friends.
Designed for Light
Architect Olga Kislyuk, owner of Dusty Oak Architecture, brought the homeowners’ dream to life. “From the moment the homeowners purchased this lot, the family knew that their future home must capture two important elements: the river and the sunset,” she explains. Multiple seamless spaces connect the interior and exterior, visually and functionally. The great room — an immense two-story space about 20 feet high and topped with a proportionately oversized coffered ceiling — feels more like an open-air gallery defined by light and space. Two western-facing window walls blur the boundary between indoors and out. Because the walls are more glass than drywall, a construction system with hidden engineered timbers ensures the design accommodates Buffalo’s notoriously high winds and heavy snow loads.
An intimate overlook area perched over the great room affords a bird’s eye view of the interior space below, pool area, and river. “It’s the perfect spot to grab a glass of wine and watch the most beautiful sunsets in the evenings,” the homeowners, Moe and Olga Turk of TurkMasters Roofing, observe. “Or enjoy coffee in the morning, before the day gets started, when the river looks still, peaceful, and mystified, especially with the fog.”
Sliding glass doors at the front and rear of the home also emphasize the intersection of interior and exterior spaces. The upper-floor primary bedroom features a private, covered balcony that extends along the great room. A double-door Juliette balcony in the primary bedroom ushers in fresh breezes from the river. Moe and Olga exclaim, “You feel like you are in a villa in the countryside of Paris or Italy!”
The deep balcony and covered patio below mirror each other in pleasing symmetry. Functionally, they provide passive temperature control, mitigating interior solar heat gain by reducing the sun’s rays, all without sacrificing views.
Crisp and Clean
Designed in a transitional modern style, natural elements appear in furnishings. The dining room table is a slab of wood, and the homeowner and his friend made the coffee and side tables with walnut and purpleheart. Furniture pieces were selected for timeless style to be passed on as heirlooms. Black window trim contrasts with the white walls, ceilings, chairs, and creamy couches. White also dominates the primary and guest bedrooms.
The Resort Life
There is little doubt the home was built to impress. While the house is full of private, hidden spaces (like the office cleverly situated behind a wine wall in the kitchen), it’s purpose-built for entertaining and hosting friends and family for extended periods.
A charming first-floor guestroom features a private entrance to a spacious porch overlooking the river. There is a sauna and multiple covered patios. Even the driveway is positioned to treat visitors to views of the river. As one would expect from a well-designed retreat, the home carries visual balance, which was challenged by the three-bay garage. Turning the garage’s roof ridgeline 90 degrees prevents any sense of disproportionate dominance.
Generous interior proportions extend to chic, outdoor living spaces, where clean lines of expansive concrete and lawn uphold modern aesthetics. The immaculate, sophisticated pool design by Beauty Pools is a private resort with ample space for parties and cookouts. Moe enjoys smoking meats, which adds to the vacation vibe.
“Our evening get-togethers are so cozy with twinkling lights turned on and the sound of crickets in the air,” the homeowners say. “We want our guests to get the feeling of being on vacation with the most beautiful views.”