Richmond architect Ernie Rose built rare, modern houses in Bon Air. I get to live in one – Richmond.com

Ive been spending a lot of time at home lately ... like many of us of here in Virginia and across the nation.

Luckily, my house is my favorite place to be. I fell in love with it from afar and had a house crush on it for years.

Its a modern house, but different from any Id ever seen.

I used to walk by it while pushing a stroller when my younger son was a baby. Id crane my neck to get a good look at it: tucked away in the hollow of a hill above a small lake in the Bon Air area of Chesterfield County. The house was all angles, blue-gray wood siding and windows facing the water. It was indeed different: private, strange and artistic. Every time I saw it, I thought: What would it be like to live there?

One day, I saw the For Sale sign during my morning walk. I ran home, pushing the stroller, and Googled the house, out of breath. It was at the very top of our buying range, a little over, to be honest, but just barely within reach. I said to myself: I have to have it.

We called our real estate agent, then put in an offer. After a small bidding war and a crazy amount of luck, it was ours.

Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

My house was built in 1974 by Richmond architect Ernie Rose for his family.

The house is all angles and light, strung together by a spine of skylights down the front hall, and turned toward the lake so that almost every room has a water view.

Its designed slightly in the Frank Lloyd Wright style, with its narrow entrance that forces you into the home, and then opens up, with a sweeping view of the water and an open floor plan. But its also unique to itself and the architect who created it.

I didnt know much about Rose when we bought the house. But I wanted to know more. So I turned to the Richmond Times-Dispatch archives, where I found a stack of articles about him.

Retired architect Ernie Rose stands in the office in his workshop at his house which boasts many features attractive to the handyman. (Photo 2005)

Born in Richmond, Rose ran a thriving architecture firm in the 1980s and 1990s, first with Ernie Rose Inc., followed by Rose Architects in the mid-1990s. Roses firm designed some of the first office buildings in the Innsbrook Corporate Center, the Heilig-Meyers headquarters in Goochland County and the original CarMax showroom on West Broad Street that is now used as the prototype for over 150 locations.

Rose was known for his budget-conscious approach to projects. He could come up with a budget for a quality building and stick to it, an attribute hard to find in many architects, said his former business partner Mark Larson. He also designed condominiums in the Lockgreen community off River Road and the new urban housing development Winchester Greens off Hull Street Road.

Before out-of-town developers discovered Richmond, he almost had a monopoly on office work in town. It became a chase for developers. Whoever could call him first got his services, Larson said.

In 1999, Rose Architects merged with Baskervill, and Rose retired shortly afterward. When he died in 2006 at the age of 67, projects of Rose Architects dotted the city as well as 20 other states.

Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

But what he didnt make at least many of were private residences.

Ernie just didnt do houses. He was a commercial architect, his wife, Connie Rose, said.

Designing houses requires a certain personality, Larson said. Its labor intensive. It doesnt pay as well as [other projects].

While Rose might be best known for his commercial work, his private homes are spectacular. But, of course, Im biased.

Pennie and Keith Parkin at their home designed by Ernie Rose.

Pennie and Keith Parkin's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

Pennie and Keith Parkin at their home designed by Ernie Rose.

Pennie and Keith Parkin's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

Keith and Pennie Parkin at their Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

Pennie and Keith Parkin's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose. Skylight in their living room.

Architect Ernie Rose's sketch ofPennie and Keith Parkin's house on Lake Shore Drive.

Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

Francis Decker and Colleen Curran at their Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

Gus Decker, 8, Colleen Curran, Henry Decker, 12 and Francis Decker and at their Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

View of the skylights at Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

Built-in bookcases in the living room at Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

Main hall at Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose. The sliding barn door conceals a small storage area.

Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose. Bedroom built-in window seat and wrap-around windows overlooking the lake.

Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose. Built-in linen closet in the front hall used for towels and sheets. The top drawers are used for the kids' hats and gloves in the winter.

Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose. Skylights in the main hall let in diffused light.

Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose. View of the kitchen.

Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose. Built-in china cabinet and bar in the kitchen.

Connie and Ernie Rose stand outside their home on Buford Road in the Bon Air section of Chesterfield. By all definitions it is a handyman's dream house as it features a complete woodshop and a lift in the garage for working on automobiles.

Ernie and Connie Rose built their Bon Air home to look like an old Virginia farmhouse. Ernie, an architect, designed the building. Photo taken Thursday, December 5, 1996. View is of the front door.

Ernie and Connie Rose built their Bon Air home to look like an old Virginia farmhouse. Ernie, an architect, designed the building. Photo taken Thursday, December 5, 1996. View is of the backyard.

The personal residence Ernie Rose built for himself and his wife on Buford Road. It was built in the Victorian style to blend in with the houses in Old Bon Air.

The personal residence Ernie Rose built for himself and his wife on Buford Road.

Ernie and Connie Rose built their Bon Air home to look like an old Virginia farmhouse. Ernie, an architect, designed the building. They are standing in the living room. Photo taken Thursday, December 5, 1996.

Ernie Rose built these closets and the window seat including its cushions for the upstairs bedroom. Photo taken Thursday, December 5, 1996.

Ernest W. Rose Jr., with Rose Architects, is surrounded by models and drawings of the future headquarters for Heilig Meyers in Goochland. The company is one of the 'Rising 25' after twenty-six years in business. Photo taken Tuesday, August 13, 1996.

Ernie and Connie Rose built their Bon Air home to look like an old Virginia farmhouse. Ernie, an architect, designed the building. The photo of their kitchen was taken Thursday, December 5, 1996.

Retired architect Ernie Rose stands in the office in his workshop at his house which boasts many features attractive to the handyman. (Photo 2005)

Even though my house is over 45 years old, it feels so fresh and modern, and it speaks to how my family lives today.

It has an open floor plan with an open kitchen that looks over the large living room. I can cook and watch my children playing at the same time. There is no formal dining room, because Rose didnt believe in them at the time. What I love about this house is how efficient it is. It makes sense. It was designed with a distinctive vision and on a budget which was classic Ernie Rose.

Ernie didnt do showy stuff. His work was about quality, the craft, the scale. His houses were almost designed not to be flashy. He was a midcentury modern kind of guy. He liked Frank Lloyd Wright houses. Like those houses, it was hard to find the entrance. Its all about the scale, bringing the scale down to the human scale. They were very human-oriented, Larson said.

Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose. Bedroom built-in window seat and wrap-around windows overlooking the lake.

At my home, the entrance is tucked into the side of the house. The master bedroom is just off the front door, with a built-in window seat overlooking the lake and built-in closets and drawers. The windows are so large, that when you sit at the window seat, you feel as if youre outside in nature, even though youre inside. And thats how it feels throughout the house: that it was built to be one with nature.

Rose designed his homes to fit the landscape and to offer the best views of the nature around them. In the living room, built-in bookshelves climb one wall in a dramatic slant. There are built-ins throughout the house: a china cabinet in the kitchen, a linen closet in the hall, and filing cabinets and drawers in a small study upstairs.

Ernie would lay out a house based on efficiency. He cared a lot about that. He designed to maximize the materials in the building and to minimize waste. The level of details that was part of Ernies mindset, Larson said. A good architect will spend a lot of time worrying about those kinds of things.

The bones of the house are so great, we didnt have to do much to it when we moved in, except to purge most of our furniture, because with the built-ins, we didnt need it anymore. Instead, we focused on filling the walls with paintings signed by my artist father-in-law, Chase Decker.

Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

When I showed a friend a picture of our living room, she asked: Where are all the books and toys and newspapers? Where is the clutter? Theyre in the built-ins. Honestly, its the easiest house to tidy up Ive ever lived in. It has a whole-house vacuum (from the 70s that still works!) that has been a life-changer.

Even the long modern sofa in the living room is a built-in that Rose designed and built himself.

Ernie was a craftsman. He worked on restoring old cars and MGs. But he also had a really great touch with furniture. He liked the simplicity of Shaker-type furniture. He would use that as a starting point and make it his own, Larson said.

Rose studied architecture at Virginia Tech and Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y. At Tech, he was inspired by the Bauhaus school, taught by many of the professors, which focuses on craft, simplicity and having a harmony of function.

They taught him how to make things with your hands, Larson said.

Ernie was very much into the modern and the midcentury, the Eames and Bertoia chairs, Connie said. He made really good cabinets and beautiful furniture. He never had a plan. Hed just start cutting wood, and it always came together. I have a lot of pieces he built and so do the kids.

Main hall at Francis Decker and Colleen Curran's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose. The sliding barn door conceals a small storage area.

When the Roses lived here in the 1970s, they had three sons, and the house was so private, they didnt have any window coverings. The skylights in the main hall let in the softest, most diffused light, all day.

Ernie was very big on having light come in. He didnt like dark interiors. He would put windows in corners and near the door to let in the light, Connie said.

When the lake behind the house became a popular spot for ice-skating in the winter, Connie had to invest in curtains for the bedroom for privacy. Otherwise, the house is turned away from the street, facing the water, for total privacy. Its the inverse of many houses, which typically face the street. Its not for everyone, but it spoke to me and my appreciation of privacy.

The house also has a garage with a pitched roof and doors that swing open where Rose used to work on vintage cars. My husband has turned it into the man cave. He throws parties in there that I dont even realize are happening, and that, my friends, is marital bliss.

Pennie and Keith Parkin's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

Our house wasnt the first that Rose built in the Bon Air neighborhood. He built another, modern in style, for the Hsu family in 1972. Its built into the hill, all cantilevers and levels, with a deep brown-stained siding. We struck up a friendship with the owners, Keith and Pennie Parkin, based on our love of Ernie Rose houses.

Parkin, a graphic designer, was looking for a house after his divorce in 2012. He spotted the Rose house while out driving.

Keith and Pennie Parkin at their Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

No one was living here at the time. I pulled into the driveway and peeked into the windows. I wasnt sure if I could afford it. But I was like, This house has to be mine, Parkin said.

He called his agent, got a tour and learned the listing price was within his budget at $260,000. It wasnt updated, but I didnt care, he said. I liked the fact that it was contemporary, modern and completely different than any house Id ever seen.

Pennie and Keith Parkin's Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose. Skylight in their living room.

Their house is like a mirror image of ours. It has the familiar Ernie Rose trappings: the same white built-ins with silver pulls. They even have a built-in stereo cabinet and a giant square skylight in their living room.

While Ernie was working on that house, he came across the lot for our house.

Architect Ernie Rose's sketch ofPennie and Keith Parkin's house on Lake Shore Drive.

The Roses bought the lakefront lot for $3,500. Rose didnt have a lot of work at the time, as he was just starting out with his own company, and Connie said he would often come out and help build the house.

It took nine months to build, which wasnt a long time, but seemed like forever, she said. The budget for the house was a little under $45,000, which Rose stuck to, for the most part. To adjust for inflation, that would be around $250,000 today. In the interest of full disclosure, the list price when we bought the house in 2014 was a bit more $300,000 because it included two additional parcels of land, one on each side. My husband and I pooled all our savings together, every scrap and cent we'd ever saved or earned, for the deposit and never looked back.

Ernie and Connie Rose built their Bon Air home to look like an old Virginia farmhouse. Ernie, an architect, designed the building. Photo taken Thursday, December 5, 1996. View is of the front door.

The house Ernie Rose is most well-known for is a white Victorian on Buford Road that was featured in Southern Living magazine twice. Built in 1995, the Buford Road house was custom-built to look like the late 19th-century Victorian homes that surround it, even though it was designed by a modern architect.

The Buford Road house was a whole other turn completely. Ernie said, I cannot and will not build a contemporary house in the middle of Old Bon Air. It wouldnt be right, Connie said.

Connie and Ernie Rose stand outside their home on Buford Road in the Bon Air section of Chesterfield. By all definitions it is a handyman's dream house as it features a complete woodshop and a lift in the garage for working on automobiles.

The house on Buford Road was the greatest example of his craftsmanship, Larson said.

Outside, it almost looks like a farmhouse from the 1900s with a standing-seam green metal roof and copper gutters, but inside, it has all the modern amenities and functional design of today.

It was such an amazing house with lots of oversize columns and woodwork, Connie said. It had built-in furniture, cabinets and Corian counters, which Ernie favored. The garage even had a hydraulic lift where he worked on his vintage cars.

When it sold in 2005, the listing price was around $750,000.

Gus Decker, 8, Colleen Curran, Henry Decker, 12 and Francis Decker and at their Lake Shore Drive home designed by Ernie Rose.

In these times when were encouraged to be safer at home, I feel lucky. Because this is the only place I want to be.

I think about Ernie Rose often and what its like to live in a house thats well-designed. And how thankful I am for it, especially now.

Downstairs, the electrical box is signed, simply, in strong black letters: Rose. Like an artist signing a painting. A work of art. That we, by some sort of miracle, get to live in.

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Richmond architect Ernie Rose built rare, modern houses in Bon Air. I get to live in one - Richmond.com