Photos by Amy J. Owen

Augusta has never quite felt like home for Sheila Stahl. Despite living in the Garden City for more than 45 years, the central Florida native says settling down was always challenging … until now. Stahl’s latest project, a home tucked away on an unassuming street in Summerville, is reminiscent of the iconic Hollywood Hills styles, but this mid-century modern dream finally captured her true sentimental roots.

In late 2021, Stahl came across an opportunity to buy an empty lot just blocks from her current residence. She had her eye on the location for years when she finally purchased it intending to build a slab house on the overgrown tract. “When I told my husband I was going to buy the lot and build he said, ‘That’s nice’. The project quickly became my entire focus,” says Stahl. 

With a vision connected to her childhood home, Stahl hired the team of Elizabeth McGee and Matthew Stevens with Cheatham Fletcher Scott Architects + Designers, to draw up the design for the 3,294 square-foot home, complete with a double carport and a three-feet overhang. “I grew up in a home with terrazzo floors and a screened lanai,” Stahl explains. “I did not intend for this to be a copy of my family home, but it turned out that way.”

Capturing the integrity and authenticity of the mid-century architecture and style was important to Stahl. Clean lines and minimalistic design are carried throughout the home, beginning with the concrete floors, floor-to-ceiling windows and the indoor-outdoor living spaces. Eight sliding glass doors and clerestory windows placed strategically throughout the home infuse the rooms with light, adding natural warmth for intentionally defined living.

The foyer opens into a large living room with a wet bar and plentiful seating for entertaining. Slanted 18-foot ceilings with triple sliders and transom windows provide  ample natural lighting during the day and night. “The real beauty of this house is at night. From the outside, when the lights are on, my goal was to see from the front door to the backdoor sliders to the stucco wall, giving it an almost mystic appearance,” says Stahl. Even the front door is a conduit of brightness — it is all glass with glass side panels.  

To the right of the living room is the kitchen and small breakfast nook. “This was my parents’ original table, and it fits perfectly” she explains. The round Formica table isn’t the only design piece from her childhood home — the green glass kitchen cabinet pulls, and bubbly amber Lucite doorknobs came directly from Stahl’s childhood house. “The owner of my parents home called me because he knew I would want them. They would have ended up in a dump had I not gone to retrieve them,” she says. 

The knobs were created by legendary 1960s Sarasota pioneer designer, Ruth Richmond of Richmond Homes. Richmond’s doorknobs and kitchen pulls were used to glamorize commonplace ranch homes which dominated the aesthetics of that region in the ‘60s. 

Stahl’s kitchen also boasts white bespoke appliances that complement a raised chartreuse grass-patterned backsplash, another recognizable color of the popular post-World War II home appeal. Creating a whimsical focal point for the kitchen is an antique French floral light fixture between the sink and the island.

Like most folks who grew up in the Golden Era, Stahl remembers shared bathrooms, located in the central hallways. But the Summerville home includes a half-bath, right off the kitchen, with an industrial feel featuring a unisex toilet placard, and a commercial soap dispenser and paper towel holder. She admits she shopped and collected furniture, light fixtures, art and specialty trinkets for years before building the house. She always dreamed of a place in which she could appreciate the time-stamped furnishings.

Just off the living room is a narrow sitting area, ideal for reading and relaxing. Stahl has a framed article about Ruth Richmond’s designs next to the architectural plans of her childhood home hanging on the space’s interior wall that divides the bedrooms from the formal living room. 

The bedrooms are accessed by parallel hallways, one on each side of the home. The left hallway leads to two front bedrooms, both with lighted outdoor balconies and a shared Jack and Jill bathroom. The bathroom has chrome double vanities, no tub and a radiant faux stained-glass window. “This is poor man’s stained glass,” Stahl quips. “It’s just sticky film from Home Depot.” 

Stahl carefully framed black and white artwork of Marilyn Monroe and the Rat Pack for the back bedroom, and floating nightstands in dark wood veneer capture the room’s slick Hollywood studio era look. “I brought those stands from my condominium in Jacksonville (Fla.),” she says.

The middle bedroom has the least amount of natural light but offers plenty of ambient light to make the space warm and cozy. Nightstands with tapered legs and open shelves lend to the room’s symmetry.

Down the hallway on the right side of the house is the master bedroom, a spacious room with an ample bathroom and closet space. Again, no tub. “I told the architect, and my children,  absolutely no tubs, and I think they thought I was crazy,” says Stahl. The bathroom’s clerestory windows beautifully frame a bourgeoning white dogwood visible from the neighbor’s yard. 

From the back of the house, one can easily see the angled roof pitches. The outdoor patio serves as a unifying focal point for nearly every room of the house. Stahl has plans to build a soaker pool with seating around the edges. “At night, it’s magical,” Stahl says beaming with pride. 

She appropriately named the home “The Queens Way” as a tribute to her the nickname growing up – Queen Ann. A taste of mid-century modern with a modicum of sentimentality makes this home a rare find on The Hill.

Architect/Planner: Cheatham Fletcher Scott Architects + Designers
Builder:  Evans Construction Service, Inc., Chris Evans
Lighting:  Southern Lighting Gallery
Wallpaper: Best of Asia IV Grasscloth; Washington Wallcovers
Front Door:  Jeld-Wen 
Furniture: Family heirlooms; Merry’s Home Furnishings
Outdoor Lighting: Whitaker Electric Company Inc., Mark Whitaker
Breeze Blocks: Tesselle, Riverside, Calif.
Kitchen Tile: Tile Center, Inc., Verde Olivia Crackle

Seen in the May 2024 issue of Augusta magazine.