In Living Color

AN ATLANTIC BEACH COUPLE PAYS HOMAGE TO THEIR HOME’S FLAMBOYANT PAST

words by Virginia Chamlee • photos by Agnes Lopez

After living in a house adjacent to the Intracoastal Waterway, the Wingates never questioned where their next home would be. Owen—president and co-owner of benefit administration company Abentras—and Johanna had each lived at the beach their entire lives, both graduating from Fletcher High School. With their extended family—brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces—scattered throughout Neptune and Atlantic Beaches, it only made sense that they find a place to call their own there, too. A

They found exactly what they were looking for and then some in a sprawling estate at 300 5th Street in Atlantic Beach, which they ultimately purchased and moved in to in 2013. Today, it’s home to the couple, their two sons—Wyatt and Walker—and two dogs: a Frenchie named Jonah and a Cane Corso named LuLu.

Driving by, it looks like a fairly typical beach house, albeit one that’s expertly landscaped and has plenty of space for entertaining. But to enter the couple’s back gate is to walk in to another world, one with an outdoor oasis (complete with fireplace and fish pond) leading to a vivid, boldly decorated home. In short, it’s a case in point for breaking design rules and throwing caution to the wind.

The home itself comes with an excellent back story: it was built in 1934 by an internationally acclaimed singer named Lawrence Haynes. Haynes performed in the Ziegfeld Follies with Will Rogers and Fanny Brice and palled around with a host of notable figures, including Oscar Hammerstein, Flo Ziegfeld and Winston Churchill. “Haynes wrote a book and it’s just full of stories—he hosted wonderful parties where he would come out in a tux and tails and sing opera,” says Johanna. “Frank Sinatra even apparently spent time here.” The home he built reflected that bon vivant lifestyle with arches, towers and French doors modeled after a French Chateau. “Haynes named the home ‘L’Abri,’ which means, ‘a safe place where no harm can reach us,’” says Owen. In the ‘80s, a local couple purchased the home, adding two rooms in between the original towers that flank the house and the pool.

The Wingates began their own transformation in 2013, but they’ve worked hard to preserve the home’s character and charm. “It never even went on the market, we just happened to find out it was about to be put up for sale and we snapped it up.” They’ve made a few changes in the years since. “It had the structure but it was missing a lot of its original flair,” says Johanna. “The dining room was incredibly small and there was a laundry room in the kitchen. So we moved the laundry room upstairs and expanded the dining area, adding a coffee bar, a fireplace, and many decorative touches. We were trying to keep the feel of the original home—a place for entertaining, but one that was safe, fun and inviting for family and friends.” We’d say, “mission accomplished.”

A painting by artist Shawn Meharg hangs above the couch in the living room. The wall paint shade came as the result of trial and error. “It’s hard to get a dark paint without it going black, so this is a custom shade. We started with something really dark and kept lightening it up until it was exactly what we wanted,” says Johanna.

The bookshelves were reportedly given to the home’s original owner, Lawrence Haynes, by Winston Churchill.

Gold is a recurring motif throughout the home, seen here in a shell-shaped lamp with lucite base.

A diminutive powder room gets the star treatment with hand-painted wallpaper and tile imported from France.

Fresh blooms add to the dining room’s many pops of pink.

Pink velvet chairs offer enough seating for large dinner parties and complement oversized paintings by artist Shawn Meharg. An abstract glass sculpture by pop artist Peter Max sits on a marble and brass console table, flanked by a pair of orchids and brass, sunburst-shaped sconces.

STEAL THIS LOOK

Four elements that comprise the Wingate’s bold style

ART Rather than use standalone oversized art as a statement, the Wingates contrasted their collection with patterned wallpapers and painted walls.

PATTERN The couple’s living room makes a case for pattern-mixing with chinoiserie style drapes providing a counterpoint to a pair of chairs clad in leopard upholstery.

TEXTURE Juxtapositions of rough and sleek abound throughout the house. In the dining room, for instance, Johanna mixed a petrified wood table with velvet chairs. “I think mixing it up can tone down the glam a bit and make a space feel more lived-in.”

COLOR Balancing bold colors—like pink or blue—with neutral or muted hues strikes a balance between sophisticated and sweet.