Fit for a Queen

Hist or ic Pinehurst h ome get s th e ro yal treatment

By deBoR a h Sa l omon P hotogR a PhS By John ge SSneR

“W hat’s in a name?” Possibly, quite a bit, when applied to Red Br ick Cottage. T his appellation, plus “1920,” appears on the shingle hang ing outside this Pinehurst village show place. Glenn Phillips, who with his wife, Pat, purchased the house in 2019, was intr ig ued. T he retired lu xur y home-building executive, also a civil eng ineer, k new what to look for, like an or ig inal tile roof and copper g utters. He doubted the date, since br ick was not common dur ing the white clapboard teens when, in 1918 and 1919, L eonard Tuf ts sold t wo lots to H.B. Swoope, a Pennsylvania coal baron who snapped up the whole cor ner facing the Carolina Hotel. T he superb constr uction suggested either a g reater investment than its neighbors — or perhaps mater ials and work manship bargainpr iced dur ing the Depression. Glenn searched village records for suppor t.

“More likely (into the) ’30s,” he concluded, although one document on file at the Tuf ts Archives lists nothing more specific than the ’20s. Odd that no architect is mentioned, g iven its unusual qualit y and feat ures, star ting with or namental br ickwork around the f ront door.

In any event, Swoope died in 1927. His estate sold the prop er t y to A.C. Judd in 1929, who sold it to Spr igg Cameron in 1930, causing much conf usion among family ghosts searching for their proper haunt.

Set far back f rom the street on an almost double lot, the house appears smaller than its act ual 5,0 0 0 square feet. T his optical illusion is f ur thered by an L -wing not visible f rom the f ront. T he wing contains a garage with ser vants’ quar ters over it — accessed by a back staircase — which are now char ming g uest bedrooms in ref reshing blue and white, each big enough to hold t wo queen-sized beds.

A s for “cottage” — hardly. Cottages are sweet little lakef ront dwellings. Br ick previews the for malit y of a settled family dwelling, perhaps even year-round, although before residential AC even the ghosts headed nor th in July.

Provenance aside, Red Br ick Cottage has weathered well. T he cross-hall plan, four spacious bedrooms, five bathrooms, large (for the era) k itchen and costly mullioned casement windows throughout suppor t this idea.

A nd now, Red Br ick Cottage has reclaimed its pur pose. T he Phillips family will use it as a seasonal gather ing place for their adult children and t wo g randchildren, g iving them more indoor space than their long time pr imar y residence: a 42-acre horse far m in Durham where they raised a son and three daughters in 2,40 0 square feet, with t wo bathrooms.

The Phillips family, or ig inally f rom New Jersey, discovered Pinehurst while attending their children’s equestr ian banquet at the Carolina Hotel. Dur ing subsequent visits they walked the village, liked what they saw. “T his is a place where I thought I could live,” Glenn recalls. In addition, businesswoman Pat and daughter Veronica wanted to acquire a boutique. Monkee’s in Souther n Pines was available.

How better could the stars alig n?

But real estate f ulfilling the Phillips’ requirements (size, qualit y, proximit y to shops and restaurants) is always scarce. Connections count.

T hey lear ned of Red Br ick Cottage f rom Cathy Maready, an inter ior desig ner who had done their beach house on Fig ure Eight Island. Maready k new of its upcoming availabilit y through the ow ner. T he transaction was completed without the house ever hitting the market. It needed only minor upg rades, including a larger bathroom for the master bedroom, which Glenn and Pat moved to the main floor st udy adjoining the living room — unusual but practical as homeow ners age. L uck ily the new stall shower fit into an empt y elevator shaf t.

Since they would br ing nothing f rom Durham, what the Phillips needed was an inter ior desig ner familiar with their tastes to inter pret, locate, select and deliver.

“A dre a m cl ient ,” says Mare ady, who wa s g iven a budget a nd f re e rein.

T he only mandate: Create décor that fit the pre-Depression era, as if rescued along with the house f rom a time capsule.

Fur nishings that fit the descr iption do exist but require leg work. Maready had a better idea: a package. None was more suitable than reproductions licensed by Pr incess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, the ninth Earl Spencer. K now n as the A lthor p Collection, these pieces duplicate chairs, tables, sofas, chests and accessor ies found at the 90 -room ancestral manor the Spencers have occupied for 50 0 years in Nor thamptonshire. Diana is bur ied at A lthor p.

Maready met the Earl when he launched the collection at the High Point f ur nit ure mar t. From this finely craf ted ar ray she created a por tfolio for the main floor living room, master bedroom, hallway, dining room and wherever appropr iate.

“I look at (my clients’) faces,” Maready says. “I want them to feel prett y in that space.”

A lmost all her selections were approved, some countr y English, others to the castle bor n, allowing for inlaid woods, a cr ushed blue velvet sofa, case pieces, a butter fly table, a needlepoint box on legs, imag inative pr ints against which g uests might imag ine L ady Di and her little brother playing hide-and-seek. Maready invested in vibrant jewel tones of blue, g reen and red merged in the car pets. T he game room and sun porch are done in sunny shades and less for mal desig ns. Glenn, a details person, points out the game room fireplace, conver ted to gas but with fake coal that glows instead of logs.

For malit y satisfied, he wanted a “f un” place to live, as expressed in a Chinese hunt motif fabr ic on game room chairs.

Or ig inal floors throughout are an unusual combination of nar row and wide boards in both clear and k nott y pine, probably sourced locally.

T he k itchen — already remodeled when the Phillips purchased Red Br ick Cottage — defies per iod

or classification. L ong and nar row, it has f ull-sized sink s, one far mer and one oval, on each side. Dow n the middle, instead of an island stands a table big enough to seat eight on three-legged stools, and tall enough to double as a work sur face. T his European k itchen staple is joined by cupboards that are f reehung rather than built-in, t wo ovens set into a column, a back splash in black, and antique red ceramic tiles. T he ef fect is vag uely Scandinavian.

A few family heirlooms, including a wr iting desk belong ing to Glenn’s aunt, supplement the A lthor p manor ensemble. Wall-mounted T V screens with hidden wires and pict ure f rames display fine ar t when the game is over.

But the blue r ibbon is the oversized dining room papered in a blue avian pr int so dense that diners seated at a table for 12 can almost hear the birds chir ping, feel their wings flutter ing.

A br ick ver a nda across t he back op ens out onto a law n big enoug h for cro quet , shou ld t hey w ish. T he house, t he garden, t he lo c at ion, t he f ur n ish ings a nd pa int ings, it ha s f u lfi l le d t he new resident s’ desire for aut hent icit y, br ing ing back a p er io d seldom honore d — when c onversat ion wa s a mong f r iends, not w it h Sir i; when b o ok s were pr inte d on pap er a nd music spun on black v inyl d isc s. “Ever y t h ing here is so much more rela xe d versus our horse f ar m,” Glenn says.

“We are a ver y close family,” Pat adds. “Now we have a house where we can all be together, a house where all the dots have been connected.”

A f ter a deep breath: “I feel like a queen.” PS