Village Beach House

St. Simons Island, GA
Single Family Residential, Tear Down & New Construction

It pains us to see homes torn down, especially in historic areas like the beachfront neighborhoods surrounding the St. Simons Pier & Village. But in some cases, it is the best decision for our client.

Here we were asked to design a custom home to replace the family’s original 1970s era beach house. It’s street has seen numerous new builds over the last decade and important care was taken to design a home that could weave seamlessly into the newer architectural fabric while respecting the nostalgia of Old St. Simons.

We incorporated several elements from the original home into the new design including ample outdoor living and entertainment areas, board and batten siding, custom wood detailing, and even a stair landing facing the front door where the old family dog would sit and wait for his owner’s return.

The first floor walls received a tabby stucco finish; a nod to traditional building materials and methods brought over by Spanish and British settlers which has continued through the years as a purely aesthetic treatment, rather than a load bearing monolithic structure as seen in the ruins at Fort Frederica. The smooth texture was a custom mix to achieve a more modern and subdued appearance than your typical tabby application.

Nearly every room has a view of the Atlantic Ocean with the most spectacular and unobstructed from the third floor porch adjacent to the owner’s study. When construction topped out, our client, who grew up in the home remarked “I haven’t seen the ocean from this house in 40 years.”

When a piece of architectural history is removed, it is paramount that it be replaced with architecture that lasts.

Knowing what this property means to our clients, their children, and future grandchildren validates what we do as designers and eases the heartache that comes with removing a piece of history.

This project was completed in December 2022.