Dream House | Simply ‘wow’!

Frederick Charles Brenner III is an American who loves everything Jamaican. The food, music, and the people. He has been coming to the island intermittently from the 1990s, and some years ago, post back surgery encouraged his arrival in Jamaica to convalesce on the south coast for six weeks.

A subsequent invitation to a cocktail party at a nearby waterfront villa, awakened his desire to own the said house, and that’s exactly what he did. He bought it!

Frederick would return to America, armed and excited, with no less than 50 sketch ideas of his planned dream house, giving them to his architect to draw up the plans. It would take less than a year to execute the challenging construction.

The contractor is American, Peter Carbone, formerly one of the top builders in the state of New Hampshire, now residing here for many years. He has “built more homes than the average person will visit in a lifetime” and all the homes he has constructed “didn’t excite him as much as building in Jamaica”.

Now for the wow house!

Much that we treasure in architecture has been built in direct relationship to water. Water has stimulated the creativity of man for centuries, many times being the most arresting element in the building’s design.

The property can be found within a 20-minute drive from Black River, in the exclusive, gated community of Southsea Park, Whitehouse, St Elizabeth.

Let’s immerse ourselves in the architectural-nautical experience, with feature after feature, bathing the human psyche. The entire 5,000-square-foot ‘modernistic’ home floats 10-14 feet above ground on concrete stilts, embedded in the coastal rocks. Wide, impressive series of steps lifts you to the front door. Six differing coloured bedrooms, all with en-suite bathrooms are provided; along with a movie room, state-of-the-art gym (the owner is a body-building aficionado), and separate living and dining areas, both indoors and outdoors. The kitchens include a deliberately isolated, commercial appliance room (with stainless-steel counters), and a fully functioning integrated one on the outside. There is also a bar area, barbeque and carport.

Let’s dive deeper into the sea of more architectural and natural thrills. Observe the garden-seafront outdoor decks; rooftop gardens, two koi fish ponds (with spinning water-wheel); built-in waterfront benches; organic herb garden and two swimming pools side by side –one a giant whirlpool spa with tables and seating for eight persons, and the other with an infinity-edge design. A water fountain accentuates the area.

At the water’s edge, the private beach beckons, what with flying fish and dolphins in the distance. Then the best of all, not seen anywhere else, is the ‘mermaid pool’. Literally, a natural whirlpool, built into the rockery, with built-in seating in the actual sea! The constant wave action creates the therapeutic ingredients so necessary to cure and restore your physical and mental well-being. No man-made Jacuzzi you can buy can have this affect on you. None!

The owner purchased the lot next door so that no one can disturb his view.

After all of this … what more can one say!

- Barry Rattray is a dream house designer and builder.Email: barry-rattray@hotmail.com.