Steven W Spandle
If you could have another home anywhere, where would you live? Kittery, Maine – A historic house on the water, close proximity to Chauncey Creek Lobster Pier would be ideal.
What are three words to describe your architecture style?
Diverse (stylistically)
Timeless
Comfortable
Tell us about your childhood bedroom? My childhood bedroom was filled with books and Legos (I never built the objects pictured on the box – I just wanted the parts for my own house designs). I was particularly fascinated by electric fans (motors) and electronics (which I would take apart and reassemble). I also had an aquarium with a pair of goldfish and an algae eater (the algae eater lived to the ripe old age of 18).
What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? My first “serious” furniture purchase was a Philadelphia sideboard table made by Thomas Affleck around 1775, the piece is documented in the Blue Book of Philadelphia Furniture by Horner. I purchased the table from Freeman’s Auction House, and we are the first owners outside of the original family. This was the beginning of my downward spiral into furniture addiction. I consider all my auction purchases up until this point as “practice.”
In the history of architecture, if you could hire any architect other than yourself, who would it be? David Adler, with Frances Elkins for the interiors.
No build is complete without artwork
People think of me as prim and proper, but I am really a farm boy at heart. As a child, if the weather was nice, we were expected to be outside building forts in the woods.
Things you omit from
A flower arrangement: Mason Jars
An hors d’oeuvre platter: Puff Pastry (too many crumbs)
A bar cabinet: Blue cheese stuffed olives (they just make my gin martini cloudy)
A song for
Dinner at home: I’ve Got You Under My Skin – Ella Fitzgerald
Working at your desk: Push It – Salt-n-Peppa
Going for a run (I try not to run) going for a drive: I Drove All Night – Celine Dion
Biggest Vice? Live Auctioneers
If you were on an Ambien high and internet shopping, what would you buy? Dutch Brass Candlesticks (I have a lot of candlesticks bookmarked…)
Do your clothes reflect your design sensibility, if so, how? Yes, Simple and Classic
Who is your star crush? Matthew Goode
What is the thing you would never do on a project, but don’t detest when you see others do it? Never say never…
What design/architecture book do you find yourself going back to again and again? The White Pine Series
For posterity, what would you like your work to be known for? Looking as if it has always been there.
A Few Favorites:
Movie: Hocus Pocus
Scent: Tobacco (My father farmed tobacco when I was very young, and I have fond memories of going with him to check the drying barns at night – such a pleasant scent.)
The building material you always come back to: Mercer Tile from the Moravian Tileworks
Dream project: A new marsh front estate property in the coastal southeast.
Meal: Oyster Roast with Crab Stew
Drink: Negroni with Hendricks Gin
Hotel: Greyfield Inn on Cumberland Island
Travel Destination: Ireland
Artist: Robert Feke
A cause near and dear to me: Georgia 4-H
Thing to collect obsessively: Early Lighting – I love a lantern (and sconces), and have quite a stockpile in storage
Era in the history of design: Colonial Revival America
Museum: Philadelphia Museum of Art (some of my favorite period rooms)
Benjamin Moore Paint Color: Opal
Favorite person to follow on Instagram: Elizabeth Lawrence
Dogs, Cats, or No Pets? No Pets (too much travel + allergies)
