Search results for "Threats" in Home Design Ideas


Old wood burning fireplaces are inefficient and can potentially pose a safety threat to your home, but it is tough to beat the tradition of sitting around a large open fireplace. The Roosevelt gas insert series offers a clean face, louverless look that maximizes the viewing area. When combined with our hand-crafted high definition logs and realistic flame, you'll soon forget that old drafty fireplace that you once had. With multiple design options available the Roosevelt can be customized to match any decor, and you'll feel good knowing that safety, efficiency, and quality were our top priorities in creating a fire just for your family!


Master bedroom that is a triple threat! A place to sleep, a place to work, and a place of comfort. Your zoom background will no longer is just a wall.


Asphalt shake shingles add an elegant texture to the home, with the help of a highly sought after dimensional appeal. And to add to the appeal, StormMaster Shake featuring Scotchgard™ Algae Resistant Shingle Protector are virtually maintenance free. Algae can be a big threat to a home’s roof as it often grow in areas on the roof that are damp and shaded from sunlight. But the Scotchgard™ logo on quality shingle brands is your assurance of protection against the black streaks caused by algae. StormMaster Shake featuring Scotchgard™ Algae Resistant Shingle Protector roof shingles are designed to help keep your resist against those dark, dingy streaks.


Large transitional kitchen with white shaker cabinets and blue accents
Kitchen - large transitional u-shaped porcelain tile and brown floor kitchen idea in Miami with a farmhouse sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, mosaic tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances, an island and white countertops
Kitchen - large transitional u-shaped porcelain tile and brown floor kitchen idea in Miami with a farmhouse sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, mosaic tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances, an island and white countertops


Photo by Doreen Wynja
Abutilon x hybridum 'Vesuvius Red'
Photo of a traditional landscaping in Los Angeles.
Photo of a traditional landscaping in Los Angeles.


Color Trends 2015 'Tried & True' residential interior featuring iron canopy bed, leather chair, night table and art. Color A (Wall): Portland Gray 2109-60, Natura, Eggshell. Color B (Ceiling): Chantilly Lace OC-65, Natura, Flat.


Mid-sized island style backyard rectangular and concrete lap water slide photo in San Diego


Rosa Gemini™
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Inspiration for a traditional landscaping in Other.
Inspiration for a traditional landscaping in Other.


Scott Hawkins
Family room - mid-sized contemporary open concept carpeted family room idea in Sydney with no fireplace, a wall-mounted tv and beige walls
Family room - mid-sized contemporary open concept carpeted family room idea in Sydney with no fireplace, a wall-mounted tv and beige walls


Gulf-Front Grandeur
Private Residence / Alys Beach, Florida
Architect: Khoury & Vogt Architects
Builder: Hufham Farris Construction
---
This one-of-a-kind Gulf-front residence in the New Urbanism community of Alys Beach, Florida, is truly a stunning piece of architecture matched only by its views. E. F. San Juan worked with the Alys Beach Town Planners at Khoury & Vogt Architects and the building team at Hufham Farris Construction on this challenging and fulfilling project.
We supplied character white oak interior boxed beams and stair parts. We also furnished all of the interior trim and paneling. The exterior products we created include ipe shutters, gates, fascia and soffit, handrails, and newels (balcony), ceilings, and wall paneling, as well as custom columns and arched cased openings on the balconies. In addition, we worked with our trusted partners at Loewen to provide windows and Loewen LiftSlide doors.
Challenges:
This was the homeowners’ third residence in the area for which we supplied products, and it was indeed a unique challenge. The client wanted as much of the exterior as possible to be weathered wood. This included the shutters, gates, fascia, soffit, handrails, balcony newels, massive columns, and arched openings mentioned above. The home’s Gulf-front location makes rot and weather damage genuine threats. Knowing that this home was to be built to last through the ages, we needed to select a wood species that was up for the task. It needed to not only look beautiful but also stand up to those elements over time.
Solution:
The E. F. San Juan team and the talented architects at KVA settled upon ipe (pronounced “eepay”) for this project. It is one of the only woods that will sink when placed in water (you would not want to make a boat out of ipe!). This species is also commonly known as ironwood because it is so dense, making it virtually rot-resistant, and therefore an excellent choice for the substantial pieces of millwork needed for this project.
However, ipe comes with its own challenges; its weight and density make it difficult to put through machines and glue. These factors also come into play for hinging when using ipe for a gate or door, which we did here. We used innovative joining methods to ensure that the gates and shutters had secondary and tertiary means of support with regard to the joinery. We believe the results speak for themselves!
---
Photography by Layne Lillie, courtesy of Khoury & Vogt Architects


Gulf-Front Grandeur
Private Residence / Alys Beach, Florida
Architect: Khoury & Vogt Architects
Builder: Hufham Farris Construction
---
This one-of-a-kind Gulf-front residence in the New Urbanism community of Alys Beach, Florida, is truly a stunning piece of architecture matched only by its views. E. F. San Juan worked with the Alys Beach Town Planners at Khoury & Vogt Architects and the building team at Hufham Farris Construction on this challenging and fulfilling project.
We supplied character white oak interior boxed beams and stair parts. We also furnished all of the interior trim and paneling. The exterior products we created include ipe shutters, gates, fascia and soffit, handrails, and newels (balcony), ceilings, and wall paneling, as well as custom columns and arched cased openings on the balconies. In addition, we worked with our trusted partners at Loewen to provide windows and Loewen LiftSlide doors.
Challenges:
This was the homeowners’ third residence in the area for which we supplied products, and it was indeed a unique challenge. The client wanted as much of the exterior as possible to be weathered wood. This included the shutters, gates, fascia, soffit, handrails, balcony newels, massive columns, and arched openings mentioned above. The home’s Gulf-front location makes rot and weather damage genuine threats. Knowing that this home was to be built to last through the ages, we needed to select a wood species that was up for the task. It needed to not only look beautiful but also stand up to those elements over time.
Solution:
The E. F. San Juan team and the talented architects at KVA settled upon ipe (pronounced “eepay”) for this project. It is one of the only woods that will sink when placed in water (you would not want to make a boat out of ipe!). This species is also commonly known as ironwood because it is so dense, making it virtually rot-resistant, and therefore an excellent choice for the substantial pieces of millwork needed for this project.
However, ipe comes with its own challenges; its weight and density make it difficult to put through machines and glue. These factors also come into play for hinging when using ipe for a gate or door, which we did here. We used innovative joining methods to ensure that the gates and shutters had secondary and tertiary means of support with regard to the joinery. We believe the results speak for themselves!
---
Photography by Layne Lillie, courtesy of Khoury & Vogt Architects


Gulf-Front Grandeur
Private Residence / Alys Beach, Florida
Architect: Khoury & Vogt Architects
Builder: Hufham Farris Construction
---
This one-of-a-kind Gulf-front residence in the New Urbanism community of Alys Beach, Florida, is truly a stunning piece of architecture matched only by its views. E. F. San Juan worked with the Alys Beach Town Planners at Khoury & Vogt Architects and the building team at Hufham Farris Construction on this challenging and fulfilling project.
We supplied character white oak interior boxed beams and stair parts. We also furnished all of the interior trim and paneling. The exterior products we created include ipe shutters, gates, fascia and soffit, handrails, and newels (balcony), ceilings, and wall paneling, as well as custom columns and arched cased openings on the balconies. In addition, we worked with our trusted partners at Loewen to provide windows and Loewen LiftSlide doors.
Challenges:
This was the homeowners’ third residence in the area for which we supplied products, and it was indeed a unique challenge. The client wanted as much of the exterior as possible to be weathered wood. This included the shutters, gates, fascia, soffit, handrails, balcony newels, massive columns, and arched openings mentioned above. The home’s Gulf-front location makes rot and weather damage genuine threats. Knowing that this home was to be built to last through the ages, we needed to select a wood species that was up for the task. It needed to not only look beautiful but also stand up to those elements over time.
Solution:
The E. F. San Juan team and the talented architects at KVA settled upon ipe (pronounced “eepay”) for this project. It is one of the only woods that will sink when placed in water (you would not want to make a boat out of ipe!). This species is also commonly known as ironwood because it is so dense, making it virtually rot-resistant, and therefore an excellent choice for the substantial pieces of millwork needed for this project.
However, ipe comes with its own challenges; its weight and density make it difficult to put through machines and glue. These factors also come into play for hinging when using ipe for a gate or door, which we did here. We used innovative joining methods to ensure that the gates and shutters had secondary and tertiary means of support with regard to the joinery. We believe the results speak for themselves!
---
Photography by Layne Lillie, courtesy of Khoury & Vogt Architects


Gulf-Front Grandeur
Private Residence / Alys Beach, Florida
Architect: Khoury & Vogt Architects
Builder: Hufham Farris Construction
---
This one-of-a-kind Gulf-front residence in the New Urbanism community of Alys Beach, Florida, is truly a stunning piece of architecture matched only by its views. E. F. San Juan worked with the Alys Beach Town Planners at Khoury & Vogt Architects and the building team at Hufham Farris Construction on this challenging and fulfilling project.
We supplied character white oak interior boxed beams and stair parts. We also furnished all of the interior trim and paneling. The exterior products we created include ipe shutters, gates, fascia and soffit, handrails, and newels (balcony), ceilings, and wall paneling, as well as custom columns and arched cased openings on the balconies. In addition, we worked with our trusted partners at Loewen to provide windows and Loewen LiftSlide doors.
Challenges:
This was the homeowners’ third residence in the area for which we supplied products, and it was indeed a unique challenge. The client wanted as much of the exterior as possible to be weathered wood. This included the shutters, gates, fascia, soffit, handrails, balcony newels, massive columns, and arched openings mentioned above. The home’s Gulf-front location makes rot and weather damage genuine threats. Knowing that this home was to be built to last through the ages, we needed to select a wood species that was up for the task. It needed to not only look beautiful but also stand up to those elements over time.
Solution:
The E. F. San Juan team and the talented architects at KVA settled upon ipe (pronounced “eepay”) for this project. It is one of the only woods that will sink when placed in water (you would not want to make a boat out of ipe!). This species is also commonly known as ironwood because it is so dense, making it virtually rot-resistant, and therefore an excellent choice for the substantial pieces of millwork needed for this project.
However, ipe comes with its own challenges; its weight and density make it difficult to put through machines and glue. These factors also come into play for hinging when using ipe for a gate or door, which we did here. We used innovative joining methods to ensure that the gates and shutters had secondary and tertiary means of support with regard to the joinery. We believe the results speak for themselves!
---
Photography by Layne Lillie, courtesy of Khoury & Vogt Architects


Gulf-Front Grandeur
Private Residence / Alys Beach, Florida
Architect: Khoury & Vogt Architects
Builder: Hufham Farris Construction
---
This one-of-a-kind Gulf-front residence in the New Urbanism community of Alys Beach, Florida, is truly a stunning piece of architecture matched only by its views. E. F. San Juan worked with the Alys Beach Town Planners at Khoury & Vogt Architects and the building team at Hufham Farris Construction on this challenging and fulfilling project.
We supplied character white oak interior boxed beams and stair parts. We also furnished all of the interior trim and paneling. The exterior products we created include ipe shutters, gates, fascia and soffit, handrails, and newels (balcony), ceilings, and wall paneling, as well as custom columns and arched cased openings on the balconies. In addition, we worked with our trusted partners at Loewen to provide windows and Loewen LiftSlide doors.
Challenges:
This was the homeowners’ third residence in the area for which we supplied products, and it was indeed a unique challenge. The client wanted as much of the exterior as possible to be weathered wood. This included the shutters, gates, fascia, soffit, handrails, balcony newels, massive columns, and arched openings mentioned above. The home’s Gulf-front location makes rot and weather damage genuine threats. Knowing that this home was to be built to last through the ages, we needed to select a wood species that was up for the task. It needed to not only look beautiful but also stand up to those elements over time.
Solution:
The E. F. San Juan team and the talented architects at KVA settled upon ipe (pronounced “eepay”) for this project. It is one of the only woods that will sink when placed in water (you would not want to make a boat out of ipe!). This species is also commonly known as ironwood because it is so dense, making it virtually rot-resistant, and therefore an excellent choice for the substantial pieces of millwork needed for this project.
However, ipe comes with its own challenges; its weight and density make it difficult to put through machines and glue. These factors also come into play for hinging when using ipe for a gate or door, which we did here. We used innovative joining methods to ensure that the gates and shutters had secondary and tertiary means of support with regard to the joinery. We believe the results speak for themselves!
---
Photography by Layne Lillie, courtesy of Khoury & Vogt Architects


Stuart Wade, Envision Virtual Tours
The second-largest and most developed of Georgia's barrier islands, St. Simons is approximately twelve miles long and nearly three miles wide at its widest stretch (roughly the size of Manhattan Island in New York). The island is located in Glynn County on Georgia's coast and lies east of Brunswick (the seat of Glynn County), south of Little St. Simons Island and the Hampton River, and north of Jekyll Island. The resort community of Sea Island is separated from St. Simons on the east by the Black Banks River. Known for its oak tree canopies and historic landmarks, St. Simons is both a tourist destination and, according to the 2010 U.S. census, home to 12,743 residents.
Early History
The earliest
St. Simons Island Village
record of human habitation on the island dates to the Late Archaic Period, about 5,000 to 3,000 years ago. Remnants of shell rings left behind by Native Americans from this era survive on many of the barrier islands, including St. Simons. Centuries later, during the period known by historians as the chiefdom era, the Guale Indians established a chiefdom centered on St. Catherines Island and used St. Simons as their hunting and fishing grounds. By 1500 the Guale had established a permanent village of about 200 people on St. Simons, which they called Guadalquini.
Beginning in 1568, the Spanish attempted to create missions along the Georgia coast. Catholic missions were the primary means by which Georgia's indigenous Native American chiefdoms were assimilated into the Spanish colonial system along the northern frontier of greater Spanish Florida. In the 1600s St. Simons became home to two Spanish missions: San Buenaventura de Guadalquini, on the southern tip of the island, and Santo Domingo de Asao (or Asajo), on the northern tip. Located on the inland side of the island were the pagan refugee villages of San Simón, the island's namesake, and Ocotonico. In 1684 pirate raids left the missions and villages largely abandoned.
Colonial History
As
Fort Frederica
early as 1670, with Great Britain's establishment of the colony of Carolina and its expansion into Georgia territory, Spanish rule was threatened by the English. The Georgia coast was considered "debatable land" by England and Spain, even though Spain had fully retreated from St. Simons by 1702. Thirty-one years later General James Edward Oglethorpe founded the English settlement of Savannah. In 1736 he established Fort Frederica, named after the heir to the British throne, Frederick Louis, prince of Wales, on the west side of St. Simons Island to protect Savannah and the Carolinas from the Spanish threat.
Between 1736 and 1749 Fort Frederica was the hub of British military operations along the Georgia frontier. A town of the same name grew up around the fort and was of great importance to the new colony. By 1740 Frederica's population was 1,000. In 1736 the congregation of what would become Christ Church was organized within Fort Frederica as a mission of the Church of England. Charles Wesley led the first services. In 1742 Britain's decisive victory over Spain in the Battle of Bloody Marsh, during the War of Jenkins' Ear, ended the Spanish threat to the Georgia coast. When the British regimen disbanded in 1749, most of the townspeople relocated to the mainland. Fort Frederica went into decline and, except for a short time of prosperity during the 1760s and 1770s under the leadership of merchant James Spalding, never fully recovered. Today the historic citadel's tabby ruins are maintained by the National Park Service.
Plantation Era
By the start of the American Revolution (1775-83), Fort Frederica was obsolete, and St. Simons was left largely uninhabited as most of its residents joined the patriot army. Besides hosting a small Georgia naval victory on the Fort Frederica River, providing guns from its famous fort for use at Fort Morris in Sunbury, and serving as an arena for pillaging by privateers and British soldiers, the island played almost no role in the war.
Following the war, many of the townspeople, their businesses destroyed, turned to agriculture. The island was transformed into fourteen cotton plantations after acres of live oak trees were cleared for farm land and used for building American warships, including the famous USS Constitution, or "Old Ironsides." Although rice was the predominant crop along the neighboring Altamaha River, St. Simons was known for its production of long-staple cotton, which soon came to be known as Sea Island cotton.
Between
Ebos Landing
the 1780s and the outbreak of the Civil War (1861-65), St. Simons's plantation culture flourished. The saline atmosphere and the availability of cheap slave labor proved an ideal combination for the cultivation of Sea Island cotton. In 1803 a group of Ebo slaves who survived the Middle Passage and arrived on the west side of St. Simons staged a rebellion and drowned themselves. The sacred site is known today as Ebos Landing.
One of the largest owners of land and slaves on St. Simons was Pierce Butler, master of Hampton Point Plantation, located on the northern end of the island. By 1793 Butler owned more than 500 slaves, who cultivated 800 acres of cotton on St. Simons and 300 acres of rice on Butler's Island in the Altamaha River delta. Butler's grandson, Pierce Mease Butler, who at the age of sixteen inherited a share of his grandfather's estate in 1826, was responsible for the largest sale of human beings in the history of the United States: in 1859, to restore his squandered fortune, he sold 429 slaves in Savannah for more than $300,000. The British actress and writer Fanny Kemble, whose tumultuous marriage to Pierce ended in divorce in 1849, published an eyewitness account of the evils of slavery on St. Simons in her book Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839 (1863).
Another
Retreat Plantation
large owner of land and slaves on St. Simons was Major William Page, a friend and employee of Pierce Butler Sr. Before purchasing Retreat Plantation on the southwestern tip of the island in 1804, Page managed the Hampton plantation and Butler's Island. Upon Page's death in 1827, Thomas Butler King inherited the land together with his wife, Page's daughter, Anna Matilda Page King. King expanded his father-in-law's planting empire on St. Simons as well as on the mainland, and by 1835 Retreat Plantation alone was home to as many as 355 slaves.
The center of life during the island's plantation era was Christ Church, Frederica. Organized in 1807 by a group of island planters, the Episcopal church is the second oldest in the Diocese of Georgia. Embargoes imposed by the War of 1812 (1812-15) prevented the parishioners from building a church structure, so they worshiped in the home of John Beck, which stood on the site of Oglethorpe's only St. Simons residence, Orange Hall.
The first Christ Church building, finished on the present site in 1820, was ruined by occupying Union troops during the Civil War. In 1884 the Reverend Anson Dodge Jr. rebuilt the church as a memorial to his first wife, Ellen. The cruciform building with a trussed gothic roof and stained-glass windows remains active today as Christ Church.
Civil War and Beyond
The
St. Simons Island Lighthouse
outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 put a sudden end to St. Simons's lucrative plantation era. In January of that year, Confederate troops were stationed at the south end of the island to guard the entrance to Brunswick Harbor. Slaves from Retreat Plantation, owned by Thomas Butler King, built earthworks and batteries. Plantation residents were scattered—the men joined the Confederate army and their families moved to the mainland. Cannon fire was heard on the island in December 1861, and Confederate troops retreated in February 1862, after dynamiting the lighthouse to keep its beacon from aiding Union troops. Soon thereafter, Union troops occupied the island, which was used as a camp for freed slaves. By August 1862 more than 500 former slaves lived on St. Simons, including Susie King Taylor, who organized a school for freed slave children. But in November the ex-slaves were taken to Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Fernandina, Florida, leaving the island abandoned.
After the Civil War the island never returned to its status as an agricultural community. The plantations lay dormant because there were no slaves to work the fields. After Union general William T. Sherman's January 1865 Special Field Order No. 15 —a demand that former plantations be divided and distributed to former slaves—was overturned by U.S. president Andrew Johnson less than a year later, freedmen and women were forced to work as sharecroppers on the small farms that dotted the land previously occupied by the sprawling plantations.
By
St. Simons Lumber Mills
1870 real economic recovery began with the reestablishment of the timber industry. Norman Dodge and Titus G. Meigs of New York set up lumber mill operations at Gascoigne Bluff, formerly Hamilton Plantation. The lumber mills provided welcome employment for both blacks and whites and also provided mail and passenger boats to the mainland. Such water traffic, together with the construction of a new lighthouse in 1872, designed by architect Charles B. Cluskey, marked the beginning of St. Simons's tourism industry. The keeper of the lighthouse created a small amusement park, which drew many visitors, as did the seemingly miraculous light that traveled from the top of the lighthouse tower to the bottom. The island became a summer retreat for families from the mainland, particularly from Baxley, Brunswick, and Waycross.
The island's resort industry was thriving by the 1880s. Beachfront structures, such as a new pier and grand hotel, were built on the southeastern end of the island and could be accessed by ferry. Around this time wealthy northerners began vacationing on the island.
Twentieth Century
The
St. Simons Island Pier and Village
opening in 1924 of the Brunswick–St. Simons Highway, today known as the Torras Causeway, was a milestone in the development of resorts in the area. St. Simons's beaches were now easily accessible to locals and tourists alike. More than 5,000 automobiles took the short drive from Brunswick to St. Simons via the causeway on its opening day, paving the way for convenient residential and resort development.
In 1926 automotive pioneer Howard Coffin of Detroit, Michigan, bought large tracts of land on St. Simons, including the former Retreat Plantation, and constructed a golf course, yacht club, paved roads, and a residential subdivision. Although the causeway had brought large numbers of summer people to the island, St. Simons remained a small community with only a few hundred permanent residents until the 1940s.
The
St. Simons Island
outbreak of World War II (1941-45) brought more visitors and residents to St. Simons. Troops stationed at Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah; and nearby Camp Stewart took weekend vacations on the island, and a new naval air base and radar school became home to even more officers and soldiers. The increased wartime population brought the island its first public school. With a major shipyard for the production of Liberty ships in nearby Brunswick, the waters of St. Simons became active with German U-boats. In April 1942, just off the coast, the Texas Company oil tanker S. S. Oklahoma and the S. S. Esso Baton Rouge were torpedoed by the Germans, bringing the war very close to home for island residents.
Due in large part to the military's improvement of the island's infrastructure during the war, development on the island boomed in the 1950s and 1960s. More permanent homes and subdivisions were built, and the island was no longer just a summer resort but also a thriving community. In 1950 the Methodist conference and retreat center Epworth by the Sea opened on Gascoigne Bluff. In 1961 novelist Eugenia Price visited St. Simons and began work on her first works of fiction, known as the St. Simons Trilogy. Inspired by real events on the island, Price's trilogy renewed interest in the history of Georgia's coast, and the novelist herself relocated to the island in 1965 and lived there for thirty-one years. St. Simons is also home to contemporary Georgia writer Tina McElroy Ansa.
Since
Epworth by the Sea
1980 St. Simons's population has doubled. The island's continued status as a vacation destination and its ongoing development boom have put historic landmarks and natural areas at risk. While such landmarks as the Fort Frederica ruins and the Battle of Bloody Marsh site are preserved and maintained by the National Park Service, and while the historic lighthouse is maintained by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, historic Ebos Landing has been taken over by a sewage treatment plant.
Several coastal organizations have formed in recent years to save natural areas on the island. The St. Simons Land Trust, for example, has received donations of large tracts of land and plans to protect property in the island's three traditional African American neighborhoods. Despite its rapid growth and development, St. Simons remains one of the most beautiful and important islands on the Georgia coast.


Gulf-Front Grandeur
Private Residence / Alys Beach, Florida
Architect: Khoury & Vogt Architects
Builder: Hufham Farris Construction
---
This one-of-a-kind Gulf-front residence in the New Urbanism community of Alys Beach, Florida, is truly a stunning piece of architecture matched only by its views. E. F. San Juan worked with the Alys Beach Town Planners at Khoury & Vogt Architects and the building team at Hufham Farris Construction on this challenging and fulfilling project.
We supplied character white oak interior boxed beams and stair parts. We also furnished all of the interior trim and paneling. The exterior products we created include ipe shutters, gates, fascia and soffit, handrails, and newels (balcony), ceilings, and wall paneling, as well as custom columns and arched cased openings on the balconies. In addition, we worked with our trusted partners at Loewen to provide windows and Loewen LiftSlide doors.
Challenges:
This was the homeowners’ third residence in the area for which we supplied products, and it was indeed a unique challenge. The client wanted as much of the exterior as possible to be weathered wood. This included the shutters, gates, fascia, soffit, handrails, balcony newels, massive columns, and arched openings mentioned above. The home’s Gulf-front location makes rot and weather damage genuine threats. Knowing that this home was to be built to last through the ages, we needed to select a wood species that was up for the task. It needed to not only look beautiful but also stand up to those elements over time.
Solution:
The E. F. San Juan team and the talented architects at KVA settled upon ipe (pronounced “eepay”) for this project. It is one of the only woods that will sink when placed in water (you would not want to make a boat out of ipe!). This species is also commonly known as ironwood because it is so dense, making it virtually rot-resistant, and therefore an excellent choice for the substantial pieces of millwork needed for this project.
However, ipe comes with its own challenges; its weight and density make it difficult to put through machines and glue. These factors also come into play for hinging when using ipe for a gate or door, which we did here. We used innovative joining methods to ensure that the gates and shutters had secondary and tertiary means of support with regard to the joinery. We believe the results speak for themselves!
---
Photography by Layne Lillie, courtesy of Khoury & Vogt Architects


Gulf-Front Grandeur
Private Residence / Alys Beach, Florida
Architect: Khoury & Vogt Architects
Builder: Hufham Farris Construction
---
This one-of-a-kind Gulf-front residence in the New Urbanism community of Alys Beach, Florida, is truly a stunning piece of architecture matched only by its views. E. F. San Juan worked with the Alys Beach Town Planners at Khoury & Vogt Architects and the building team at Hufham Farris Construction on this challenging and fulfilling project.
We supplied character white oak interior boxed beams and stair parts. We also furnished all of the interior trim and paneling. The exterior products we created include ipe shutters, gates, fascia and soffit, handrails, and newels (balcony), ceilings, and wall paneling, as well as custom columns and arched cased openings on the balconies. In addition, we worked with our trusted partners at Loewen to provide windows and Loewen LiftSlide doors.
Challenges:
This was the homeowners’ third residence in the area for which we supplied products, and it was indeed a unique challenge. The client wanted as much of the exterior as possible to be weathered wood. This included the shutters, gates, fascia, soffit, handrails, balcony newels, massive columns, and arched openings mentioned above. The home’s Gulf-front location makes rot and weather damage genuine threats. Knowing that this home was to be built to last through the ages, we needed to select a wood species that was up for the task. It needed to not only look beautiful but also stand up to those elements over time.
Solution:
The E. F. San Juan team and the talented architects at KVA settled upon ipe (pronounced “eepay”) for this project. It is one of the only woods that will sink when placed in water (you would not want to make a boat out of ipe!). This species is also commonly known as ironwood because it is so dense, making it virtually rot-resistant, and therefore an excellent choice for the substantial pieces of millwork needed for this project.
However, ipe comes with its own challenges; its weight and density make it difficult to put through machines and glue. These factors also come into play for hinging when using ipe for a gate or door, which we did here. We used innovative joining methods to ensure that the gates and shutters had secondary and tertiary means of support with regard to the joinery. We believe the results speak for themselves!
---
Photography by Layne Lillie, courtesy of Khoury & Vogt Architects


Gulf-Front Grandeur
Private Residence / Alys Beach, Florida
Architect: Khoury & Vogt Architects
Builder: Hufham Farris Construction
---
This one-of-a-kind Gulf-front residence in the New Urbanism community of Alys Beach, Florida, is truly a stunning piece of architecture matched only by its views. E. F. San Juan worked with the Alys Beach Town Planners at Khoury & Vogt Architects and the building team at Hufham Farris Construction on this challenging and fulfilling project.
We supplied character white oak interior boxed beams and stair parts. We also furnished all of the interior trim and paneling. The exterior products we created include ipe shutters, gates, fascia and soffit, handrails, and newels (balcony), ceilings, and wall paneling, as well as custom columns and arched cased openings on the balconies. In addition, we worked with our trusted partners at Loewen to provide windows and Loewen LiftSlide doors.
Challenges:
This was the homeowners’ third residence in the area for which we supplied products, and it was indeed a unique challenge. The client wanted as much of the exterior as possible to be weathered wood. This included the shutters, gates, fascia, soffit, handrails, balcony newels, massive columns, and arched openings mentioned above. The home’s Gulf-front location makes rot and weather damage genuine threats. Knowing that this home was to be built to last through the ages, we needed to select a wood species that was up for the task. It needed to not only look beautiful but also stand up to those elements over time.
Solution:
The E. F. San Juan team and the talented architects at KVA settled upon ipe (pronounced “eepay”) for this project. It is one of the only woods that will sink when placed in water (you would not want to make a boat out of ipe!). This species is also commonly known as ironwood because it is so dense, making it virtually rot-resistant, and therefore an excellent choice for the substantial pieces of millwork needed for this project.
However, ipe comes with its own challenges; its weight and density make it difficult to put through machines and glue. These factors also come into play for hinging when using ipe for a gate or door, which we did here. We used innovative joining methods to ensure that the gates and shutters had secondary and tertiary means of support with regard to the joinery. We believe the results speak for themselves!
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Photography by Layne Lillie, courtesy of Khoury & Vogt Architects


Stuart Wade, Envision Virtual Tours
The second-largest and most developed of Georgia's barrier islands, St. Simons is approximately twelve miles long and nearly three miles wide at its widest stretch (roughly the size of Manhattan Island in New York). The island is located in Glynn County on Georgia's coast and lies east of Brunswick (the seat of Glynn County), south of Little St. Simons Island and the Hampton River, and north of Jekyll Island. The resort community of Sea Island is separated from St. Simons on the east by the Black Banks River. Known for its oak tree canopies and historic landmarks, St. Simons is both a tourist destination and, according to the 2010 U.S. census, home to 12,743 residents.
Early History
The earliest
St. Simons Island Village
record of human habitation on the island dates to the Late Archaic Period, about 5,000 to 3,000 years ago. Remnants of shell rings left behind by Native Americans from this era survive on many of the barrier islands, including St. Simons. Centuries later, during the period known by historians as the chiefdom era, the Guale Indians established a chiefdom centered on St. Catherines Island and used St. Simons as their hunting and fishing grounds. By 1500 the Guale had established a permanent village of about 200 people on St. Simons, which they called Guadalquini.
Beginning in 1568, the Spanish attempted to create missions along the Georgia coast. Catholic missions were the primary means by which Georgia's indigenous Native American chiefdoms were assimilated into the Spanish colonial system along the northern frontier of greater Spanish Florida. In the 1600s St. Simons became home to two Spanish missions: San Buenaventura de Guadalquini, on the southern tip of the island, and Santo Domingo de Asao (or Asajo), on the northern tip. Located on the inland side of the island were the pagan refugee villages of San Simón, the island's namesake, and Ocotonico. In 1684 pirate raids left the missions and villages largely abandoned.
Colonial History
As
Fort Frederica
early as 1670, with Great Britain's establishment of the colony of Carolina and its expansion into Georgia territory, Spanish rule was threatened by the English. The Georgia coast was considered "debatable land" by England and Spain, even though Spain had fully retreated from St. Simons by 1702. Thirty-one years later General James Edward Oglethorpe founded the English settlement of Savannah. In 1736 he established Fort Frederica, named after the heir to the British throne, Frederick Louis, prince of Wales, on the west side of St. Simons Island to protect Savannah and the Carolinas from the Spanish threat.
Between 1736 and 1749 Fort Frederica was the hub of British military operations along the Georgia frontier. A town of the same name grew up around the fort and was of great importance to the new colony. By 1740 Frederica's population was 1,000. In 1736 the congregation of what would become Christ Church was organized within Fort Frederica as a mission of the Church of England. Charles Wesley led the first services. In 1742 Britain's decisive victory over Spain in the Battle of Bloody Marsh, during the War of Jenkins' Ear, ended the Spanish threat to the Georgia coast. When the British regimen disbanded in 1749, most of the townspeople relocated to the mainland. Fort Frederica went into decline and, except for a short time of prosperity during the 1760s and 1770s under the leadership of merchant James Spalding, never fully recovered. Today the historic citadel's tabby ruins are maintained by the National Park Service.
Plantation Era
By the start of the American Revolution (1775-83), Fort Frederica was obsolete, and St. Simons was left largely uninhabited as most of its residents joined the patriot army. Besides hosting a small Georgia naval victory on the Fort Frederica River, providing guns from its famous fort for use at Fort Morris in Sunbury, and serving as an arena for pillaging by privateers and British soldiers, the island played almost no role in the war.
Following the war, many of the townspeople, their businesses destroyed, turned to agriculture. The island was transformed into fourteen cotton plantations after acres of live oak trees were cleared for farm land and used for building American warships, including the famous USS Constitution, or "Old Ironsides." Although rice was the predominant crop along the neighboring Altamaha River, St. Simons was known for its production of long-staple cotton, which soon came to be known as Sea Island cotton.
Between
Ebos Landing
the 1780s and the outbreak of the Civil War (1861-65), St. Simons's plantation culture flourished. The saline atmosphere and the availability of cheap slave labor proved an ideal combination for the cultivation of Sea Island cotton. In 1803 a group of Ebo slaves who survived the Middle Passage and arrived on the west side of St. Simons staged a rebellion and drowned themselves. The sacred site is known today as Ebos Landing.
One of the largest owners of land and slaves on St. Simons was Pierce Butler, master of Hampton Point Plantation, located on the northern end of the island. By 1793 Butler owned more than 500 slaves, who cultivated 800 acres of cotton on St. Simons and 300 acres of rice on Butler's Island in the Altamaha River delta. Butler's grandson, Pierce Mease Butler, who at the age of sixteen inherited a share of his grandfather's estate in 1826, was responsible for the largest sale of human beings in the history of the United States: in 1859, to restore his squandered fortune, he sold 429 slaves in Savannah for more than $300,000. The British actress and writer Fanny Kemble, whose tumultuous marriage to Pierce ended in divorce in 1849, published an eyewitness account of the evils of slavery on St. Simons in her book Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839 (1863).
Another
Retreat Plantation
large owner of land and slaves on St. Simons was Major William Page, a friend and employee of Pierce Butler Sr. Before purchasing Retreat Plantation on the southwestern tip of the island in 1804, Page managed the Hampton plantation and Butler's Island. Upon Page's death in 1827, Thomas Butler King inherited the land together with his wife, Page's daughter, Anna Matilda Page King. King expanded his father-in-law's planting empire on St. Simons as well as on the mainland, and by 1835 Retreat Plantation alone was home to as many as 355 slaves.
The center of life during the island's plantation era was Christ Church, Frederica. Organized in 1807 by a group of island planters, the Episcopal church is the second oldest in the Diocese of Georgia. Embargoes imposed by the War of 1812 (1812-15) prevented the parishioners from building a church structure, so they worshiped in the home of John Beck, which stood on the site of Oglethorpe's only St. Simons residence, Orange Hall.
The first Christ Church building, finished on the present site in 1820, was ruined by occupying Union troops during the Civil War. In 1884 the Reverend Anson Dodge Jr. rebuilt the church as a memorial to his first wife, Ellen. The cruciform building with a trussed gothic roof and stained-glass windows remains active today as Christ Church.
Civil War and Beyond
The
St. Simons Island Lighthouse
outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 put a sudden end to St. Simons's lucrative plantation era. In January of that year, Confederate troops were stationed at the south end of the island to guard the entrance to Brunswick Harbor. Slaves from Retreat Plantation, owned by Thomas Butler King, built earthworks and batteries. Plantation residents were scattered—the men joined the Confederate army and their families moved to the mainland. Cannon fire was heard on the island in December 1861, and Confederate troops retreated in February 1862, after dynamiting the lighthouse to keep its beacon from aiding Union troops. Soon thereafter, Union troops occupied the island, which was used as a camp for freed slaves. By August 1862 more than 500 former slaves lived on St. Simons, including Susie King Taylor, who organized a school for freed slave children. But in November the ex-slaves were taken to Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Fernandina, Florida, leaving the island abandoned.
After the Civil War the island never returned to its status as an agricultural community. The plantations lay dormant because there were no slaves to work the fields. After Union general William T. Sherman's January 1865 Special Field Order No. 15 —a demand that former plantations be divided and distributed to former slaves—was overturned by U.S. president Andrew Johnson less than a year later, freedmen and women were forced to work as sharecroppers on the small farms that dotted the land previously occupied by the sprawling plantations.
By
St. Simons Lumber Mills
1870 real economic recovery began with the reestablishment of the timber industry. Norman Dodge and Titus G. Meigs of New York set up lumber mill operations at Gascoigne Bluff, formerly Hamilton Plantation. The lumber mills provided welcome employment for both blacks and whites and also provided mail and passenger boats to the mainland. Such water traffic, together with the construction of a new lighthouse in 1872, designed by architect Charles B. Cluskey, marked the beginning of St. Simons's tourism industry. The keeper of the lighthouse created a small amusement park, which drew many visitors, as did the seemingly miraculous light that traveled from the top of the lighthouse tower to the bottom. The island became a summer retreat for families from the mainland, particularly from Baxley, Brunswick, and Waycross.
The island's resort industry was thriving by the 1880s. Beachfront structures, such as a new pier and grand hotel, were built on the southeastern end of the island and could be accessed by ferry. Around this time wealthy northerners began vacationing on the island.
Twentieth Century
The
St. Simons Island Pier and Village
opening in 1924 of the Brunswick–St. Simons Highway, today known as the Torras Causeway, was a milestone in the development of resorts in the area. St. Simons's beaches were now easily accessible to locals and tourists alike. More than 5,000 automobiles took the short drive from Brunswick to St. Simons via the causeway on its opening day, paving the way for convenient residential and resort development.
In 1926 automotive pioneer Howard Coffin of Detroit, Michigan, bought large tracts of land on St. Simons, including the former Retreat Plantation, and constructed a golf course, yacht club, paved roads, and a residential subdivision. Although the causeway had brought large numbers of summer people to the island, St. Simons remained a small community with only a few hundred permanent residents until the 1940s.
The
St. Simons Island
outbreak of World War II (1941-45) brought more visitors and residents to St. Simons. Troops stationed at Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah; and nearby Camp Stewart took weekend vacations on the island, and a new naval air base and radar school became home to even more officers and soldiers. The increased wartime population brought the island its first public school. With a major shipyard for the production of Liberty ships in nearby Brunswick, the waters of St. Simons became active with German U-boats. In April 1942, just off the coast, the Texas Company oil tanker S. S. Oklahoma and the S. S. Esso Baton Rouge were torpedoed by the Germans, bringing the war very close to home for island residents.
Due in large part to the military's improvement of the island's infrastructure during the war, development on the island boomed in the 1950s and 1960s. More permanent homes and subdivisions were built, and the island was no longer just a summer resort but also a thriving community. In 1950 the Methodist conference and retreat center Epworth by the Sea opened on Gascoigne Bluff. In 1961 novelist Eugenia Price visited St. Simons and began work on her first works of fiction, known as the St. Simons Trilogy. Inspired by real events on the island, Price's trilogy renewed interest in the history of Georgia's coast, and the novelist herself relocated to the island in 1965 and lived there for thirty-one years. St. Simons is also home to contemporary Georgia writer Tina McElroy Ansa.
Since
Epworth by the Sea
1980 St. Simons's population has doubled. The island's continued status as a vacation destination and its ongoing development boom have put historic landmarks and natural areas at risk. While such landmarks as the Fort Frederica ruins and the Battle of Bloody Marsh site are preserved and maintained by the National Park Service, and while the historic lighthouse is maintained by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, historic Ebos Landing has been taken over by a sewage treatment plant.
Several coastal organizations have formed in recent years to save natural areas on the island. The St. Simons Land Trust, for example, has received donations of large tracts of land and plans to protect property in the island's three traditional African American neighborhoods. Despite its rapid growth and development, St. Simons remains one of the most beautiful and important islands on the Georgia coast.
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