Mark Ramsey’s Riverview bungalow is all-American on the outside, from the Arts and Crafts architecture to the American flag waving from the front porch; but once inside, the influence is definitely French. As a friend once observed, “It’s all the Versailles you can cram into an Arts and Crafts cottage.”
Ramsey lived in North Chattanooga previously and loved the area, but when he saw this Arts and Crafts home for sale in Riverview, he knew he wanted to relocate. The 90-year-old house - one of the oldest in Riverview - was built when the area was known as the City of Riverview. Ramsey has kept the outside true to its Arts and Craft heritage, meticulously maintaining the exterior of the house without changing its early 20th century architectural character. Step inside, however, and the home transforms to a space with an identifiably French feel.
With the exception of new plumbing and wiring, most of the changes in the home have been decorative, according to Ramsey. One of the first projects he tackled was pulling up old, worn out carpeting, which, surprisingly, had horsehair padding underneath. When the carpet and padding were removed, a heart of pine floor was revealed. Refinishing the floor returned it to its original golden honey color.
Ashley Ford, who owns Ashley Ford Interiors and is a local decorative artist, was called in to stencil a border on the living room floor in one of Ramsey’s favorite motifs, a black Greek key, which is also used as a common theme in decorative pieces throughout the house. Additionally, a black sunburst motif was stenciled on the floor of the entrance foyer, and black diamonds were painted in the hallway between the den and bedroom, as well as in the butler’s pantry.
While working together on the house, Ford and Ramsey were surprised to discover that Ford’s mother, who helped with the stenciling, had a connection to the house – her great aunt had lived there previously. When Ford’s mother first saw the house, she exclaimed, “This is great aunt Augusta Kolwyck’s house!”
The covered wrap-around front porch, which functions as an outdoor den, invites you to linger and relax in one of the wooden rocking chairs. Entering the foyer through the original multi-pane glass door, you are immediately transported from early 20th century to early 19th century France as you are greeted by three classical columns holding busts of classical figures. The columns are favorite pieces Ramsey likes to use throughout the house to display objets d’art.
The foyer leads to a formal and inviting living room with marigold-colored walls. The room is furnished with French period furniture, such as an elegant French Empire sofa, Neoclassical side chair and other Empire-style accent pieces. There is an obvious Napoleonic influence in the upholstery motifs, as well as in the collections of obelisks, busts and capitals displayed on table tops and on the mantle. Ramsey also has a large collection of crystals in various shapes that are displayed on a glass-topped brass coffee table in front of the sofa. As a focal point in the living room, four etchings of Giovanni Piranesi, the 18th century Italian etcher, archaeologist and architect, hang on the front wall on either side of windows that look out onto the covered front porch.
The home’s French influence is also evident in the dining room, from the soft, French blue walls to the furnishings, including a Neoclassical dining table, Greek Klismos dining chairs and marble top Empire-style console table. Two pilasters, a decorative feature Ramsey added, frame the bay window in the dining room on the front of the house. An antique china cabinet, which displays silver pieces from Ramsey’s family, completes the dining room furnishings.
A butler’s pantry connects the dining room to the kitchen, both painted in a bright Prussian blue. The butler’s pantry is used as a gallery to display artwork and has a built-in cabinet at one end that displays a collection of glassware. Throughout the house, Ramsey has tastefully mixed the old with the new, combining antique prints with contemporary art pieces by local artists.
The kitchen is, perhaps, the one room in the house that remains in the original bungalow style; it is also the one room Ramsey says he uses the least, except maybe passing through when leaving through the back door. “I don’t cook,” he explains. But the small kitchen is bright and cheerful with Prussian blue walls and views of the backyard garden.
The small, cozy room that Ramsey uses as a den was originally a bedroom and even has a full bath, which was added by the previous owners. While the rest of the house has a French influence, the den has more of an English country look, with chintz-covered furniture, English red walls, antique dog paintings and English countryside prints. The chintz-covered sofa once belonged to actress Mercedes McCambridge. On top of a chest, Ramsey proudly displays a small oil painting of his house on a small easel. Built-in bookcases grace one end of the wall that faces the sofa. To balance the bookcases, trompe l’oeil wallpaper was used to cover a storage cabinet at the other end. The wallpaper is a border pattern of bookends that has the appearance of a bookcase.
A center hall, with access to the master bath, connects the den to the master bedroom. As with the butler’s pantry, Ramsey uses the hall as a gallery to display artwork. The walls on either side of the doorway between the dining room and hall, however, display antique mirrors of differing shapes and sizes, all with different frames. “It’s my Hall of Mirrors,” he says, in another nod to Versailles.
The master bedroom, which Ramsey says will soon be redecorated with new wall, bed, and floor coverings, is also very French in décor. The Greek key motif is used as a border on the green striped walls with purple borders. The French-style furnishings consist of two end tables - one a console table and one a pedestal table - placed on either side of an elegant bed with curved headboard and footboard made of satinwood and kingwood. An armoire is used for additional storage and as an entertainment center. On one wall, Ramsey has arranged a collection of framed antique prints depicting various scenes from Napoleon’s funeral.
Another one of Ramsey’s art finds is an unusual French piece known as a flag standard, which was designed to hold flags. The standard is similar in shape to a tamborine. The covering is made of paper painted with a Neoclassical figurehead and is stretched and attached to a hollow wooden frame. When the PBS series Antiques Roadshow was filmed in Chattanooga, Ramsey worked as a volunteer and had the flag standard appraised off-camera. He was pleased to discover that it appraised well-above what he originally paid for it.
As lovely as the space is that Ramsey has created inside his home, the three-quarter acre grounds surrounding the house are even more transformed. He has created a garden retreat with a myriad of colors that unfold as the seasons change. In early spring, a huge forsythia bush with bright yellow flowers engulfs one side of the house, below the porch. In early summer, the house and driveway are bordered in brilliant blue, pink and purple hydrangeas. The blossoms are so spectacular that they graced a recent cover of Southern Living magazine.
The back of the house is an oasis of botanical calm and retreat, with paved walkways that meander through shady landscaped areas filled with rhododendron, dogwoods, and azaleas. Daylilies, Black-Eyed Susans, ferns, hostas, and butterfly bushes were planted in bordered areas around the center landscapes. Ramsey’s goal is to eventually have a perennial garden.
In the center of the garden are three connecting cascading pools, designed by Liquid Landscapes, that add a beautiful natural water element. Silver gazing balls bob in the water, adding an artful touch.
On the side of the house, in an area that had been covered in dense vegetation, Ramsey uncovered three stepped beds bordered by low stone walls. Boxwoods have been planted there as borders, which gives the beds the appearance of a small maze. Lantana topiaries add colorful accents to the beds. Tucked away in one section of the garden oasis is a wooden pergola – a typical feature in English gardens – with a candle chandelier hanging in front of a mirrored back panel that serves to expand the space.
Along with the botanicals, Ramsey has also incorporated a small outdoor art gallery into his backyard retreat. His garden gallery features two Russell Whiting sculptures, Phoenix and Icarus, a marble capital from the old American National Bank in downtown Chattanooga, and a sculpture purchased in Charleston, South Carolina, where he frequently vacations. Ramsey’s backyard botanical retreat will be featured next year in another issue of Southern Living magazine.
Behind the detached garage, in what was once an old work room with a dirt floor, is a garden-themed retreat within the garden itself. It is the perfect spot for casual entertaining, reading the paper while having a cup of coffee, or taking a late afternoon nap. A wooden floor was added, as well as screens on three walls, to create a relaxing covered sun porch.
The sun porch is filled with wicker and iron furniture, plants and artwork. Over the iron glider are two photographs by artist Garth Fromme of hydrangeas from the garden, digitally enhanced to look like oil paintings. Additionally, Lydia Reynolds, a local decorative painter, stenciled square “trophies” – a French decorative technique – on the floor that incorporate some of Ramsey’s favorite designs, such as classical motifs, Napoleonic motifs, and garden and beach motifs. There is even a University of North Carolina logo, a nod to Ramsey’s alma mater.
Ramsey chose two phrases to be stenciled on mouldings above the screens that perhaps represent for him both the trials and tribulations of maintaining a beautiful home and garden: “Nothing is more completely the child of art than a garden,” and “A thing of beauty is a job forever.” Ramsey obviously takes this job seriously and has created a magnificent oasis of art and beauty at his home in Riverview.