Once Upon a Time......
"A house becomes a home in part by the good people that you are fortunate to work with in the building of it. We are grateful for your honesty, integrity, excellence of craftsmanship and service. The effort on the part of everyone to do their best and work together as a team was what we set out to do. We will take every opportunity to share with people, how grateful we are to have worked with such an outstanding business." The Clevers
We want to thank our customers for their kind words.
Once Upon A Time..... A taste of the French countryside was the vision the owner of this beautiful home looked to achieve .
A taste of the French countryside was the image this owner, sought to convey in the design of his new, multi-million dollar house on Wisconsin's Fox River. Local architechs designed such a house, developing drawings from the owner's concept.
To keep in character with the desired European style, however, the designer needed to find a building material that would reflect the rustic European look. He chose brick because of its durability, quality and relevance to the design need. He then went to distributor William Martin to help him find the brick he sought.
Martin often acts as a color coordinator. In his consulting, he generally works with owners, helping them drawout their thoughts. "Make me something pretty that's not like everybody else and not too outragously expensive" is the challenge Martin is faced with. An artist and photographer with university art training, he has travelled extensively in Europe and is a lover of Old World architecture. Martin has, subsequently, trained 4 people in the techniques of color coordinating.
Martin's knowledge of European architecture, combined with his role as a distributor, helped the home owner meet his design objectives. Drawing on his combined expertise, Martin worked directly with Weyers for 6 months to find the required colors and textures in 4 different manufacturers' lines.
To capture the French countryside style, Martin recommended a Lorraine White Full Range HMOS from maufacturer Glen-Gery's Alwine, Penn. plant. The rough earthy textures of the handmade brick complemented by the cedar shakes of the roof reflect the country setting of the house. The brick's taupe tones were also chosen to help scale down the considerable mass of the 15,500 square foot home. 72,000 brick were used on the main building, which includes 7 masonery fireplaces and an interior barbecue pit in the kitchen; 20,000 were used on the entry garden walls - 1 leading to the main house, the other to the owner's prized collector's barn. And brick is used throughout the landscaping, which includes 20,000 clay pavers in the driveway.
Martin's skill at combining the traditional role of distributor with that of color coordinator has been very successful. His office receives a steady flow of referrals from customers who want a house made just for them. The above new, muti-million dollar home is a perfect example of how a distributor's expert knowledge of the versatility and variety of brick can help owners bring their design concepts to life.
