THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2020 MBRE 9the modern design they preferred. They
had done a major renovation of their house
in San Antonio and knew they could recruit
the same team — Tobin Smith Architect,
Mark Ashby Design, Ten Eyck Landscape
Architects and Dagleish Construction — to
transform their second home.
The Napiers bought the property for $3.3
million in June 2015. But rather than imme-
diately tear out the leaded- and stained-
glass windows, crown molding and fluted-
column fireplace mantel, they decided to
move in and get a feel for the space while
working on renovation plans.
“It was probably a pretty good midcen-
tury house when it was built,” said Tobin
Smith, their architect. “But someone had
Frenchified it, probably in the ’90s. We had
our work cut out for us.”
By the time the Napiers moved out to
make way for the demolition crew two
years later, they had decided to paint the
brick exterior, add a pool, and overhaul the
interior, changing the four-bedroom, three-
bathroom house into one with four reconfig-
ured bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms
and a study for Mr. Napier. The idea was to
create plenty of space for visiting friends
and family, including the couple’s 20-year-
old son, Cade, who attends Yale University,
and 17-year-old daughter, Avery, who goes
to Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hamp-
shire.
Mr. Napier also planned to use the house
for brainstorming with colleagues, so he
wanted it to be multifunctional. “I think ev-
ery entrepreneur deserves to have a confer-
ence room in their living room,” he said.
His one requirement was an enormous
whiteboard in the dining room, which would
double as his meeting space. His design
team delivered one by creating a sliding
panel on oversize stainless-steel wheels
that is hidden in the wall and can be rolled
out for work. “It’s invisible, until you yank
on the handle,” Mr. Smith said. “And then
out comes this mammoth Lanham-world
dream.”
Ms. Napier took the lead on the rest. “I
told them we need a funky, fabulous mid-
century bungalow with a contemporary art
feel,” she said.
Christina Simon, the lead interior de-
signer on the project at Mark Ashby Design,
aimed to create that feeling with vintage
furniture, dramatic materials like pyrite
wall tile in the home bar and a custom silk
rug in the primary bedroom, and by making
smart use of Ms. Napier’s many collections,
which include insect specimens, pepper
mills and serious art.
“Dacia is very much a collector,” Ms. Si-mon said. “We knew that vintage would be
part of the deal and had fun finding these
unusual elements.”
A pair of deeply cushy, worn brown
leather Roche Bobois chairs were an early
purchase that helped set the relaxed tone,
she said. They installed the chairs in the
downstairs den, where they also built a
Charlotte Perriand-inspired wall unit to
hold many of Ms. Napier’s treasures.
“We call that shelving the natural history
wall,” Ms. Simon said, “because she loves to
collect elements like these tiny silver articu-
lating bugs on stands.”
With the help of Alexis Armstrong of
Armstrong Art Consulting, Ms. Napier
filled the house with works by artists includ-ing Damien Hirst, Ed Ruscha, Ellsworth
Kelly, Shirazeh Houshiary and Sol LeWitt. A
monumental sculpture by Tony Cragg in the
living room is so heavy that Mr. Smith had
to reinforce the floor.
After vacating the home for nearly two
years of construction, and spending
roughly $2 million, the Napiers moved back
in July 2019. This year, Mr. Napier is even
more thankful to have a home that doubles
as a legitimate office.
“It turns out that it’s even better in a pan-
demic,” he said, because he has multiple in-
spiring spaces for work, room to pace while
on the phone and a whiteboard like no other.
“I think for all of us, as humans, physical
surroundings matter.”A Home Renovated for Work and Art
Top left, the living room, with a
sculpture so heavy the floor had
to be reinforced. Top right, a
large sliding whiteboard.
Above, from left: Lanham and
Dacia Napier; the pool; the
dining room and a bedroom.PHOTOGRAPHS BY DOUGLAS FRIEDMAN‘I think every
entrepreneur deserves to
have a conference room
in their living room.’
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
ON LOCATION AUSTIN, TEXASSTACY SODOLAK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESThis three-bedroom home is nestled in the
center of Pencaitland, a village about 12
miles east of Edinburgh, the Scottish capi-
tal. Originally the south wing of a 17th-cen-
tury mansion house on a vast estate, the
3,395-square-foot house now occupies a
1.35-acre lot and was fully renovated by the
current owners in 2005, said Jamie Macnab,
director of country house sales at Savills,
which has the listing.
The renovation included the conversion
of a former brew house and ice house on the
property into entertainment spaces, and
the addition of two glassed-in garden
rooms.
The property’s original front gates open
onto a tree-lined gravel drive that leads to a
parking area. The main entrance opens di-
rectly into the combined kitchen, living and
dining space, a configuration the owners
created by removing some of the building’s
original interior walls, Mr. Macnab said.
The space has wide-plank oak flooring
with radiant heat. A fireplace with a cast-
iron surround is at one end of the room, and
a four-burner AGA oven and a small island
are at the other, with the dining area in be-
tween. Marble-topped cabinetry, with two
farm sinks and two dishwashers, runs the
length of one wall.
Off the living area is the more formal
drawing room, with another fireplace and
three sets of arched, Palladian-style glass
doors. The doors open onto the property’s
circular courtyard, arranged around a foun-
tain created from an enormous cast-iron
bowl.
A glass-walled garden room extends from
the drawing room in a sweeping curve, pro-
viding views of the landscaped grounds. It
has a back wall of stone, and black-and-
white Italian tile flooring with radiant heat.
A spiral stone staircase leads to two bed-
rooms on the second floor. The primary bed-
room has a gas fireplace, hand-printed wall
coverings and a free-standing bathtub fac-
ing the windows. The adjoining bath has a
dressing room, mirror-fronted wardrobes,
Italian tile floors and a marble-topped van-
ity with three sinks.
The second bedroom also has a gas fire-
place and an en suite bath. A third bedroom
on the attic floor has exposed wood beams
and a bathroom.
Across the courtyard, the long, narrow
brew house is connected to a round ice
house by a second garden-room extension.
The property is on the edge of the expan-sive grounds of Winton Castle, the heart of
the original estate and now a venue for wed-
dings and conferences.Market Overview
The housing market in greater Edinburgh
was strong before the pandemic shutdown,
and since Scotland eased its restrictions in
late June, it has come roaring back, agents
said.
“The regeneration we’re seeing is like
nothing we’ve seen in a generation,” said
Ben Fox, Savill’s head of Edinburgh resi-
dential sales.
Prices in prime sections of the city have
risen 26.5 percent over the past five years,
according to data provided by Savills.Who Buys in Scotland
About 30 to 40 percent of buyers in and
around Edinburgh come from outside Scot-
land, mostly from elsewhere in Britain. The
roughly 10 percent who are international
buyers typically come from Europe, the
United States, China and Hong Kong,
agents said. However, the travel restric-
tions in place because of Covid-19 have
lately reduced the number of international
buyers, especially those looking at the top
of the price range.Buying Basics
There are no restrictions on foreigners buy-
ing residential property in Scotland. Real
estate agents represent sellers. It is rare for
a buyer to have their own agent — most act
for themselves in going around looking at
properties, Mr. Macnab said. Buyers must
hire a lawyer to draw up and submit a pur-
chase offer, negotiate the contract, and han-
dle the transaction. Sellers pay the agent’s
commission of 1 to 2 percent.Taxes and Fees
In July, in an effort to stimulate the housing
market, the government raised the thresh-
old for the Land and Buildings Transaction
Tax from any portion of a sale over 145,000
pounds to over 250,000 pounds ($325,000).
The change is in effect through March 2021.
Rates start at 5 percent, and rise to a high of
12 percent for any portion of a sale over
750,000 pounds ($970,000). Legal fees are
typically 1,500 to 2,000 pounds ($1,950 to
$2,590). Annual council tax on this home is
4,087 pounds ($5,300).Contact
Jamie Macnab, Savills, 011-44-131-247-3738;
savills.co.ukJust Part of a Mansion, but Still Far From Cramped
Once a wing of a mansion, the
3,395-square-foot house in the
village of Pencaitland was
renovated in 2005. Above right,
from top: the combined
kitchen, living and dining
space, and the long brew house
with vaulted ceilings.PHOTOGRAPHS VIA SAVILLSBy LISA PREVOST$2.1 million
INTERNATIONAL REAL ESTATESCOTLAND
.