Native St. Louisans, Suzie and Dave Spence, the previous owners of this historic home, firmly believe the house is made for celebrations, and what better cause for celebrating and hosting than the Deck the Halls of Glennon Homes holiday tour?
The Ladue home was created by legendary architects Raymond Maritz Sr. and William Ridgely Young, an architectural firm designing over 100 stately homes in the first half of the 20th century. Sited on nearly 11 acres, the property includes a cottage built in 1934 and the French Chateau-styled main house built the next year. In the 1980s the second owners tripled the size of the main house and added a pool, pool house, formal gardens and terraces among other amenities.
The previous owners, only the third in the estate’s 90-year history, bought the property in 2010, embarking first on renovations inside. “Even with the additions, the main house still only had three bedrooms, and we have four children,” says the wife. “We turned the attic and two offices into bedrooms.” Renovations to the kitchen and elsewhere took six months, and when those were complete, the couple turned to the outdoors, which a parking courtyard was added in the front of the house, the cutting garden refurbished and vegetable and fruit gardens, large planters and window boxes were added. The results? So spectacular St. Louis Homes + Lifestyles named the estate Garden of the Year.
For the interiors, the wife consulted designer Melinda Hagedorn. “We work really well together,” the wife says of her collaboration with Hagedorn, principal of Interiors by Melinda. “When we started working on renovations of this home, we wanted to bring it back a little closer to what it originally looked like.”
The previous owner’s love of color, texture and layering of materials guided the design direction. “You can see that in the living room where we used blue silk fabric for the walls,” the wife explains. “This room gets so much light, the fabric appears to change color depending on the weather outside. Sometimes it looks like cornflower blue but when it’s raining or darker out, it’s more of a periwinkle.”
The formality of the furnishings—winged chairs, an ebony baby grand piano, a fringed cloverleaf ottoman—take cues from the ornate marble fireplace, adorned with frescoes and original to the home. For the holiday tour, a Christmas tree decked in peacock shades of blues and greens adds festive fun to the space. “I always have a peacock tree,” says the wife. “My grandmother raised peacocks.” This tree and the garland on the fireplace mantel also held oversized gemstone-like ornaments in bright jewel tones, a suggestion from floral designer and noted Christmas décor aficionado Dave Zettler.
Another original fireplace takes center stage in the card room in the front of the home. “In here the walls are done in a strié paint finish, which gives it texture,” the wife says of the sophisticated hue. She says the card room was part of the original main house.
The dining room was also a part of the original house. It’s small by Maritz and Young standards of the day, the wife says. “We understand this house was designed as a country home or a second home, so the dining room was intended more for buffet tables and that sort of thing,” she explains. The dining room also features a marble fireplace original to the home. The previous owner and Melinda pulled out the glam in appointing this room, with a metallic geometric wallpaper, mirrored chair rail and Lucite and blue velvet dining chairs. “We just wanted to do something fresh and bright to open it up since this is a small room,” says the wife. “The mirrored chair rail really highlights the fireplace.”
For the home tour, blue ginger jars filled with fresh florals by Dave Zettler adorned the table, while sprays of peacock feathers flank the painting above the fireplace. On the chair backs, wreaths of shiny gold add even more glitz to the room. “I saw this idea and thought it would be perfect for these chairs,” the wife says of the wreaths. “The color picks up the gold of the wallpaper.”
After purchasing the home, the previous owners did a major renovation in the kitchen. “A wall cut off half of the kitchen, so we took out that wall, which opened up the space, and then we did a new opening into the family room,” the wife says. They kept the cabinets installed by the home’s second owners, but the cabinetry received a major facelift thanks to Dwyer Custom Painting. “He painted the cabinets a beautiful, high-gloss blue, put a treatment on them to give it texture, and then hand-painted the gold grooves outlining the panels,” says the wife. “Melinda and I collaborated on this idea. Her creativity is out of this world.”
Over the years, the previous owners have hosted multiple charitable and family events. The wife says longtime friends Brigette McMillin and Carol Mullenix asked several times if the home could be part of the Deck the Halls tour. “We had two weddings at our home during that time, so I kept saying, ‘if I don’t have a wedding, I’ll do it.’ So, the year there was no wedding, they called and asked if I’d do the tour and I said yes,” the wife laughs.
The wife says she enjoyed interacting with the guests on the home tour, seeing old friends and meeting many new faces. “Because the estate has been intact since the 1930s, the house has so much history and it’s fun to have others enjoy it,” says the wife. “We’ve always felt like it’s just made to open up and have people enjoy, whether for charities, for celebrations in our family, whatever it may be. We’ve been big supporters of Cardinal Glennon for a long time, and if we can support in any way, whether it’s time, treasure or talent, we want to support the kids there.” They have since sold the home due to travel and enjoy spending time at their vineyard, Spence Vineyards, in Napa Valley and three restaurants in Park City, Utah.
