Artistic Revival

A design team with well-honed relationships reconnects on a Palm Beach, Florida, project that brings a new Mediterranean Revival home to uncommonly beautiful life.

- Lacey Howard

Winning combinations are worth repeating, especially when homeowners can turn to the powerhouse team of interior designer Betsy Wentz and architects Tom Kirchhoff and Jill Bruderer. These home design pros have collaborated several times to great success, so when longtime clients brought them together again, reuniting felt so good.

In this endeavor, the team focused on building a 4,000-square-foot Mediterranean Revival home in South Florida designed for a couple to entertain and host guests, as well to relax, cook, and garden. "That architectural style characterizes Palm Beach, and we drew inspiration from our experience renovating historic Mediterranean Revival homes from the 1920s," Kirchhoff says. However, Bruderer notes, the clients wanted to create a cleaner, more contemporary version of the style, which traditionally can be dark and moody.

Dining room "We wanted the room to be very formal," interior designer Betsy Wentz says.

The plaster ceiling motif lends historic detail. Hits of pattern, including a rug from Rug & Kilim NYC, add interest without competing with the ceiling. Street-facing windows have ornate cast-stone moldings (with concealed shades) that echo the exterior architecture.

Draperies bring a sense of grandeur to the plainer windows.