Off Davis Mill Road outside of Damascus is a majestic home with a secret.
Tucked away at the end of a curving driveway, amid perfect boxwoods and miles and miles of countryside, is a grand white house that hides a little piece of old England … and Puerto Rico … and Vegas.
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“We wanted to do something fun, creative and unique,” said owner and builder Eric A. Newquist.
The home is designed for entertaining, with an open floor plan made to feel even more spacious with 11-foot ceilings. “It’s not unusual for us to have 125 people over and not feel crowded,” he says.
“The flow is really good,” says Heather Cook, a family friend. “You can have a lot of people in the kitchen, in the breakfast, family and dining rooms, but you’d never know it. The motor court can easily park 60 cars. The house is perfectly designed for parties yet it’s not out of scale for the family.”
It is the family — specifically the four Newquist children — that are at the center of the most unusual space in the house: the basement.
There is a faux flagstone street, a baby-blue ceiling a la sky dotted with clouds, life-size faux storefronts with copper roof beams and artfully painted signs.
Each of the four kids is celebrated with a store. So there’s Wild Jake’s Billiards, a bakery boasting Zachary Grayson Newquist / Proprietor, Luke’s Bistro and Summer’s Flower Shoppe. Sovereign Bank Est. 1984 is there, as is a shop front decorated with wooden flower boxes that overflow with poinsettias on Christmas.
“After trips to San Juan and Las Vegas,” Newquist explained, “we were inspired to imitate the feel of an outdoor-indoor shopping street.”
Down the “street,” a faux outdoor courtyard framed by arched columns opens to the backyard swimming pool through sliding glass doors. The sign, King Arthur’s Throne — a fanciful reference to Newquist’s middle name — indicates a bathroom and shower for use after a swim.
Around the corner are a catering kitchen and wet bar.
Across the faux roadway in a dark interior space, is the media room. Chestnut brown paneling, which Newquist’s wife, Dawn, a professional carpenter, made herself, offsets maroon walls that mimic Venetian plaster. “She’s amazing. She just thinks it all through, makes a sketch on a napkin and then has it built,” said Cook.
Opposite the oversized wall-mounted screen is a built-in banquette lined with cushions. “You can easily have 20 teens there,” Cook said. And, indeed it has been a magnet.
“We wanted to create a house we could use, that’s functional and fun,” said Newquist. “I believe we did that and I believe every room has a soul.”
The house is on the market now at $1,400,000 through Tom Greeves of Long & Foster’s Northrup Team.
