Hilton Head Monthly Magazine

SPRING HOME AND GARDEN TOURS ARE AS synonymous with the South as blooming azaleas.

Kick o the warmer weather with the 24th annual Architects’ Selected Preview of Homes, sponsored by Hilton Head Architectural & Construction Administrators.

“Normally, the tour has several plantations on the island with a house in each plantation,” said Connie Herrman, tour coordinator.

But this year, the self-guided tour will stay primarily inside Palmetto Bluff, where a handful of homes designed by Wayne Windham Architects will be available for private viewing. Herrman said guests are invited to spend the day in the unique plantation’s sprawling natural beauty, quaint downtown village, restaurants and family-size tree house.

“There is one house in Palmetto Bluff that has numerous awards that will be shown,” Herrman said.

Designed by Wayne Windham Architects, P.A., this 4,600-square-foot home recently won two grand Aurora Awards and Best In American Living Award’s Home of the Year for 2008. “It’s like winning the Oscar,” said Ginny Rice of Wayne Windham Architects.

The home consists of three smaller buildings: a main house, garage with a suite above and a guest house. The garage is connected to the main house with a covered walk while the guest cottage stands alone between the large pines.

The home is designed with the outside in mind coupled with a blending of minimalist furnishings and “relaxed Southern vernacular” architecture.

Homeowners can entertain outdoors year-round with two screened porches, one which is off the kitchen with a built-in grill and another off the living room with an oyster shell tabby fireplace. Perhaps the most striking feature is the great room, which houses dark, stained trusses and columns and is made almost entirely of glass.

“It’s a craftsman-style home,” Rice said. “The homeowners do extensive traveling around the world.

From what I understand, its décor includes eclectic art from all over the world.”

Other homes on the tour include more Lowcountry-style homes within Palmetto Bluff, as well as one home outside Palmetto Bluff near Pritchardville, designed by Joe Hall of Hall & Hull Architects Inc.

The Preview of Homes tour is popular among construction, building and design students and professionals, who are able to gain a behind-thescenes perspective from the architects, builders and interior designers who made the home possible.

“They love getting inside those houses and getting ideas and meeting architects,” Herrman said.

Proceeds from the tour help support architecture and construction management students based on need for as long as they are in school.