Home strange home: These Mid-Columbia houses have distinctive feel

By Franny White, Herald staff writer

Think of a home and you probably picture the standard four walls.

But the historic feel of a rural West Pasco home comforts Dick and Judy Evanoff.

For years, their home has simply been known by locals as "the castle" for its defining feature, a 36-foot-tall turret.

The home was built as a replica of a European hunting lodge in 1977, but the Evanoffs don't mind the nickname. The couple even encourages it by offering their grandchildren plastic crowns during visits to their home, which overlooks the Columbia River.

Thick, wooden support beams in the ceiling add to the home's Medieval feel. And large stuffed busts of various wild animals adorn the dining room's walls.

The Evanoffs are among a handful of homeowners in the Mid-Columbia whose living spaces don't follow convention.

From circular construction to replica castles, each of their homes is far from the norm. And they like it that way.

Judy admires unique living spaces.

"It's kind of nice how architecture is different ... throughout the world," she said, noting she and her husband saw several building styles while living abroad as a Navy family.

The Evanoffs owned a Tudor-style home while living on the East Coast. But they also reluctantly owned a modern home in Richland before the castle.

"It was awful," Dick said.

Sometimes it's not so much the shape or design of a given space that makes it original, but what homeowners do with it.

Tracy and Marcie Daine's 1987-built geodesic dome home near the Queensgate area of Richland already stands out among rectangular homes. But the nearly spherical structure, made of interfacing triangular joints, is just as unusual on the inside.

Visitors' eyes are immediately drawn to a trickling koi pond they see while crossing a stone pathway from the front entrance. The pond and a plush garden that surrounds it are indoors and part of the Daines' living room. Guests then look upward to a sky-lit cupola 30 feet above the home's center.

Well-rounded living

"Why does everybody live in square boxes?" asks Jim Willard of rural Benton County, sitting below the rounded concrete dome of his home.

Willard had been dreaming of a round house since before he married his wife, Carla, more than 30 years ago. Carla, however, was hesitant to share his vision.

But the two came to a consensus after seeing more stylized domes. In 2001, they began building their 62-foot-diameter home on the edge of their vineyard and farm. About a dozen interior projects remain to be finished, but the Willards moved into the well-insulated structure a few summers back to escape the heat of their traditional home just down the road.

The massive dome -- which is technically an oblique ellipsoid, or the shape of a slightly flattened bubble -- looks like a giant, partially buried ball.

An open, arched interior soothes any alarm newcomers may feel from the imposing dome's size. White, rolling walls cast off bright rays coming from a round skylight at the bubble's pinnacle 24 feet overhead.

Below is a free-flowing area that combines kitchen, living and dining areas into one. A stairway curves from the ground floor to the balcony, which has two guest rooms and what eventually will be a library.

The number of straight lines in this circular house can be counted on two hands. "It's more in with nature to be round," Carla explained.

It's in Jim and Carla's nature too.

"It's the feeling that you get from the space," Jim said, eyeing his home's smooth, unending walls.

"It just has a flow to it," Carla said.

"It has a good flow," Jim concurred.

Fiberglass dome

The interior of David Adams' fiberglass dome-topped home in central Richland is one of a kind, just like its owner.

The 53-year-old bachelor made his approximately 28-foot-diameter loft into a Polynesian-style tiki bar. A palm frond-covered bar in one corner is overshadowed by a giant stuffed Marlin hanging on the central wall. Colorful pictures of palm trees and hula girls decorate the dome's arching walls.

"As you can tell, I'm not normal," Adams quipped. "It's kind of fun to have something different."

Adams was looking for something beyond the norm when he bought the home, built in 1979, a decade ago. He enjoys telling people he lives in "the dome house," but seems to equally revel in sharing his eclectic displays of art, collectibles and, of course, the tiki bar.

To further put his print on the house, Adams is considering painting the dome gold with a big purple "W" in honor of his alma mater, the University of Washington.

Not the norm

But homes like Adams' are rare. Most Tri-City area residences were built in the past 50 years and within the confines of mono-stylistic neighborhoods.

"You drive to the Tri-Cities (and) so many of them have the same color shingles, the same angle on the roof," said Jim Willard.

Richland architect Jim Dillman has met many clients interested in building original and unusual homes. But so far, they've always changed their minds when reality soaks in. Finding materials for odd-shaped homes is a challenge and unique homes are hard to resell, he said.

"People who want a unique house are unique people," Dillman said. "When you're going to sell a geodesic dome, you're going to have to find someone just as unique."

* Franny White: 582-1542; fwhite@tricityherald.com

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Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008

Home strange home: These Mid-Columbia houses have distinctive feel

By Franny White, Herald staff writer