Turn-of-the-century design inspires Michael Dee Smith

By turns a pre-med student and an aspiring seminarian, Michael Dee Smith finally realized his true calling when he became a custom homebuilder.

Smith discovered building while working as a new-home framer during summer vacations from college. "I was apparently too slow and meticulous as a framer," he said, and so his boss recommended he take up finish carpentry instead. By 1975, he had left college to work full time as a remodeler and finish carpenter. In 1978 he built his first home.

Two years later Smith felt a calling to the ministry. Seminary enrollment required a prior degree, so he returned to classes at Southwest Missouri State University to complete his undergraduate work. He majored in psychology and biology, and continued to work in the construction business. By the time he graduated, however, Smith was convinced he was best suited to be a builder.

Smith recalled that "a relatively upper-end speculative house" he built in 1983 or 1984 "featured all my best designs and ideas and was the house that launched my career as a custom homebuilder." Since then, he has built custom homes almost exclusively.

"My passion as a builder is for design, detail and fine craftsmanship," he said. His main influences have been Frank Lloyd Wright and some of Wright's contemporaries. He likes to quote Wright's statement that "The beautiful home is one that makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before the home was built." It is a principle he brings to every home he builds.

Smith believes that in the best builder-client relationships, a custom home becomes a partnership that results in a better home than either party could have achieved alone. He feels strongly that clients need to shop for builders before the project is designed because "unless a home design is detailed in such a way so that every nail is specified, having numerous builders bid the home is very misleading."

For Smith, working with clients from the outset means that he has an intimate understanding of what the clients want and can "assist them in designing homes that are custom in every way, balancing their dreams against their budget."

Over the years Smith has designed and built homes of "every imaginable style, including French country, Southern, saltbox, and rustic contemporary" among others, he said. He is exploring the designs and ideas of the architects Greene and Greene who built homes a hundred years ago in the arts and crafts style. "The arts and crafts movement was a reaction against industrialization and the resultant dehumanization, and also a movement away from Victorian architecture," he said.

The simple lines and exceptional handcraftsmanship of the style appeal greatly to Smith, as does the use of native stone, shakes, locally-made brick and stucco. "The home was seen as a place of comfort and peace where the pleasure of nature would replenish that which was lost in the world of turn-of-the-century factories," he said. "I believe these ideas are as relevant now as they were then."

Smith has expressed these concepts in his Parade of Homes offering a 5,100-square-foot house on the 18th green at Rivercut. The home's exterior features brick, concrete lathe siding that mimics wood, and cedar beam and cedar shake exterior details. A water feature by Aquatico enhances the entranceway, where a four-foot-wide custom door with a custom leaded-glass window is another hint of the craftsmanship to be found inside. The interior, floored in maple, tile and carpeting, includes five bedrooms and four baths.

Smith said that the most dramatic space inside is when you walk downstairs from the main level to a bi-level area. "In that area is a bar and seating," he said. "You look down over the railing onto an enormous entertainment area with a 15-foot-high ceiling. There's one section with a fireplace and room for seating, and at the other end of the room is a place for watching large-screen TV and enjoying other entertainment. In the middle is an area for pool and game tables as well."

The house, located at 3001 W. Oakhaven, will be offered in the mid-$600,000 range, and can be viewed June 8-10 and 15-17 during the HBA Parade of Homes. An artist's rendering and photo of the home's exterior can be seen on page 45.