For Modern Whimsy, A Reach Back to Towers and Turrets

Architectural Anchors Satisfy The Eye but May Strain the Budget

In the collection of magazine clips and photographs that Faye Guercio gave her architect for her home renovation, she began to notice an inadvertent recurrence of turrets and towers. It wasn't long before she realized she wanted one, too.

Guercio and her husband aren't that unusual. In the past 20 years, their architect, Lee Jacobsen, has been designing homes on Long Island. His plans almost always include a tower or turret, especially on a Tudor or Victorian. "I would love to have one in almost any one of my designs," he says. "Or maybe even two."

That's because towers and turrets can add whimsy to a home. Still, contractors say the cost to build them is high compared with a simple four-sided room, which limits their prevalence and ratchets up their value. No wonder supermodel Christie Brinkley's Bridgehampton estate Tower Hill is on the market for $30 million: The standout feature is a parapeted five-story tower with views of 20-plus acres of lush lawns and the shoreline.

A two-story tower of gray stone, stucco and brick on a 1928 Tudor Revival in Garden City, the owners say, adds grandeur to the front entry. A curving slate path leads to its spherical entrance, with an arched door and cone-shaped roof.

Inside, a sweeping circular staircase has carved oak detailing, wrought-iron banisters and a dramatic curved second-floor landing with leaded stained-glass windows. It overlooks the circular foyer below.

The house was designed by pioneering architect Olive Tjaden. From the 1920s to the 1940s, she supervised the design of more than 400 homes in the Garden City area. "Tjaden did a lot of drama," said Karen Guendjoian of Coach Realtors Fennessy Associates in Garden City. "It seems in every house she designed, she put in elements that are uniquely different."

Fifteen years ago, Nadia Hazarian and her husband, a physician, saw the house and its tower. "My husband fell in love with it. It was a one-of-a-kind house. It was a dream for us," she said. They raised their son there.

The house is on the market, listed at $1.995 million.

Guercio, her husband, Rich, a lawyer, and their two teenage children had been feeling cramped in their old house, a split-level. They asked their architect, Jacobsen, for a house with a master suite, a dining area that would expand for entertaining, and a porch with a swing. She also was hoping for a place to continue her hobby, painting.

After being given the assignment, Jacobsen, who lives across the street, often sat on his porch and dreamed about the design.

When it comes to towers and turrets, "there's nothing scientific about the size," Jacobsen said, "but the challenge is to get the proportions right." You don't want a pencil-thin appendage or a too-fat protrusion that overwhelms, he said. Typically 12 feet to 15 feet in diameter, these structures can range from 10 feet to 20 feet, depending upon the size of the house, he adds.

Turrets and towers lend themselves to many traditional styles. Historically they are found on Victorian and Romantic houses. They tend to be incorporated into asymmetrical, informally structured homes. Laura Smiros, a partner with Smiros & Smiros Architects, said towers would not be appropriate on a symmetrical, Georgian-style home, for instance.