D’Ascanio Mellor Architecture
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Annapolis Residence

Location
Annapolis, MD
Program
Interior Details
Style
French Gothic
Role
Interior Detail Design
A cast-metal dragon coiled around the base of a French Gothic staircase newel post, finished to match the wrought-iron pickets and topped by a glass orb.

The Brief

This residence was built in a French Gothic style, complete with hand-chiselled stone on the exterior. I was brought onto the project during construction to design several of the interior elements.

Given the homeowners’ singular sense of style, I set out to make something unique and characterful of the main staircase. The dragon newel post began as a design that I handed to a custom plaster artist; together we produced a clay rendition, which was used to cast the post and then faux-finished to match the wrought-iron pickets.

Both fireplaces were custom designed as well, their surrounds cast in plaster — one a steep ogee arch over herringbone brick, the other a Tudor four-centred arch beneath a carved overmantel.

A cast-plaster fireplace with an ogee-arched opening, a carved acanthus crest and a herringbone-brick firebox.
First fireplace — ogee arch with a carved crest, over a herringbone-brick firebox
The second custom fireplace — a Tudor four-centred arch in cast plaster with a moulded mantel and overmantel mirror, over a brick firebox.
Second fireplace — Tudor arch with cast-plaster surround and overmantel