Architect Bobby McAlpine designed his first house at the age of 5 and hasn’t stopped since. He creates homes with a soulful, timeless presence, including those built here in Nashville, which started with two Italianate-inspired houses in the late ‘90s and continues today with a South African Cape Dutch that is “just plain pretty.” His eponymous firm has offices in Montgomery, Nashville, Atlanta and New York, and among his partners is Nashville resident and interior designer Ray Booth. Their friendship of more than 25 years has been a “seamless action between architecture and interiors” and has resulted in homes like the one featured here. Bobby works all over the country and makes it to Nashville at least 20 times a year. One of those visits will be for the 2019 Antiques & Garden Show, where he and Ray will be keynote speakers along with their client Faith Hill. We chatted with the architect to find out where he finds inspiration, where he likes to spend his time and more.
Name: Bobby McAlpine
Profession/Title: Architect
Hometown: Vredenburgh, Alabama
Resides in: Atlanta, Georgia
Number of homes he’s designed in Nashville: 15+
After 35 years of designing homes, where do you find inspiration? Through the people I meet, I am called to shop my own self to help me solve their riddle.
What are your favorite materials to work with? Any material that has the capacity to become more beautiful in time: stone, wood, slate and steel.
Do you have a dream project? Comprehensive landscape and coordinated effort of complementary buildings to create a greater whole.
What was your first job? In the seventh grade, the designing of a house for the richest and cheapest woman in town.Clue: She hired a seventh grader.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? Always an architect. I designed my first house at the age of 5 and haven’t stopped since.I began work with architects in the ninth grade.
What person has influenced your life the most and how?My mother.She had an insatiable appetite for collecting antiques and creating many homes throughout my childhood.
Is there a particular home that stands out in your memory? The homes that I have built for myself.They are laboratories and testing ground for what I have come to know and respect — my most recent being in Atlanta.
What are you currently reading, listening to or binge-watching? Book:Lives of the Saints by Nancy Lemann.It is not a new book and was a gift from a friend.Binge-watching:Ric Burns' series on the history of New York (New York: A Documentary Film).Fascinating.
When you’re in Nashville, what’s a favorite place you like to go?Bluebird Cafe
What’s one thing you’d like to cross off your bucket list? Bali — it looks to be heaven on earth.
What trait do you admire most in others? Continuity
If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be?I’m just not envious that way.
Photograph by Simon Upton
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.