Second homes

Custom Home, May-June, 2004 by R. Christian Schmitt

After reading about second homes in the March issue ("The Good Life," page 76), here are my thoughts about this market.

After the stock market became soft a few years ago we started to see some clients become more conservative about the vacation homes they were building. Some wanted smaller vacation homes, while others simply put off building a second or third home. Overall, we see vacation homes becoming smaller, while seasonal second homes continue to increase in size.

After the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, another pattern has become more pronounced. In past years many of our clients building South Carolina vacation homes were from Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, as well as Boston. Since that terrible day we still see the people in this market building vacation homes, but more of them are doing so closer to home. Our Rhode Island office has seen an increase in vacation home business while our South Carolina office has seen a decrease. Owners would rather drive a few hours to their vacation home than have to fly there.

As far as design trends are concerned, the vacation homes we design in Rhode Island ate definitely for the entire family and not just for the husband and wife, which is more common with our Southern projects. The vacation home communities in Rhode Island where we've worked are places that the same families have been going to for decades or generations. In South Carolina the communities are new, and there is not the same sense of attachment to the place or the same sense of community.

We also see a significant trend for vacation homes to have offices for both the husband and wife. Our clients want real offices with space to spread out and do real work. People want to stay actively involved with the full scope of their lives even when on vacation.--R. Christian Schmitt, FAIA, President, Schmitt Walker Architects, Charleston, S.C.