Bentleyville Residence

This new single-family residence was designed for a young family outside of Cleveland on a private, five-acre wooded lot in the Village of Bentleyville, Ohio.

The family required ample room for entertaining family and friends. They sought to have a space designed where they could host gatherings with up to one hundred people.

The home, designed by Scott and Analía Dimit of Dimit Architects, is well-suited for the family that loves to socialize. It features an open floor plan with a centralized kitchen, easy connectivity to multiple gathering areas and a strong connection to the outdoors.

To accommodate frequent guests, there are gathering areas throughout the home. These include an exterior courtyard with a generous 40’ by 20’ pool and an outdoor living room with kitchen. A strong connection between the indoor and outdoor spaces is established with large folding and French patio doors coupled with double-story windows that open onto the courtyard.
The indoor and outdoor kitchens are directly connected and guests flow freely between the two spaces. The family makes good use of the pool and keeps it running as late as possible despite the sometimes chilly Ohio weather.

Inside, the kitchen is the central gathering space of the home. It is anchored by a sixteen-foot kitchen island where family and friends assemble to talk and eat. The kitchen island is built with thin-slab porcelain, which has the look of marble- without the required upkeep and risk of stains. Behind the main kitchen there is an enclosed catering kitchen where the family can hide unsightly pots and pans during events.

The living room is connected to both the kitchen and the courtyard and serves as a central gathering space. In the living room is a large, twenty-foot wide linear fireplace with stone masonry.

Materials are repeated throughout the home; the stone masonry on the fireplace is the same as that on the home’s exterior. The floor tiles in the master bathroom are similar to those in the pool area. White lacquered cabinets are found in the kitchen as well as the bathrooms and match details on the pool deck.

The family retained the previous home existing at the front of the lot, transforming it into a guest lodge and retreat space. The exterior of each structure features a natural exterior palette of stained cedar, stucco and stone with a standing seam metal roof. The home was built by Payne & Payne Builders.