Architecture Wednesday: Queens Lane

It’s cold here in Smallville and we’re nearing those wintry holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I need snow … and wine … and this place, with the perfect name, Queens Lane—fir for a queen—fills the bill.

Located along the Snake River just north of Jackson, Wyoming, this massive home, and outbuildings, is surrounded by mature cottonwoods, a pond, and several streams. The architects were inspired by the early twentieth century National Parks lodge architecture so large timbers, logs and stones make up the exterior.

In addition to the main house, there are two outbuildings—a shop/office and a wine silo … more on that later—that have a more traditional western log structure.

I love the rustic lodge feel of the home, and the I-don’t-know-how-many fireplaces throughout; and the views to the snowy meadows beyond … and the quiet of snowfall. My one quibble is with the guest room and the animal head on the wall; luckily I won’t be sleeping there.

In fact, I’ll probably be passed out in the wine cellar silo. That’s right, silo.

Since the compound lies in the Snake River flood plain, a standard wine cellar would not do, and so the idea of a silo, filled not with grain, but The Grape, was used. The interior of the silo is inspired by a wine cask, with reclaimed fir woodwork and a spiral staircase that accesses hundreds … hundreds … of bottles of wine bottles. You climb the stairs and make your selection and then keep climbing to the third floor where you sit and sip and admire the view.

And perhaps, as I said, fall asleep, because after that much wine I ain’t walking down a three-story spiral staircase!

One Kind Design