Date: Fri 10-Sep-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Rodger-Braley-architect

Full Text:

Local Architect's Work Catches The Clintons' Fancy

(with photos)

BY KAAREN VALENTA

Ask architect Rodger Braley to name his favorite project and he is likely to

respond -- as did Frank Lloyd Wright -- "the next one."

But a few of Mr Braley's projects are memorable, including the US Tennis

Association stadium in Flushing Meadows, the Japanese Gasho Restaurants, a

Florida horse farm with a 44-stall barn and indoor riding ring, and now,

perhaps, the house that Bill and Hilary Clinton intend to buy in Chappaqua,

N.Y.

Mr Braley, who has lived in Newtown for the past 10 years, said that as soon

as he heard the news reports, he realized the Clintons' new house was one of

his projects.

"I didn't know the house was for sale, but when I read last Sunday that it was

an 1889 house in Chappaqua, I said `I know that house.' I was extremely

flattered that the President would consider a house I did work on," he said.

In 1988, Mr Braley designed a 2,400 square foot addition to the white-shingled

Dutch colonial located on 1.1 acres off a tiny cul-de-sac called Old House

Lane in Chappaqua, a Westchester County hamlet prized for its schools, elegant

old houses, and its hilly, wooded terrain.

Owned by Dr Jeffrey and Cheryl Weisberg, the 5,200 square foot, 11-room house

was listed at $1,695,000 in August, and reportedly is now under contract for

$1.7 million -- a bit over the asking price -- with the Clintons. The closing

is scheduled for November 1.

The Weisbergs bought the property in 1981. Dr Weisberg is a founder of the

DOCS group of health care centers in Westchester County.

The house is located in northern Westchester County, 38 miles from Manhattan.

If Mrs Clinton is to run for the United States Senate in New York next year,

she must live in the state by Election Day. The Clintons lived in the Arkansas

governor's mansion before moving to Washington; they have no home to return to

when the President leaves the White House in early 2001.

On Tuesday, Rodger Braley paged through a stack of blueprints of the Chappaqua

house and its addition. He sat at a drafting table in the large studio

addition in the house on Currituck Road where he lives with his wife, Susan

Cameron, an interior designer, and their two children, Alexandra, 16, a senior

at Newtown High School, and Adam, 11, who is in the sixth grade at the middle

school.

"I've always enjoyed working on old houses, designing additions that make it

look like it has been there forever and ever," he said.

Shrouded from easy view by towering fir and maple trees, the Chappaqua house

has two wings, the old and the new, punctuated by fan windows and topped by

gambrel roofs. The addition more than doubled the size of the house. The new

wing includes a 30 by 20-foot family room on the first floor with a bathroom

and changing room for the pool; a 30 by 27-foot master bedroom with cathedral

ceiling on the second floor, and an exercise area, a jaccuzi and a sauna.

Across the back of the house, overlooking a swimming pool and the wooded

backyard is a wrap-around deck. There also is a screened porch that resembles

a gazebo.

"I like to do detail work outside -- trellises, paving patterns," Mr Braley

said. "That really adds to the design."

Once a six-acre property called Little Brook Farm, the original house had four

bedrooms and a bath upstairs.

"Downstairs was a fairly small family room, a very nice entry, and a very nice

living room where Jeffrey Weisberg had his (tropical) fish tanks set up," Mr

Braley said.

A three-car garage also was designed by Rodger Braley, but it was never built.

Instead, the Weisbergs parked their cars in an old barn behind the house.

"Originally they wanted me to convert the barn so that his father could stay

there," Mr Braley said. "That never happened. I read news reports that said it

might be used as quarters by the Secret Service, but it is rather small."

The property taxes last year were $25,900. According to a White House

statement, Terry McAuliffe, a multimillionaire businessman and Clinton

fund-raiser, provided a guarantee for a $1.35 million loan from Bankers Trust

Company, which also was secured by a mortgage on the property. It is a

five-year adjustable-rate mortgage with a balloon payment at the end, when the

loan will either be paid off or refinanced. The rest of the money,

approximately $350,000, is coming from the blind trust that was set up by the

Clintons when the President took office.

The Clintons will live off Route 117, one of northern Westchester's main

thoroughfares, about a mile from Chappaqua's shopping district and the

Metro-North Railroad station.

The Architect

Rodger Braley grew up in cities around the world where his father served as an

officer in the Navy. He served four years in the Army, then graduated from the

University of Maryland with a degree in architecture.

"I put myself through school on the GI bill and by working in architects'

offices," he said. "So when I got out, I didn't have to do the two-year

internship before taking the state exam."

He chose architecture as a field after an industrial arts teacher in his high

school saw that he had talent and encouraged him. "My parents knew the man in

the position of Architect of the Capitol in Washington, and he gave me a book

about architectural history that really captured my interest," Mr Braley said.

Rodger Braley married Susan Cameron, a graduate of the Parsons School of

Design in New York, and they lived in Manhattan until they had children. Then

they, like many other young couples with children, looked for a home outside

the city.

They chose a rural area in Westchester County and lived there happily until

after their son was born. "We knew we didn't want to stay in a totally rural

area so we began looking," Mr Braley said. "We both liked Connecticut. One

year we came to the Labor Day Parade in Newtown and we knew that this was

where we wanted to live."

The couple bought the house at 14 Currituck Road and extensively renovated it,

adding a second story on the back, enlarging the kitchen, and adding a

three-car garage with a studio upstairs where Mr Braley works alongside his

wife, often joining her in projects in their second business, Tandem Design.

"I like to say that I do the outside, she does the inside," he said.

Susan Cameron did not work on the Chappaqua house, however.

"Cheryl Weisberg was her own designer -- she is very talented," Mr Braley

said.

The Braleys are both emergency medical technicians, volunteering with the

Newtown Ambulance Corps. He is a sailing enthusiast, owning a 17-foot wooden

Herreshoff sailboat, and a photographer with his own darkroom. In the corner

of his studio is a pipe organ that he is rebuilding.

"I like architecture because it is a creative field," he said. "I refuse to

specialize. I've done churches, restaurants, condos, commercial buildings, new

houses, alterations on older homes, work on historical buildings in New York

and Florida, a couple old train stations."

Although he usually throws out many of his files after about 10 years, because

of space limitations, Mr Braley said he keeps the architectural drawings and

sometimes the photographs. He is a little surprised that he hasn't been

contacted by either Dr Weisberg or the Secret Service.

"I tried calling Jeffrey, but I couldn't reach him," Mr Braley said. "I

understand that he and Cheryl are moving to Guilford. I sent a letter to

President Clinton saying that if he needs any plans for the house, I have

them. But I haven't gotten a response."