moldings have fanciful designs. The bumpy wall texture was achieved by distressing wet plaster with the heel of the artisan’s hand. Rooflines exhibit a slight-but-intentional swag, as an ancient building might. However, Jere states proudly, “This house has settled less than an inch in 75 years.” Ayrshire was built so tight that its occupants have never installed air conditioning. While in pre-war Europe canvassing castles, Nell Ayers also shopped for furniture. “She practically grabbed (antiques) from the jaws of Mussolini,” Elsa continues. The list is impressive: a living room console, circa 1748, with a companion piece in the Louvre; a Dutch blanket chest dated 1560; a Savonary carpet specialordered in 1840 and a side chair thought to be from the court of French kings. A set of 18th century equestrian prints leads up the spiral staircase inside the turret. John May of Hilton Head, Ayers family friend and designer, associate of world-famous interior designer Billy Baldwin, whose clients included Jacqueline
54 O.Henry
December 2011/January 2012
Kennedy Onassis and Greta Garbo, offers this theory: “(Wealthy Americans) traveled abroad and copied manor houses — this was ‘the look,’ the European stability. But (Ayrshire) avoided pretentious qualities.”
A Period Piece
Jere and Elsa’s favorite room is the bar, formerly a sunroom off the formal living room, now a trophy gallery. Every specimen, including two leopards, many antelope, buffalo, puku and zebra, was shot by them in Zambia. Elsa explains that these animals, long of antler and tusk, were old, therefore cast out of the herd. The satiny oak bar itself, built in Hilton Head, is one half of a 14-foot sailboat. “This is a working bar,” Jere explains. “My parents, being good Southern Methodists, hid the whiskey. Then I married an Episcopalian and built a bar.” A Romanesque fountain in a niche opposite the dining room provided water for drinks. My, my; what would Nathan Ayers say? “Good show, son,” Jere chuckles The Art & Soul of Greensboro