THE HANS AT HOME

BY PAIGE BOWERS PHOTOGRAPHY BY JERRY RABINOWITZ

Laetitia Han had a Proustian moment when she walked through the doors of Tre Fontane for the fi rst time in 2014. Designed and built by architect Marion Sims Wyeth in 1924, the Estate Section abode was Wyeth’s personal home in Palm Beach and a showcase for the residential work he could do for his clients. But for Laetitia, a native Frenchwoman, it satisfi ed a sense of home that had been instilled in her by her parents, who cherished their family residence and long dinners together under the same roof.

“It smelled like my grandmother’s house, but in a good way,” Laetitia says of Tre Fontane, likening her fi rst time inside to the moment in Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past when the narrator eats a madeleine that reminds him of childhood summers at his aunt’s home. “It was raining that day, and as I looked around, the home was so magical to me. I told my husband [radiation oncologist Ben Han] that we had to make an

offer, and he said to go ahead. So, I made one without Ben even seeing it.”

Not that he would have taken issue. By then the couple had been married for 17 years, after having met in his native Seattle, where Ben was finishing a medical internship and Laetitia was perfecting her English skills. They were young people doing old-soul things like going to the opera and enjoying fine dining. After they married and moved to West Palm Beach, it only made sense that they would yearn for a forever home that was imbued with a sense of warmth and permanence.

That journey began in El Cid. The couple was living in a rental in West Palm Beach at the time, and Laetitia was pregnant with their daughter, Chloe, now 17.

“When I was pregnant, I used to walk through El Cid, and I loved it so much,” Laetitia says. “After Chloe was born, I continued those walks with her in the stroller. Then one day I found a wonderful home there for sale.”

The home was built in 1925, an era Laetitia loves for its modern glamour. It was a time when drop-waisted flapper gowns and bobbed hair replaced corseted dresses and tight updos, she says. Whether it was the clothes you wore or the home in which you lived, the fashion of the 1920s was all about flow and ease, a fact that was no doubt appealing to a youthful, modern family like the Hans.

“The youngest home I’ve ever lived in was from the 1930s,” Laetitia notes. “With this house in El Cid, I loved the Mediterranean style too, because it feels like you’re on permanent vacation.”

The Hans settled in and became a part of the neighborhood, but eight years later Laetitia was strolling through Palm Beach’s Estate Section when she saw the unassuming facade of Tre Fontane and became intrigued.

“It was a bit of a mystery to me,” she says of the home. Although the residence was not yet on the market, Realtor Ben Stein showed it to her, and she immediately fell in love with the property. Chloe was still young, and the couple was looking for more space, privacy, and security. Tre Fontane ticked all those boxes. For the home’s interior, Laetitia enlisted designer William R. Eubanks to bring her vision to life. “Laetitia has a marvelous eye and loves the romantic aspect of architecture and preservation,” says Eubanks, who is a friend of the couple. “She really did her homework and researched the home. I think when she walked into it, she just had this understanding. There was this sense of her belonging there. The front is very unassuming, but then you walk through the doors into that open courtyard. There’s an open covered staircase that goes up to the private suites. Even though it’s big, it is still very intimate.”

Laetitia desired a clean, youthful interior that would allow the well-preserved architectural elements to shine. Eubanks succeeded in striking that balance, choosing creamy-hued furnishings and sheer window treatments that would be secondary to the stunning Cuban tile floors, beamed ceilings, and pecky cypress doors.

“Fortunately, Tre Fontane had been well-maintained all these years with minimal alterations,” Eubanks says. “Once you stripped away the draperies and other elements, you could see this house with high ceilings and palladium windows in the loggia and so many other beautiful details. [I realized I needed to] lighten the walls and let sunshine into the house. The goal was to enhance those elements rather than hide them with heavy curtains and so forth.”

The only structural changes Eubanks made were upstairs, where he created a large dressing room for Laetitia, as well as his and her bathrooms. He also added a secret door from Chloe’s room into her mother’s dressing area so she could slip into the space for comfort or conversation. Downstairs, Laetitia enlarged the kitchen, and outside, the Hans added a pool pavilion, designed by Fairfax & Sammons and featuring hand-painted tiles.

THE HANS WILL OPEN TRE FONTANE TO SUPPORTERS OF CHILDREN’S HOME SOCIETY FOR A LAVISH COCKTAIL RECEPTION ON NOVEMBER 16.

Eubanks credits Laetitia as the driving force behind the design. “She belongs to the house, and it belongs to her,” he says. But Ben and Chloe also offered their input, making the result a true family affair. “Everyone had a say, and you can feel that when you walk in the front door,” Eubanks adds. Now, Ben enjoys relaxing in front of the television in the living room, while Chloe plays piano in the airy atrium, which has wonderful acoustics. Through her research, Laetitia learned that Wyeth’s wife used to play piano in that room and sing in French to her children.

“Although we love the location and being able to walk to the restaurants, we really do spend most of our time at home,” Laetitia says. “Wyeth also liked to come home and eat lunch so that he could spend time with his family.”

Each year, Laetitia’s parents come from France to visit, and the scale of the home makes it possible for them to have moments of privacy and downtime. The size of the residence is also ideal for entertaining. One can open the French doors to the courtyard and enjoy the ocean breezes—and a cocktail—in the evening. On November 16, the Hans will host the opening cocktail party for the Ultimate Dinner Party, which benefits the Children’s Home Society of Florida.

“With younger people buying on the island, I think the Old Guard wants them to become interested and involved so they can continue the island’s good traditions,” Ben says. “When you move here, you’re not automatically a Palm Beacher, but you’re welcome. So, we have made the effort to come and be involved with events like this.”

It’s a social tradition that dates to Wyeth, who hosted his fair share of teas and parties within Tre Fontane’s walls. No matter where he traveled and what he built, Wyeth would return to his home to host new clients and grand celebrations that made it into the pages of The New York Times. But Tre Fontane was not Wyeth’s forever home in the way it is now for the Hans, a family who has found their own version of paradise in a history-rich residence that they lovingly restored.

For his part, Eubanks is grateful to have played a role in preserving a part of Palm Beach’s history. “It’s important to be able to hold onto our past instead of seeing so much of it get torn away,” he says. “For Laetitia, Tre Fontane was love at first sight. When you see a client have a spark in their eyes like that, you know they immediately understand how they will live in it and make it a happy home.” «