Creating Intimate Spaces in an Expansive Setting BY Laurel Holland | PHOTOGRAPHY Tim Brown If ever there were a Valley home made for elaborate parties and impromptu gatherings, the Selby residence on Wedeln Lane in Sun Valley would be it. Here, extravagant New Years’ Eve fêtes and intimate Sunday suppers have been hosted; musicians have improvised on the great room’s polished baby grand; and screenings of not-yet-intheaters film projects have been held in the 15-seat cinema downstairs. Under this roof, a swath of guests spanning L.A.’s upper crust, New York’s brooding art scene and ranchers hailing from Big Sky country have converged to raise a glass and share a drink. There is nothing diminutive about the Selby residence, a mountainside home-away-from-home to Southern California entrepreneur Rick Selby and his wife Kim, a once-competitive ice skater-turned-actor and producer. Indeed, the 17,058-square-foot home (all roofed enclosures including the guest house and garages) is visible from nearly every open expanse in the Sun Valley Village. But despite its physical magnitude and grandeur, the home’s interior is endowed with genuine warmth that fosters a sense of intimacy, no matter the size of the guest list. This is in no small part thanks to the craftsmanship of architect Doug Burdge, founder and owner of Burdge & Associates Architects. One of a shrinking number of artisans who still maps his designs by hand, Burdge has garnered praise in recent years for his “rustern” aesthetic, a term he coined to describe a hybrid of rustic mountain home with traditional, hand-hewn alder accents and a modern, open floor plan—the very style executed with such grace and skill in the Selby dwelling. When Burdge came aboard the 33-month project in late 2010, his first item of business was to design a great room around the mountainside vistas. “On property like, this where you’ve got a bird’s-eye view of the Valley’s most recognizable landmark, you’re not doing your Left: The great room of the Selby home features an 11-by-15-foot window framing Bald Mountain. The tempered pane is 2 inches thick and requires a 30-foot transom to support it.
HOME ANNUAL | sunvalleymag.com 93