Copyright, 2005, Dallas Morning News. All Rights Reserved.
| November 8, 1992
A home listening room in harmony with the Meyerson Mariana Greene Dallas Symphony Orchestra in their pajamas and nobody would mind. Actually, nobody would know. They have a mini-Mort in their house. The Buethers, major contributors to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, have been enamored of the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center since it was under construction. Plans to redecorate the den in the Buethers' Far North Dallas house already were in the works when hard-hat tours of the new concert hall began. At that point, the couple, who live part of the year in Chicago, began thinking about converting the den to a listening room. |
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An early blueprint called for wood paneling with garden scenes painted on the walls. "I could have walked in 5,000 other places and seen the same thing,' says Mr. Buether, who serves on the board of the Dallas Opera. "Raised panels, all wood -- typical North Dallas.' Adds Mrs. Buether, "I felt like we needed a theme.' The couple mentioned their dilemma to Jerry Giles and Patricia Siegfreid-Giles, who had been hired previously to paint a mural in the Buethers' bedroom. As luck would have it, not only were the Gileses symphony season ticket holders, they also had been on a hard-hat tour of the new center. Even more fortuitous, the Gileses, owners of Jer Giles Artworks, have a long history as scenic artists for the theater. "During our conversation, they mentioned they were going to the symphony, and something in my mind clicked,' says Mr. Giles. "I started putting it together like an opera set.' In the listening room there are faux limestone blocks to mimic the concert hall's construction material; stained glass the color of the onyx panels on the balconies; a faux marble rail like the one around the first terrace level; a draped and fringed curtain at the doorway to mimic the feeling of an entrance to a private box; even a version of the so-called acoustical cloud -- the canopy that hovers over the orchestra section. Unlike the concert hall's canopy, however, the Buethers' cannot be raised or lowered to accommodate a particular piece of music. "We went in and studied the Meyerson as much as we could. They were still building it. It wasn't even open yet,' says Mr. Giles. "We modeled everything on the Meyerson.' Not all the design decisions are purely decorative. The Buethers, after all, are serious about their music. The room's 11 speakers are connected to a Bang & Olufsen audio system and Yamaha Surround Sound equipment. And a 26-inch B&O television set moves on a motorized stand. The entertainment system is cached behind faux limestone panels and connected to the rest of the house by a Beolink 1000 remote device. Surfaces are a combination of hard and soft, to control the absorption and deflection of sound. Wall-size scenes of the Dallas skyline are painted on canvas, which is softer than wallboard. Floors are wood, unlike the rest of the house, which has marble tiles. "We were fortunate they were building the Meyerson at the same time,' says Mrs. Buether, who moved with her husband to Dallas four years ago. "It worked out perfectly. We couldn't have planned it any better, honestly.' "The whole thing is designed for a musical religious experience,' says Ms. Siegfreid-Giles. "It's as accurate as we could get, considering the size and scale. "And we hope I.M. Pei doesn't mind.' Mariana Greene writes weekly on home and design. |
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Copyright, 2005, Dallas Morning News. All Rights Reserved. |