Well Manored

A balcony overlooks the walnut-paneled library, where draperies frame a view of the yard and create an inviting nook for reading.

Garden designer Craig Bergmann created an espaliered Kieffer pear arbor. "I lifted the idea from the Cantigny Park garden in Wheaton," he says.

The dining room's rich geometric walnut paneling provides a counterpoint to the English Country–style gilded leather cornice and pristine white ceiling. The chandelier is an Italian antique; the chairs are reproductions by Gregorius Pineo.

The pergola's beams were milled from the white and burr oaks that had to come down during construction.

"A sports lawn was always part of the program," says Bergmann of the broad expanse of grass that stretches to the walled-in pool enclosure. "With four boys, Alec wanteda place to throw a football." Opposite the house's pergola, a manicured hedge mimics the brick walls that flank it.

The back of the house is distinctly English, with tall brick chimneys and a slate roof, a columned pergola and long lines of faceted windows.

A large-scale Knole sofa and 18th-century Italian tapestry chairs sit in the library, where "the colors are richer because it's primarily a nighttime room," says designer Heather Wells.

The view through the library to the living room. The rolling library ladder was originally in Jennifer Litowitz's great grandfather's pharmacy in Chicago.