For Don Devine, a 26-year-old Illinois bachelor, the tropics are but an hour's drive from Chicago. Here, on the banks of the placid Fox river, Don has decreed and erected a multidomed paradisiacal pleasure palace complete with an abundance of flowing water--two interior cascading waterfalls plus a swimming pool, plus a fine view of the river.
A land developer with an avocational bent toward sports-car designing and racing, Devine has two favorite places in the world--the Middle West and Jamaica. In order to bring together the best of both worlds, the young business entrepreneur has come up with a house that is architecturally unique and totally suited to him. He has the convenience of living near one of the largest cities in the world and the relaxed holiday atmosphere of a tropical home.
The house wraps itself around a gently graded hillock and was designed to Devine's specifications by architect Dennis Stevens. It is basically three cedar-shingle-sheathed domes that are supported by large curved laminated beams and are capped with transparent plastic bubbles.
The interior of the house, which has an open plan with one area flowing into another, is on three levels, and is extravagantly paneled with natural cedar. Many of the interior materials were imported from Hawaii, Tahiti, Haiti and Jamaica. The extralarge boulders used in the waterfall construction were trucked in from New Mexico lava beds. Furnishings are simple but colorful and enhance the tropical mood. Thanks to a special air-conditioning system, a lush planting of tropical flora flourishes luxuriously year round inside the house.
Certainly not a budget or a quickie job, the house cost approximately $150,000 and took a year to construct. Happy owner Don Devine thinks his posh pad by the Fox river is well worth every penny and minute of it. And why not? He has the best of all worlds.
