Lido Shores Lifeso's Featured on HGTV's Extreme Homes

If you didn't get a chance to see Bob & Sue Lifeso's unique home during Sunday's LSPOA Spring Potluck...or even if you did... be sure to tune in to HGTV's Extreme Homes this Friday, March 21st at 11:00 am. Their segment on the hour long show is titled, "Lit Up Mansion in Florida", and features the Lifeso's Lido Shores home, aka the Don Chapell House.

An HGTV video crew from England spent two days and nights back in October shooting footage of the stunning contemporary house, including interviews with the proud homeowners. The show is now edited and slated to air this week.

Bob and Sue interviewed by HGTV in October 2013

Here's the backstory on this extraordinary home. Architect Don Chapell, a University of Texas graduate, worked as an apprentice for the famed Paul Rudolph. Rudolph, architect of the Lido Shores Umbrella House and Harkavy House, is co-founder of the Sarasota School of Architecture, an important regional modernist movement in the 50's and 60's.

Construction on the 6,630-square foot Chapell House was completed in 2000­. You enter from Morningside Drive into a center courtyard wrapped by bedrooms on either side and living spaces facing south along Pansy Bayou. One of the most striking aspects of the house is its variety of colors and stripes.

Conceived as an Italian hill-town, the house contains 12-different volumes, 17-different roof levels and a multitude of surfaces, planes, curves and angles, all corresponding to each room in the house.

Here's the HGTV episode description from TV-Guide. As you can see, the Lifeo's are in pretty good company.

Fairy Tale, Veiled, Whale - Extreme Homes
A mansion in Florida; a hillside abode in Spain; an apartment building in Germany reminiscent of a fairy tale; a house in Holland clothed in a fine white veil; a floating residence on the River Thames; a dwelling in Japan that's only 13 feet wide; and a lodging in Australia that resembles a breaching whale. Also: luxury hidden among raw rocks in California. (4th Season, episode 407)

~ JM, BT

— Top photograph by Greg Wilson, bottom photograph by Janet Minker