THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 18, 1996 TAG: 9604170109
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY SHIRLEY BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Long : 146 lines
THREE YEARS AGO, Mr. and Mrs. Richard F. Barry III decided to trade city life for the peaceful countryside in northern Suffolk.
Carolyn Barry felt nostalgic upon leaving the Norfolk home in which their son and daughter had grown up.
The consolation, however, was a lovely contemporary home with an enviable view of the harbor of Hampton Roads. A wall of windows in each room frames a sweeping panorama of sky and water where the James and Nansemond rivers converge.
The spacious lot and house, which sits on a bluff, encompass almost three acres, including a marsh teeming with wildlife. Egrets, horned owls and ducks make daily visits, and schools of dolphin can be spotted offshore during the summer. The recently landscaped lawn enhances the natural beauty of the picturesque setting.
``We wanted more room, and we bought the house for the beautiful river view,'' Carolyn Barry said. ``Dick loves the ship traffic, and he's always looking out of the window with his binoculars.''
He is an avid collector of 19th century American marine art. His original oil paintings and prints focus on sailing ships that have made Hampton Roads their port of call over the past 200 years.
In commemoration of the 63rd Annual Historic Garden Week in Virginia, the Barrys' home, at 9111 River Crescent, will be featured on ``A Walking Tour in Cedar Point,'' from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Four other homes and a garden, where tea will be served, also will be open to visitors.
The event is co-sponsored by the Nansemond River Garden Club of Suffolk and the Elizabeth River Garden Club of Portsmouth. Members of both will create flower arrangements for the homes and serve as tour hostesses.
When the Barrys moved from their former Georgian-style home, Carolyn Barry was concerned that contemporary architecture would not complement their vast collection of antique furniture.
``We painted the living room walls a Wedgwood blue so the furniture would look right at home,'' she said.
A color palette of blue, cream and burgundy predominates throughout the formal living and dining rooms, which feature both English and French antiques and Oriental rugs.
Additions to the house, which was built in 1972, include the comfortable, cream-colored sunroom, courtyard and slate terrace.
The sunroom, where the Barrys dine and spend their leisure hours, is also the showcase for their fascinating collection of art glass sculpture. A docent at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Carolyn Barry became interested in the art medium after taking a course there.
``Art glass sculpture is a new medium that was born in the '60s,'' Barry said. ``It's something we're learning about. We've visited a huge glass museum in Corning, N.Y., and have been to galleries in Washington, D.C., and New York.''
One of the Barrys' prized glass sculptures is ``Prism in a Sphere,'' which is 20 inches in diameter and weighs 400 pounds.
Created by two renowned Czechoslovakian artists, Stanislav Libensky and Jaraslava Brychtova, it is composed of three separate pieces of glass. Four men were required to set each piece in place on a special revolving stand constructed by American Interiors of Norfolk.
In an article titled ``Libensky/Brychtova: A Unique Collaboration in Glass'' that appeared in the August/September 1994 edition of American Craft magazine, author Robert Kehlmann wrote, ``In such pieces, one geometric form is inserted into another, heightening the optical properties of glass to distort images and reverse perspective. We are irresistibly drawn into the mysterious, liquid inner world of bubbles in these crystalline sculptures. It is hard to look away.''
The fireplace in the Barrys' living room, which has a 12-foot ceiling, is accented by bronze andirons that once graced a castle in Europe. Other bronze statues in rococo-style decorate both the living and dining rooms.
Of particular interest is Carolyn Barry's rare collection of French antique dolls called ``bebes,'' several of which are displayed in a 9-foot-tall Louis XVI curio cabinet. A Godey doll and a facsimile of Napoleon's ``Josephine'' are individually displayed within glass domes.
If she is unable to find dolls dressed in their original costumes, Barry purchases antique fabrics and has authentic clothing made for them.
``My interest in dolls began when my mother wanted to give my childhood dolls to a church bazaar,'' Barry said. ``When I went to get them, they were a mess, so I took them to a woman who restored them and got me interested in collecting. The ones I collect now, I consider works of art. The late 19th century was the golden age of doll-making in France.''
Barry attends doll conventions and has entered doll competitions for the past three or four years.
``Although I love the French child dolls, I'm extremely fond of `Parisiennes,' the lovely French lady dolls of the late 19th century,'' she said. ``Miniature ladies were dressed in glamorous costumes and accessories. When I heard that a woman wanted to sell a particular French doll in California, I talked to her at 7 p.m. on a Sunday night and was on a plane the next morning to Los Angeles.''
Objects of interest in the dining room are a crystal chandelier from Waterford, Ireland, and a marble-topped Louis XV buffet containing six types of wood.
Dick Barry is particularly fond of portrait paintings, completed before the Civil War, of his great-great-grandparents, Joseph and Margaret Maynard. The Maynards were residents of Isle of Wight County.
The hardwood floor and fruit-patterned wallpaper featuring a border of rabbits lends a French-country atmosphere to the kitchen with its sparkling white cabinets and black granite counter tops.
``We found out later that this wallpaper is in the kitchen of the White House,'' Carolyn Barry said.
An elegant powder room located off the entrance hall features a blue- and cream-striped wallpaper and French impressionist prints.
Carolyn Barry designed the mosaic tile borders that blend with the gray tile walls and ceiling, green marble counter tops and ivy-print wallpaper in matching bathrooms adjoining the master bedroom.
The formal rooms, library and master bedroom, which is decorated in shades of peach and gray, are entered from a front hall that runs the width of the house. With the flip of a switch, floor-length drapes in the bedroom may be closed or opened to reveal the breathtaking view that brought the Barrys from city lights to the countryside. ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
On the cover
Carolyn Barry looks across the James River from her sunroom. The
glass sculpture, "Prism in a Sphere," is by Stanislav Libensky and
Jaraslava Brychtova.
Carolyn Barry's collection of antique French dolls, known as "bebes"
will be on display for the home tour sponsored by the Nansemond
River Garden Club of Suffolk and the Elizabeth River Garden Club of
Portsmouth.
The formal entrance to the Richard F. Barry home at Cedar Point
faces away from the James and Nansemond rivers.
The blue and cream decor in the living room of the Richard F. Barry
III home is a suitable background for Richard Barry's collection of
original 19th century paintings of sailing ships and Carolyn Barry's
collection of antique dolls.
Color Photo courtesy of WALKING TOUR IN CEDAR POINT
The Cedar Point home of Mr. and Mrs. James A. Shirley is a
traditional Colonial design.
OTHER SUFFOLK HOMES ON THE TOUR
Includes ticket information
by CNB