With an indoor-outdoor focus, the Italianate house at 110 Wells Road offers "the ultimate in Palm Beach living,” says Rick Knop, who shares it with his wife, Leslee Belluchie.
Christine Davis
Special to Palm Beach Daily News
Before husband-and-wife Rick Knop and Leslee Belluchie bought a 1980s-era house in Palm Beach about six years ago, they considered carefully what changes they might make to better tailor it to their needs.
Built in 1986, the house at 110 Wells Road had already been remodeled by the late developer James Pappas — and later updated by real estate investor Max Weinberg, who is famous for playing the drums in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band.
Knop was already familiar with the residence, he explains.
“Between the ocean and the lake, I had walked by this house many times with my dogs, and I think the location is spectacular,” Knop says. “Wells Road is one of the most beautiful streets in Palm Beach, and this property is one house off the ocean with a gate to the beach right out the front door.”
The couple weighed their options during their due-diligence period before buying the house, which stands on a lot of nearly two-fifths of an acre about a half mile north of The Breakers’ golf course.
“In regard to the house, we knew we’d redo it or tear it down,” he says. “When we looked at the blueprints, we saw that it was extremely well built in concrete with impact(-resistant) windows, so we brought (the plans) to an architect, landscape (designer) and interior decorator and made the determination that we could make it a spectacular home and property.”
Work crews ended up taking the interiors down to the studs as part of a two-year renovation, inside and out. The project was so extensive that the rebuilt house appears, in Knop’s words, “four years old and move-in ready.”
The couple has since made plans to downsize from the five-bedroom, six-and-a-half-bath home, which has 6,723 square feet in living space inside and out. They have listed their house for sale with Corcoran Group agents Paulette Koch and Dana Koch, who have priced it at $28.5 million. The furniture is available separately.
Interior elements throughout include detailed moldings, beamed ceilings, imported chandeliers, wrought-iron embellishments and floors covered in stone and hardwood.
The front door opens into a stair hall, from which the foyer leads south to the living room and family room. To the east on the ground floor is a bedroom suite that Knop and Belluchie have used as a library.
The dining room and kitchen are west of the foyer, as well as a bedroom suite that doubles as a pool cabana, with its own wet bar. The two-car garage is nearby.
The renovation extended the width of the foyer, where a picture window was added to frame a view of the L-shaped loggia. The rooms overlooking the pool and spa have French doors that lead into the poolside loggia, while the cabana room opens to a terrace.
Crews also opened up the entrance from the family room into the living room.
The living room is topped with a pitched ceiling, set off by stenciled beams. In addition to the French doors accessing the loggia, another set of doors opens to a garden terrace.
A highlight of the dining room are Italian imported wall coverings depicting a Tuscan landscape. The library is fitted with custom cabinetry.
With a center work island, the kitchen is appointed with wood cabinets and granite counters. The professional-grade appliances are either finished in stainless steel or integrated into the cabinetry.
On the second floor, the main bedroom suite is to the west while two guest-bedroom suites are on the east side of the house.
“A key thing, off of our bedroom and the two guest-bedroom suites, (is) a large balcony with a retractable awning overlooking the gardens and the pool. In effect, it’s a whole other room,” Knop says.
The house also has an elevator, powder room and laundry room, and all the mechanical systems have been replaced by the owners.
The couple also revamped the exterior, bringing its Mediterranean style up a level, Knop says. They gave it more of an Italianate feel by adding iron adornments and a balcony over the front door.
The new landscaping, designed by Keith Williams of Nievera Williams Design, is lush, says Knop. The house now has a larger pool edged with Italian tiling and set within new decking. Knop and his wife also added French- and Italian-imported statuary and fountains in the gardens, “making it magical,” he says.
“Also, we have orchids in the palm trees and the two sea grape trees — and there’s bougainvillea everywhere. It’s quintessential Palm Beach, inside and out.”
The couple will miss “everything” about this house, including its focus on indoor-outdoor living. The quiet neighborhood, he adds, is filled with handsome homes.
“We have a premier location,” Knop says. “It’s the ultimate in Palm Beach living.”
To see more photos of 110 Wells Road in Palm Beach, click on the photo gallery at the top of this page.
For more than 20 years, Christine Davis has written about Palm Beach real estate in the "On the Market" feature in the Palm Beach Daily News.
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