Earthy-looking and enduring, Arizona-quarried stone graces this desert home’s exterior and several interior walls. Horizontal reveals establish a linear feel. Photography By Dino Tonn

After 40-some years in the rock business—providing building materials for the homes of others—a Valley quarry owner finally got the house of his dreams. It is, of course, wrought of stone, from its cobbled flagstone driveway and striking facade to its limestone floors and select interior walls.
The contemporary residence also warms the heart of the wife of this proprietor of Apache Stone Co. Like him, she thought it was high time they lived in a place that reflected the stock in trade of the family business.
Rising from the desert in north Scottsdale like a monument to nature itself, the couple’s stone-clad home is nothing like their former residence.

That home was quite lovely, but with stucco walls and a red tile roof, it was typical of so many suburban homes. There is nothing typical about this house, a quality the couple demanded and one enthusiastically embraced by those who brought their vision to fruition.
The new house was conceived by architectural designer Bob Bacon, a 2001 Phoenix Home & Garden Master of the Southwest; built by Kitchell Custom Homes; and given its distinctive decor and interior embellishment by Dorothy and Eric Bron, husband-and-wife principals of Bron Design Group.

Architectural designer Bob Bacon contrasted stone with a palette of metals, including rusted steel beams and accents, and the painted- and chromed-steel stairway railing shown here. Hallway flooring is of Wisconsin dolomitic polished limestone. Steps are clad in end-block Douglas fir flooring, which also is used in the kitchen, dining room and home office. Narrow slot windows provide a glimpse of the dining room and the patio beyond.

The prime raw materials for the house—rocks and stones and plenty of them—came both from an Arizona quarry and one in Lannon, Wis., where the family enterprise began early last century. “My grandfather started the business there after leaving Sweden,” recalls the homeowner, today a grandpa himself. “I started cutting stone with him when I was 14.”
His unabashed love of stone was shared by the design team, and especially so by the home’s designer. “The wonderful thing about stone is that it’s so versatile and has so many different personalities,” offers Bacon. “It evokes a sense of strength and durability. You see stone and it touches a deep core. It’s the oldest building material there is. If I just worked with stone for the rest of my life, it would be fine with me.”