Rowdy Meadow
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An art-filled, Cubism-inspired house set in an extensive sculpture park
Welcome to Rowdy Meadow, a visionary house that is a complete work of art—from its architecture, interior design, furnishings, and collection of contemporary art to its landscape architecture and private sculpture park. Inspired by Czech cubism, it is unlike any other house, anywhere. Designed and decorated by Peter Pennoyer Architects in Hunting Valley, Ohio, it is a structure of tremendous complexity made to feel simple and calm by Pennoyer’s mastery of the language of this style. Inside, Anne Walker guides the reader through the house, room by room, showcasing furnishings spanning the Arts and Crafts era through art deco, with pieces by Émile‑Jacques Ruhlmann, Josef Hoffmann, Dagobert Peche, Eileen Gray, and Gio Ponti; and fine art by Walton Ford and James Lee Byars. She then tours the Reed Hilderbrand–designed landscape and sculpture park—with works by Anish Kapoor and Andy Goldsworthy—spread throughout the 146‑acre property. Illustrated with photographs taken throughout the seasons by Eric Piasecki that capture Rowdy Meadow’s unique detailing, imagination, and energy, as well as with renderings and drawings, the book itself is an extraordinary achievement.
“A Gesamtkunstwerk in which every element has been invented out of whole cloth but is inspired by Cubo-Expressionist precedents, Rowdy Meadow is a paragon of invention and intelligence. Peter Pennoyer Architects has forged a looking-glass world, shapeshifting and pleasantly discombobulating, a work of art that has been designed to hold works of art.”
—MITCHELL OWENS, from the Foreword
Peter Pennoyer heads Peter Pennoyer Architects, a firm recognized as a leader in new construction, renovation, and historic preservation. Pennoyer lives in New York City and Millbrook, New York.
Anne Walker is the author of numerous books on historical and contemporary architecture and design, including A House in the Country and Life at the Top: New York’s Exceptional Apartment Buildings. A New York City native, she is an adjunct professor at NYU, where she teaches with Peter Pennoyer.
Mitchell Owens is Architectural Digest’s decorative arts editor and is the host of the AD Aesthete podcast (@adaesthete).
Architecture and interiors photographer Eric Piasecki contributes regularly to Elle Décor, Architectural Digest, and House Beautiful, among other publications. He lives in New Mexico and New York City.
Peter Pennoyer’s artistic and architectural masterpiece [is] honored in a new monograph. The book is filled with never-before-seen images of this spectacular, inspiring destination.
Revel in Peter Pennoyer’s latest book celebrating a Czech cubist-inspired home.
Luxe Interiors + Design
On a trip to Europe in 2013, Ohio businessman and art collector Scott Mueller fell in love with Czech Cubism, a now-obscure style of avant-garde art and design… Mr. Mueller commissioned the firm of New York-based architect Peter Pennoyer to build a house inspired by the style on his 146-acre property near Cleveland, Rowdy Meadow. As the new book Rowdy Meadow shows, the result looks a bit different from most Ohio homes.
The Wall Street Journal
Mitchell Owens describes the 16,000-square-foot home Rowdy Meadow as ‘a work of art that has been designed to hold works of art,’ and a Gesamtkunstwerk.’ ” Both may be true of Scott Mueller’s jaw-dropping estate in Hunting Valley, Ohio, where art abounds indoors and out, but it’s also excellent fodder for a book. . . . Pennoyer’s ode to Czech Cubism is one for the ages, and indeed, a total work of art in itself.
The idea of building a new mansion outside Cleveland inspired by Czech Cubism, a movement that thrived more than 100 years ago, sounds quirky at best. But once you know the architect is Peter Pennoyer, the unquestioned proof is in Rowdy Meadow: House, Land, Art.