High Contrast -- Inside This Contemporary Madrona Home, Look For The Classic Treatment

MICHAEL MOGELGAARD STILL REMEMBERS THE telephone call.

It was 1989, and the advertising executive was debating whether or not to keep his Pike Place Market condominium when he received a phone call from his realtor. She had just toured a home in Madrona that she thought he ought to see. "I know you don't want a house," she cautioned. "I know this is more than you can afford. But if you don't come look at it, you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

Mogelgaard drove over and saw the place. "She was right," he laughs. "I made an offer the next day."

Hanging off the side of a hill at the end of a dead-end street, Mogelgaard's house boasts awe-inspiring views of Lake Washington and Mount Rainier, as well as a tranquil, terraced garden that feels far removed from the clamor of the city just 10 minutes away.

The contemporary stucco exterior and flowing, sculptural floor plan are endowed with an almost classical attention to detail, from the coffered ceilings and herringbone-pattern oak floors to the narrow reveals surrounding every door.

The contrast appealed to Mogelgaard, who is nothing if not contradictory. An orchid grower and connoisseur of fine wine and fine shoes (he calls his closet "the Imelda Marcos suite"), the 46-year-old co-chairman and creative director of EvansGroup balances these predilections with a movie mogul's brashness and a vocabulary that would put a longshoreman to shame.

In trading his 1,400-square-foot condo for the 5,000-square-foot house, Mogelgaard realized he was gaining more than just some extra shoe storage. "I knew when I moved into this house that my life was going to change," he says. "I was really ready for that."

Gone are the pink leather sofas, lacquer tables and neon bar of his bachelor-pad days. The new house feels more like the elegant refuge of a seasoned traveler. Designed by architect Warren Pollock of Pollock Lau and Associates in collaboration with original owner Stephen Walker and builder Ken Burningham of The Cimarron Group, Inc., the house features a serpentine entry hall furnished with a museum-quality Louis XV commode and a Biedermeier console table and mirror. Stepping down into the window-lined living room, a roll-arm sofa covered in white brocade is paired with an Oriental rug, antique French armchairs and an Empire-style sideboard.

Graphic designer Ted Mader guided Mogelgaard through his furniture selection. "Ted said if the house makes the modern statement, what you need to do then is pay attention to the classics: stuff that's absolutely timeless," Mogelgaard recalls.

The master bedroom is situated right off the living room, to take advantage of the view. Because the two rooms are connected, Mogelgaard furnished the bedroom like a salon, with wing chairs, a reproduction Louis XV desk and an assortment of fine paintings.

"I've had people walk in there and say, `Is this the bedroom?' " remarks Ken Burningham, the builder. "There's so much that captivates your eye you really don't see the bed."

Mogelgaard can fall asleep watching moonlight reflected off the waters of Lake Washington, or catch the sun creeping over the Cascades. "It costs me some sleep," he confesses, "but waking up here is like a religious experience."

When the homeowner needs some shut-eye, he presses a button alongside the bed and steel shades descend over all the windows in the house, turning the interior pitch-black.

An inveterate collector, Mogelgaard has filled his bedroom shelves with toy ray guns and bits of architectural ornament collected on his travels through Europe. A bowl in the bathroom displays an assortment of vintage watches, while a nearby bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow sports a garish necktie.

"The problem when you get a special house is that I think you tend to take it too seriously," says Mogelgaard. "Because Ted's not a decorator, we're having fun with the house."

Last fall, Mogelgaard commissioned decorative painter Garry Transue to apply trompe l'oeil "carvings" to the beams and walls in the dining room. While he was there, Transue proposed painting a mural on a curved wall in the kitchen. Mogelgaard provided the painter with a videotape of Lake Lugano on the border between Switzerland and Italy. The artist reproduced the landscape on the wall, framing it with a stone archway.

When Mogelgaard hungers for the real thing, he saunters out to his yard, which Suky Panchot and Frank Miller designed to look like the terraced gardens of Italy. Narrow pathways amble down the hillside, through lush beds brimming with blossoms. At the base of the hill stands a trim, Victorian-style greenhouse for orchids.

The bottom level of the house features an indoor swimming pool. A bridge crossing over the pool leads to a sitting area framed by sandstone columns salvaged from a 400-year-old house in Mexico.

French doors connect the sitting area to a tranquil terrace. An arbor covered with grape vines frames the view of Lake Washington, while a trickling fountain provides background sounds to blooming lilacs and wisteria.

Every August, the deck is filled with guests watching the Seafair hydroplane races and the Blue Angels. The rest of the time, the homeowner prefers to keep his entertaining simple, inviting one or two friends over and cooking them supper.

When he's not hosting dinner parties or courting clients, Mogelgaard enjoys hunting down furniture for his house - sometimes waiting years until he finds the definitive piece. "Anything I buy I'm happy to think I'll have till I'm 90," he says. "And it will be in just as good a taste and fit just as well 20 years from now as it does today."

Seattle writer Fred Albert reports regularly on home design for Pacific and other regional magazines. Benjamin Benschneider is a Seattle Times photographer.