A Montana-based design-build firm creates a resort-like mountain oasis in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, replete with unprecedented views, unexpected materials, and plenty of room for entertaining.
When Mike Zoske was asked to create a 100-acre mountain getaway for a friend and client in a subdivision in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, he simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity — even if it meant living in a hotel during construction for six months.
“The client is a collector of Native American artwork, and the initial kind of direction was ‘New West,’ and we tried to keep the design clean,” says Zoske, founder of the Bozeman, Montana-based design-build firm Zoske Construction. The first two weeks of the project involved moving snow just to reach the site, which has sweeping views of the Teton Range, Snake River, Gros Ventre River, Sleeping Indian, Elk Refuge, Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone National Park. “For example, we took reclaimed timbers out of a silver mine in British Columbia and ended up netting 12-by-12 fir timbers, and used 10-by-10 white oak timbers from a textile mill in Virginia, and the ceilings are engineered Western clear cedar from British Columbia.”
For the 13,350-square-foot residence, complete with a 1,200-bottle wine cellar made with brick culled from a train depot in Montana and a dumbwaiter with direct access to the dining room, Zoske worked with an ensemble of experts. The team included tile artisan Sarah Garofalo of Montana Interiors, the Legacy Gallery for artwork, Genuwine Cellars, Hammerton Lighting, Wayne Gaudern with Accent Designed Homes, Boreal Property Management for landscaping, and Xssentials, which supplied the AV throughout the house. In the design, Zoske implemented wow-factor materials he had been collecting and waiting to use for years. For the hallways, he chose honed Turkish limestone floors, and he lined the fireplace in the great room with Flatwillow from Montana that was installed by Sanchez Masonry. “These are things that I’ve seen over the years that I’ve always wanted to use, but this project allowed me to use all of these things,” he adds. “It’s once in a lifetime for me.”
With the property lined with sweeping views and roaming wolves, bears, elk, and moose, the home offers a sense of seclusion. “You can’t see another house from up there, and you cannot see the neighbors,” Zoske says of the prime spot for hosting large gatherings. “[The owner’s] an entertainer, and we really designed the house around entertaining.”
In the kitchen fit for at-home dinner parties, Zoske chose a 3-inch-thick black end-grain walnut to serve as a chef’s table framed by custom mahogany cabinets designed by Jackson Hole Cabinets & Design. Adjacent to the kitchen is a great room with a giant claro walnut bar, designed by Jason Clary of Rusty Nail Design, embedded with a television that resembles a mirror when not in use. Zoske also thought of every detail down to custom display shelves and cabinets for the client’s impressive mineral and decoy duck collections.
Outside of the master bedroom, Zoske created a resort-like setting with a stream, a 7-foot waterfall, and a large pond that flows into the side of a modern 12-person hot tub. “For me, the inside is as good as the outside,” he says. “This has got to be one of the best views of the valley, and this is as good as it gets.”
Resources
Hammerton Lighting, 801.973.8095
Jackson Hole Cabinets & Design, 307.733.5390
Legacy Gallery, 307.733.2353
Zoske Construction, 406.581.2444
From the April 2017 issue.