Ogden Will Share Home to Help Local Charities

Since business — particularly business in Fayetteville — has been so kind to Gregg Ogden, the president of Athletic World Advertising has decided to be just as generous to his hometown.

Ogden is building a four-level, 12,000-plus SF, multi-million dollar home in east Fayetteville that at least one developer believes will be among the finest new homes in the country.

Ogden plans to use some of the facilities at his home, which is expected to be completed by December, for events through the University of Arkansas, Walton Arts Center, his company and other worthwhile community causes.

“I’ve been dreaming about [the house] for years,” Ogden said. “Part of the reason I built this was for the community. The other reason is because my daughter and son and I have not lived in the same house for more than two years straight in the last eight years. I moved away from Fayetteville for 13 years. I’ve been very fortunate in that things have gone well business-wise. I wanted to do something to have a place where they could call home, and even when they’re gone they can come home to. Growing up in Fayetteville, I lived in the same house from kindergarten through high school.”

The home’s original plans were designed by nationally renowned architect Stephen Fuller of Atlanta. It is located on seven acres off North Hunter Road in Fox Hunter Estates. But it can be best seen looking to the east from Starr Road, where the homesite can be fully appreciated sitting atop a long, winding driveway. The 1,000-foot drive up to the home will also be impressive, complete with a waterfall coming off rocks bordering the front parking area and ending up in a pond where the water is recirculated. The foundation work for the walls and road leading up to the house were done by Gentonia.

“On that bluff, it’s one of a kind,” said Shep Akins, the general contractor on the house. “It’s like out of a fairy tale.”

As one approaches the home, there is a parking area that can handle up to about 40 cars. There is also a 1,000-foot walking path behind the house, a formal lawn area, an Olympic-sized pool, a 1,200-SF pool house with a loft, a formal garden, a rose terrace, a solarium and a synthetic putting green and chipping area.

The solarium will contain tropical plants that can be placed outside during the summer. The pool house will have his-and-her baths with a fireplace, cathedral ceilings and a gourmet kitchen. Ogden said the pool house “will be as nice or nicer than the main house.”

Landscaping was done by Landscape Architects of Little Rock.

“The whole back of the house will be set up for entertaining,” Ogden said. “The rose terrace will be available for fundraisers for non-profit organizations.”

Ogden’s land is sandwiched between 160 vacant acres to the south and another 80 to the east.

There will be two four-car garages, one underneath the caretaker’s quarters.

There are seven fireplaces in all, eight bedrooms, four living areas, a library, eight full baths and five half-baths. Then there is the basement, which will have a gym, a dedicated billiards room, a home theater, full wine cellar and a bomb shelter complete with one-foot thick walls of concrete. The fourth-level of the house will be an art gallery.

The kitchen has a 12-foot island. The grand room has 18-foot ceilings. There is plenty of handcarved woodwork and “up-lighting” throughout the house.

Ogden’s office has a full bath and is totally connected to AWA’s offices on North College Avenue.

There will be touch screen capability throughout the house for lighting, heating and air, as well as security cameras, music and a DVD system. Fuller said the house is designed in the French neo-classical style.

“It combines classical detailing and symmetry with high-style French roof lines and detailing,” Fuller said. “The garage wings are treated as semi-attached carriage houses via a covered porte-cochere. The interior-room arrangements continue the symmetry of the exterior. The classical exterior is highlighted by a tripartite entry portico and features wide expansive terraces for proper connection of the home to the site. The site is ideal for such a grand estate and the style very comfortable with its setting. Landscaping will add to the formality of the estate. Period interiors will pick up where the architecture stops to complete the grand estate feel.”

Marynm Bassett, who did the interior decorating for Red Hudson, Mike Hudson, Leland Tollett and Joe Fred Starr among others, is working with Ogden.

“Greg is a very sentimental person,” Bassett said. “He cried when his folks sold the house he grew up in. He didn’t want this house to be cold, so he wanted something younger people could identify with, yet still wanted the quality. That’s what he’s getting. Greg has excellent taste. He’s traveled everywhere and has seen everything.”

Ogden is also using stone mason Tim Cook, woodcarver Dan Speed, Arté Bella of Fayetteville and Luther Stern Pools of Fort Smith. Also helping Ogden with refining Fuller’s original plans to his taste have been Dennis Becker and John Topp of Fayetteville.