The Sunday Patriot News
Sunday, February 29, 2004
By Ellen Lyon

New Designs

Architect moves his creative spirit from California to Lebanon County

     Los Angeles architect Kip Kelly designed the Hollywood Hills home that Friends actress Courteney Cox Arquette bought for $4.5 million after she got in a bidding war with comedian Ellen DeGeneres. Kelly, now a Lebanon County architect, also designed Marty's Music Store along Route 422 in Annville. It's the first of what he hopes will be a long lien of projects in central Pennsylvania.
     I think the area is primed for some new ideas, he said.
     Which is not to say that Kelly doesn't appreciate local history and respect the Pennsylvania German architecture that's already here.
     The Santa Monica, Calif., native and his wife, Cyja Kelly, Who grew up in Lebanon County and graduated from Cedar Crest High School, bought a 238-year-old stone farmhouse along Snitz Creek outside of Lebanon. After extensive renovations, the couple and their three young children moved into the house last summer.
     Every farmhouse wants to be a Pennsylvania German Farmhouse, he said. The simplicity of design and the utilitarian aspect make them so charming. They're not trying to be something they're not.
     When planning the striking appearance of Marty's Music Store, Kelly took into account an old barn across the road.
     I wanted to make sure the scale of hte new building was similar to the scale of the barn so they would talk to each other, he said. By that, Kelly said, he means he didn't want the store to look out of place.
     To lower contruction cost, Kelly customized a pre-fabricated metal building with bold colors, musical notes on the windows and five cupolas, which his research showed the orginal Good Samaritan Hospital also had.
     Kelly designed the 11,000-square-foot music store for a song, according to Marty's owner David Moyer, because he wanted a very public display of his skills. He thought this was a great place to show off, Moyer said.
     Kelly said the cost was less that $100 a square foot, and yet it doesn't look like an inexpensive building.
     For his new store, Moyer said, I told [Kelly] I wanted something when you walk in you get a "wow" effect.
     The final result took some getting used to for him and some other locals, because it was pretty radical, Moyer said. But since the store opened a year ago, all those naysayers have come around. In fact, Moyer reports, sales have increased 25 percent.
     Kelly is eclectic in his approach. For instance, the design of Marty's also picks up on the theme of a New England schoolhouse. In recognizinitaion of the music school in the store's west wing, Kelly gave Moyer and old school bell, which is mounted in the tower over the entrance.
     Kelly's California projects have included a $5.3 million addition to his old high school in Sherman Oaks that remained true to the mission-revival style of the campus, and the conversion of a warehouse into office space.
     Kelly recieved a degree in architecture from the University of California at Berkley, where he took to heart a professor's advice to know how to build what you design.
     He worked first for general contractor, building houses, and then interned with four architects for several years befoe becoming a partner in a firm.
     In 1995, Kelly formed his company, Nest Architecture. He said his approach is to capitalize on the openness and clean lines of modern architecture but maintain the warmth and quality of the traditional.
     Kelly intends to open an office in the old corn crib next to his farmhouse by this summer, but he will maintain the Nest office in Los Angeles ?because it's such a great market, he said. That will keep him in Los Angeles about eight days each month.
     In California, Kelly employs another architect and three draftsman, a staff size he would like to duplicate here once business picks up.
     I'm a real hands-on guy as far as design goes, he said. I don't want to get so big I don't have control over the design.