THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 4, 1994 TAG: 9412020243
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
For the 29th consecutive year, the Tidewater Builders Association has constructed a Scholarship House to help local high school students continue their educations.
The houses are built with materials and labor donated or furnished at cost, and proceeds from the sale support an endowment fund that has grown to more than $500,000. That enables the TBA to award six $6,400 four-year grants annually, said Richard L. ``Tuck'' Bowie, outgoing TBA president. More than 200 area students applied for this year's grants.
This year's home, located in the Bentley Gate neighborhood in Kempsville, is being purchased by Carmel and Margorie Belanger, who plan to close Dec. 15. He is a Navy lieutenant, and she is a medical services teacher at ECPI.
Their home was constructed by master builder Bob Johnson, president of Residential Concepts Ltd. The house boasts a number of optional features, including custom kitchen and baths, drive-in front, rounded corner bead and Velux skylights (``the best skylights on this planet,'' Johnson boasts). The house also features a sunken family room, which does not involve sinking the family room but rather raising the rest of the house around it.
Extensive use of white in the interior color scheme, coupled with light carpets and the effect of the skylights, gives the home a feel of spacious airiness.
TBA and Residential Concepts Ltd. hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday to mark the completion of the house.
In addition to this year's Scholarship House, Johnson built the Flexible Living home entry in the 1994 Homearama, sponsored by the TBA in October in the Church Point neighborhood in Bayside. Johnson's home earned 10 Critics' Choice awards and the top People's Choice Award for Favorite House.
In addition to the Scholarship House, the TBA also sponsors an annual Young Designers' Competition with five awards totaling $4,250.
More than 200 area students have received TBA grants since the program began in 1965. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by DAWSON MILLS
The Tidewater Builders Association's 1994 Scholarship House - with a
number of optional features - was constructed by master builder Bob
Johnson, president of Residential Concepts Ltd.
The buyers, Carmel and Margorie Belanger, expect to close on the
home in the Bentley Gate section of Kempsville on Dec. 15.
by CNB