Nikki Style

Premiere Issue
“La Casa Blanca” This $20 million oasis is about to set the standard for South Florida architecture – you’ll see.

It takes a lot for Miami’s elite to talk about a party for more than five minutes after it’s over. After all, excess and luxury are Miami’s bread and water. Even celebrity-spotting makes us yawn these days. Then why are the blue bloods still buzzing about the Labor Day brouhaha John Turchin and his wife, Susan threw? Well, it wasn’t because guests could have never imagined what was behind the doors of this extraordinary house on Hibiscus Island. It all started about two and a half years ago as a vision. Turchin imagined a house that was more than a house: he wanted an oasis.

The Miami-native envisioned his latest project the way architecture originated in South Florida-bringing the outside inside. This would not be another cookie-cutter, air-conditioned box built wall-to-wall with his neighbor’s residence. Instead, there would be five separate structures encompassing 24,000 square-feet merged into one. Influenced by the Adobe architecture native to Mexico and the decidedly Greek touch, he set the all float on a 120,000 gallon swimming pool that spills over into a moat surrounding the entire edifice. Open-air dining steps from a 30-foot sculptured aviary, an elaborate orchid garden and coral-rock steps descending into Biscayne Bay. Every inch of the house is made for enjoying the natural environment of South Florida. Open rooftops with web bars, frozen drink machines, BBQ’s and plush, inviting sitting areas lining the perimeter. It would be a smart house complete with special lighting effects, surround sound, even underwater, and 24-hour security-all controlled by a hand-held remote. Well, along with artist Dado Guaschino, architect Les Beilenson and a handful of very talented people, John Turchin turned his fantasy into a very real reality.

Turchin is not only a builder and an entrepreneur; he is a visionary – a self-proclaimed art director. “I’m really an artist, deep down in my heart I just love to create. I’m taken by the passion and I design all this right out of my heart. I do it for myself and as a byproduct I’m able to sell it and make money, but that’s not my motivation.” After studying construction management, he joined the family business and did much more than just follow in his father’s footsteps.

Turchin’s family is responsible for most of the high rises in Miami and in the 1980’s he was one of the first people to open a nightclub in Miami Beach. “The construction business wasn’t so great back then so we opened up a club before anything was happening in Miami Beach. We said if we build it they will come. So we built it and they came. The rest, as they say, is history.”

After Hurricane Andrew, Turchin got back into the construction business building and renovating a house meant compromising somewhere along the way-something and real artist detests. This is when he got back into the spec market and building purely for the love of building. Every one of his projects from there on out has been constructed for himself-something his father has always taught him. Not that Turchin hasn’t been hired to build for a client, because he has, he just has a few requirements before he starts: “Basically when I’m hired by a client they are hiring me for my expertise. We choose the architects, provide the design work and hire the interior designers. All they rally have to do is fund it, trust me and believe in us. That’s the only way to work with someone.” He has worked his magic for Latin songwriters Desmond Child and Kike Santander, formula-one driver Eddie Irvine and just recently, Hip-hop artist Ja Rule and Ashanti have sought out his expertise.

Surprisingly enough, the most beautiful thing about John Turchin isn’t his houses, it’s his humility. “I don’t do this alone. I surround myself with a lot of very talented people. I take no credit other than being the art director. I wouldn’t be where I am today without all the people that helped me. Probably one of the most gratifying things about this house is that it was built by unskilled laborers with a lot of supervision. And now, all these people have a skill and they can go back into the job market and get much higher paying jobs. It feels good that we taught them a trade and a skill, but I’m only as good as the people that I surround myself with. “And as for the house everyone is still talking about, he and his family are going to live there for a couple of years until he “builds a better one” and he has a new toy to play with.