Published October 2002

HIGH-TECH HAVEN
Custom-built Gold Bar home features automated computer system that activates lights, music, fireplace at the sound of a voice

Photo courtesy of Robert Hogue Cherry wood reflects the warmth of The RHogue Manor’s second-floor living area, with the great room and water wall to the left, below the dining area.

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

Robert Hogue is enjoying the rewards of seven years of designing, planning and building a high-tech mansion on five acres in Gold Bar, quiet land where Cascade mountain foothills loom over his back yard and deer meander out of the woods to munch on his grass and drink at May Creek as it flows past his patio.

In the morning, he wakes to music from speakers networked throughout the 4,600-square-foot house and watches as computer-controlled lights brighten the great room, where an 8-foot-wide water wall soothes soul and mind with the gentle splashing of cascading droplets.

The entire house, including its four bedrooms and three bathrooms, has individual computer-programmed settings for music, lighting, video equipment and heating sources, including the three gas-fire fireplaces.

“I’m a technical person — a software design engineer — so by nature I’m going to imbed technology applications,” Hogue said. “I’ve been investigating home technology, new ways of doing things, in the construction of the house as well as in the electronics. It’s even designed to use fuel cells when they become available for homes.”

Hogue spent two years designing the house, then he and his father built it up to the point where professional builders were needed to install drywall, delicate tile and unusual wall coverings, kitchen counters and other amenities.

Seven years of Microsoft paychecks and stock options financed the grand plan, Hogue said. He lived in an on-site trailer that doubled as a construction office for several years as the home was built, commuting from Gold Bar to Redmond. Now, after a short retirement from Microsoft, he travels to Redmond again to work on software projects as an independent contractor for another company’s project for Microsoft.

“People think this is a long way from Redmond, but it’s only a 45-minute drive on the backroads and highways. I don’t have to fight traffic, and look what I have here. More people are looking at the Monroe to Gold Bar area for expensive homes away from their work,” he said.

To relax, Hogue settles into a chair in his home theater, powers up the ceiling-mounted G90 projector and watches television programs or DVD entertainment on his 10-foot-wide, 5-foot-high HDTV screen as the room reverberates with the near reality of surround-sound technology. The residence also is equipped with a 10-megabyte LAN system for Internet and in-house computer uses.

As he moves about the house, three strategically located LCD panels provide quick menus for launching pre-programmed combinations of lighting, sound and other effects. His automated home-computer system, hidden in a closet filled with computers, CD, DVD and video equipment, even includes voice commands. Saying “dining on,” for instance, starts a pre-programmed sequence that turns on the water wall, lights the great-room fireplace, sets ceiling fans spinning and broadcasts mood music.

Just as a computer can be pre-set for a variety of activities, programs and commands, the automated system is designed to control activities and events throughout the house, including responding to a wireless link to Hogue’s car. As he approaches the house, the system recognizes signals of his imminent arrival, opening the garage door, turning on music and lighting the fireplace. Once he arrives, the system can even be programmed to greet him by name as he opens the door.

Not to be overlooked is the home’s 10kw generator that powers everything during an electrical outage, radiant floor heating throughout the house, a clean-water system with a pH balancer and a 1,000-gallon storage tank, plus an ozone system that removes heavy metals and kills all forms of bacteria and virus contamination, if there ever was any, Hogue said.

For the less technologically inclined, the home has other memorable features, from its $70,000 cherry wood and wrought-iron staircase at the entry to the random-patterned cherry wood floors on the second-story living area, and the first floor’s recreation room with its mahogany-stained cherry wood bar and lighted billiard table space.

Photo courtesy of Robert Hogue The $70,000 cherry wood and wrought-iron staircase at the entrance to The RHogue Manor took four months for master craftsmen to construct.

The library has ornately detailed cabinetry, floor-to-ceiling cherry wainscoting and intricate molding designs in the walls. In the kitchen, lined with cherry cabinets and a soapstone countertop, there are commercial-grade appliances, including a Subzero refrigerator and a double-dishwasher, one above the other but half-size to fit a standard space.

Between rooms, footlights near the floor safely guide Hogue’s way at night without any need to turn on other lighting. Under the great room is a hidden, 400-square-foot wine cellar or exercise room, accessible through a door behind the bar in the rec room.

A full tour includes the Asian-themed bathroom, the African bedroom with grass wallpaper, the Medieval bedroom with rough stucco on the walls and tumbled travertine floors laid in a random castle pattern, the 1920s-style bathroom, the Western bedroom and the Mexican bedroom with a saltillo-tiled floor.

There is also an unfinished three-car garage with a shop area and bathroom, grounds designed for $100,000 worth of yet-to-be-installed landscaping and a large gazebo made of rare Northwest character logs whipped bare by mountain winds. Hiking trails start close to the house and there are lakes nearby for fishing and canoeing, Hogue said.

So, having created the idyllic life so many others dream about, why does he want to sell The RHogue Manor? For Hogue, it just makes sense.

“With Microsoft I got used to working on big projects, enjoying it, seeing the products shipped to consumers and then starting on the next one. I enjoy creating things, like painters and writers do, but I don’t have to keep them. I’ve built this with a technology foundation and unfinished areas — such as the space for the revolving plasma television screen in the master bedroom. I’m interested in seeing what someone else does to complete all of this,” Hogue said.

John L. Scott agent Charlie Browne, from the Bellevue office, already has shown the $995,000 home to several interested buyers.

Although the home would be attractive as a private residence, Hogue grins when he thinks about the possibility of it becoming a bed-and-breakfast inn.

For more information, visit Hogue’s Web site at www.therhogue.com or John L. Scott’s at www.johnlscott.com /98287.

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