By Scott Sieber
Constructed in a Mediterranean style with input from local architects and designers from South Florida, the single-family home, located on Powells Cove Boulevard, stands out like a beacon on the water despite the fact that the house is well-hidden amid a thick copse of trees and surrounding buildings.But those who do notice the distinctive columns and stucco framework of the home often stop and inquire about its design.”People stop by all the time and ask me about the house,” said homeowner Rocco Sacco. “A lot of them like the color and want to take pictures, but it's a custom color. We must have changed plans like 50 times.””It's not a standard house to Queens,” said co-designer, Joseph Sultana of JLS Designs of Bayside. “But in South Florida, there's a lot that look like that.”Sacco, who is the owner of Verdi's catering business in Whitestone, said his family often vacations around Ft. Lauderdale and that he wanted to build in a style that combined the tropical environments of South Florida with the old-time architecture of the Mediterranean.”I always liked older-styled houses,” Sacco said. “I wanted to build this so it would be like nothing modern. There were so many details that went into this and it's not even a very big house.”Sacco's self-described small house is in fact a comfortable and spacious two-story, four-bedroom, five-bathroom dwelling with a library and surveillance system.The home took a year to build and while technically complete, Sacco still has construction workers around every day, touching up details on his dream house.As Italian immigrants, he said he and his family followed his father who found employment as a carpenter and worked from the ground up to get where they are today.”We were the people who came and couldn't make the rent,” he said. “It was hard.”That upbringing imbued him with a good work ethic and modesty that kept him from revealing the cost of the construction.”It was not so much,” he said. “It was not a big deal.””This is the way the chamber really thanks the owners who do beautiful things to make Queens look beautiful for them,” said Sophia Ganosis of the Queens chamber. “The main reason we started doing this is to thank the people who live and work and build in Queens for making the borough what it is.”The style, it seems, is catching on. Just down the street, another house is under construction by the same Florida architect who helped design Sacco's building. And in Malba there is still another home built in the Mediterranean style that Sacco said was another source of inspiration for his home.He lives in the house with his wife, Emila, and two children, Joseph, 23, and Gina, 20.Reach reporter Scott Sieber by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
