Take, for example, his wedding.

Twenty years ago, when he married his wife, Kate, he was careful to suffuse the event with an aura of romance. Raleigh, an architectural designer and the founder of Winter Park-based Raleigh Design, built an arbor from scratch for the occasion, then examined petals of a dozen different colors to select just the right shade for the 15-foot fuchsia bougainvillea that arched above it. It was, he hoped, the perfect setting for an exchange of sacred vows. He also thought of it as a great place to snag a profitable business deal. Raleigh had been currying the favor of Robert Earl, the British entrepreneur who owns the Hard Rock Café chain and was planning to build one of the restaurants in Orlando. The contract to design that building was one that Raleigh desperately wanted for himself. So he invited Earl to the wedding. When Earl regretfully declined, but asked where the couple was registered so he could forward a gift, Raleigh sent this courteous reply: Kate and I are very sorry you are not going to be in town, and you will be missed at our wedding. However, as a middle-aged interior designer, I have all the crystal and silver that I need. One gift of infinite proportions to Kate and me would be the contract for the Orlando Hard Rock. Raleigh’s betrothed was appalled when he told her what he had done. But his chutzpah impressed the Hard Rock czar, and Raleigh got the contract. He dreamed up the now-familiar, iconic concept for the cafe, a 23,000-square-foot Classical Palladian building sitting atop the body of a 340-foot-long Fender Stratocaster guitar. His success with that structure led to other design opportunities at Universal’s theme park, including an array of appropriately outrageous themed restaurants based upon the film Jurassic Park and Marvel Comic’s universe of superheroes. But Raleigh’s personal taste in architecture and interiors derives more from Tiffany windows and gaslights than from action-adventure paragons and tyrannosaurs. He became steeped in Belle Epoch sensibilities while designing a series of period-piece restaurants, such as the 1920s-styled Emerald Grande Resort in Destin. His other restaurant assignments have included such local institutions as Seasons 52, Darden’s trendy eatery, and Cuisine des Chefs, one of the premier fine dining destinations in the Mercado Shopping Center places known for their posh appointments and obsessive adherence to authenticity. That devotion to recapturing the romance of time and place is reflected with still more intensity and personal commitment in the home he and Kate share, a century-old, 911-square-foot grove tender’s house in Maitland that he bought and began renovating 30 years ago. At the time, it seemed the forlorn structure was held together only by multiple coats of paint. It boasted no modern conveniences apart from electricity and running water. Although the architectural style was nominally Victorian, a 1908 addition had closed in previously open porches and added siding over the original board-and-batten treatment.

As Raleigh tells it, sooty magnolia and cypress paneled walls in the small dining room were a deciding factor. “I saw those walls and said, ‘I’m going to buy this house and I don’t care how much it costs.” That was 30 years ago. Today, the modest grove tender’s house, whose newly-redesigned exterior won Raleigh Orlando Home and Design magazine’s “2009 Home Of The Year Award” For Landscaping, is a 5,000-square-foot showplace. In typical Raleigh fashion, it remains true to its heritage while not scrimping on luxury. It’s also a reflection of the designer’s diverse tastes, combining staid antique wood cabinets and tables with comfortably modern couches and chairs. The walls are adorned with vintage film posters and framed lithographs by Raleigh’s grandfather, Henry, an acclaimed turn-of-the-century illustrator. “It had to be eclectic,” says Raleigh. “I put together what works, regardless of the style.” The home’s quasi-Victorian architecture is now Carpenter Gothic, a style that uses wood construction and jig-sawn details to mimic or expand upon features carved from stone in traditional European Gothic structures. Carpenter Gothic, a peculiarly North American invention, is most commonly seen in smaller homes and churches dating from the 1880s. Raleigh, who served as his own contractor, not only designed the home’s interior and exterior but he and Kate worked alongside carpenters and other trades people during various construction projects. “I spent about 200 hours stripping and refinishing the dining room paneling,” Raleigh says. “I used a Q-Tip to get between the boards.” It’s difficult to believe that the silky smooth, mocha-colored panels are more than a century old. Conversely, many of the home’s newer elements are difficult to distinguish from what’s original. An intricate piece of exterior gingerbread fell apart when it was being removed for repairs. Undaunted, Raleigh simply used a skill saw and recreated it. But a project of such massive scope is about more than quaint details. First Raleigh stripped all the interior walls down to the cypress framing and added new electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems. The living room was extended to create a great room with a 27-foot ceiling finished with hand-hewn wood beams and cherry paneling. The second floor was remodeled to become a master suite, a garage and guest room suite was added, and the kitchen was enlarged to perfection. Actually, the kitchen became two rooms, each with its own function. A newly built room serves as food preparation area while the other larger room, actually the home’s original detached kitchen, is where the Raleigh’s entertain guests. The mahogany cabinets were custom designed and based upon a piece of antique wainscoting. Decorations include antique tins and apothecary bottles, which Raleigh numbers among the many items he collects. Even accounting for two rooms, however, the kitchen seems smaller than expected in such a large home. But Raleigh isn’t a believer in outsized kitchen spaces. “Many new, high-end homes tend to include large and at times over-scaled kitchens,” he says. “This trend is perhaps good for sales but often gets bad marks for ease of use and efficiency.” Raleigh says the home’s outdoor living area was inspired by research he did to prepare for two professional engagements – the Downbeat Jazz Music Hall of Fame and Pat O’Brien’s, both at Universal’s CityWalk. He was intrigued by the compact courtyards he visited in old New Orleans and came to realize that he had too much space to properly tame. So Raleigh sold about a third of his backyard to a neighbor and created a more manageable zone, now highlighted by an angled brick-and-stucco wall, French Quarter gaslights, a fountain, an arched bridge and an array of terraces filled with tropical plants.

Best of all – at least as far as the neighbors are concerned-Raleigh’s backyard oasis isn’t entirely closed off. It’s fully visible from the street and sidewalk and looks spectacular when illuminated by a theatrical light bar positioned on the roof. “The whole thing has been a labor of love,” says Raleigh, who studied architecture at Arizona State University and received his degree in Interior Design from the University of Florida. “I went one room at a time and took time off when I could to do the work. I guess you could say it’s nearly finished, and I’m in maintenance mode now. But there’ll always be something new to do.” Perhaps he will have a fresh perspective and the kernel of a new project in mind when he returns from the business trip he’s going to be making this summer. Kate, as usual, will be coming along. Ah, there it is again, the personal and the professional, overlapping. You might wonder if it isn’t, after all these years, a source of aggravation to Kate, a third-grade teacher at Lake Sybelia Elementary School. But maybe we should consider the nature of the business trip before jumping to any conclusions. It will begin in Paris. From there, they’ll head south, to the Loire Valley, the so-called “Garden of France,” with its breathtaking chateaus, once owned by French kings, overlooking what remains a lush, fertile valley filled with world-famous vineyards. The Raleighs will be in Provence just in time for the Lavender tour, when the forests and hillsides and fields are bursting with purple blossoms and a heavenly scent. So, no. Kate does not have a problem with the trip. Au contraire. “When he told me,” she recalls, “he said he really thought he needed to go back to Paris and to France to reintroduce himself to his art nouveau influences, to go back and take a more concentrated look. And I said, “’ Why, yes. Yes, you really must do that.’”

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