and move to the mountains and dig myself a cave and live there,” mused Golik. “I always respected her advice so I came home and searched for a mountainous site to build my home (cave). When I found this majestic site, I felt the sense of being in a world that no longer existed; I bought it.” That was thirty-three years ago. He spent backbreaking years building the original 1,200-square-foot abode, utilizing stones and wood from old historic Victorians and buildings that were demolished in downtown Napa. “I filled my truck with stones and brought them to the property, and then I sifted through the pile finding the perfect match for the next piece in the wall,” said Golik. “For four years I was working at a two-stones-an-hour pace, because each rock had to be chiseled and molded to fit like a puzzle. I used 4,000-5,000 stones to build a wall. I finished on a Friday—and that following Monday I was at the hospital for a hernia operation.” Golik remodeled and added another 300 square feet to the house when he married Christine, also an art teacher, twenty-five years ago. Both Jay and Christine travel extensively, teaching around the world, and artifacts from their adventures are artfully positioned around their home—some permanently encased within the stone wall of their new entryway. He is happy to point out a cobblestone from Lisbon, Portugal and a stone found in the garbage behind the Roman, Michelangelodesigned Campidoglio. The thermal mass in the 14- inch stone walls keeps in heat in the winter and the heat out in the summer, making it an ideal, sustainable, even temperature throughout the year. If needed, the only heat source comes from a wood-burning fireplace. Many of the furnishings are recycled and repurposed. As a former art history teacher, Golik felt that using stone in the design of his house was essential. He says man has done amazing things with stone throughout history, starting with architect Imhotep, who built the stone temple complex at Sarqqara, Egypt for King Zoser. “In college, my architecture teacher, Alan Siple, was another mentor. He built his house out of stone. One day I ran into him and he seemed depressed. His class was working on designing a plastic hospital that would be delivered to a site by a helicopter. He could not recognize anything here that resembled the noble art of architecture. “At this time I was working on my architectural thesis project, a stone winery in the Napa Valley, something not popular in the architectural circles in the 1960s. He (Siple) came to my final critique to defend me from contemporary critics who he felt would try to eat me alive. We both survived.” Looking around his stone structure, he points out another dancing light coming in off the front door as it glitters center stage on the wooden floor behind the leather couch. “For almost thirty years we have lived in our charming magical cave, and every day from the time I open my eyes until I close them I am amazed, inspired and delighted by the stage that we perform our enchanted lives upon.” Like many an artist with a piece on an unfinished canvas, Golik would like to build a 1,000-square-foot stone/ wood art studio next to the house—this time, however, at age seventy-five, he will hire someone else to do the stonework. J U LY / AUGU S T 2 0 1 3 47
NVLife_JulyAug_2013
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