Heaven’s Gate (Private Residence), Big Sky, Mont.

For Zoltan and Kim Zsitvay, their 12,000-ft² home – Heaven’s Gate – at the ultra-exclusive Yellowstone Club in south central Montana literally became a labor of love. The retired Wall Street financier ultimately became co-contractor for the project, and lent a hand in building the residence’s custom doors and cabinetry.
However, when it came time to top those cabinets, cover the floor and decorate bathrooms, the Zsitvays put their trust in Price Wills, owner of the Bozeman, Mont.-based Montana Tile and Stone. And, Wills, who began his training as a designer in Aspen, Colo., turned to one of his favorite products: slate.
Darin Hoekema, who managed the job for the architects, the Bozeman, Mont.-based Locati Architects, says the project was a special one from the very beginning. He explains that while principal Jerry Locati has an uncanny sense for interpreting space to fit the client’s needs, the site – at more than 8,000 feet above sea level – presented its own challenges.
“Our initial concern was to come up with a design that really integrates into the site, capturing the views and creating interior spaces and also exterior spaces at the same time,” says Hoekema. “Because of the steep slopes, we spent a great deal of time and effort on how this project was to be positioned in its mountain setting.”
Along with the challenge of the site, Hoekema says the Zsitvays were also very concerned that they get a family home. Ultimately, the design incorporated six bedrooms, six bathrooms and three kitchens.
Although it’s more common for the architects to work side-by-side with the interior designers and clients in selection of the interior finishes of a project, in this case Hoekema says most of that came directly from Zoltan Zsitvay.
“Because of the client’s close involvement as the general contractor, he really took our initial design and ran with it,” the architect says. “We had called out some natural stone, but I don’t believe the specific – PetraSlate® – was a recommendation. However, we’ve used that material in many instances, and it’s a great material to use.”
Michael Schreiner, who served as co-contractor on the project with Zsitvay (and now partnered with him in building a somewhat smaller spec home as Montana Mountain Dreams) explains that he became involved while doing work for Zsitvay’s brother-in-law nearby. After being hired to build the doors and cabinets, Schreiner was asked by Zsitvay to stay on and run the whole project.
Schreiner says he’s not sure when Zsitvay first became acquainted with Wills.
“Everybody knows Price,” he says. “If you’re building a home and want to accent it beautifully, Price has the eye to do it and knows what should go where. He’ll ask questions and say, ‘I’ve got it.’ Then he tours you around his showroom, and he’s right; he’s got it. He’s darned good at what he does.”
However, he adds that Zsitvay had some definite ideas for the look he wanted at Heaven’s Gate.
“He wanted to create a warm look that tied into the exterior of the house,” Schreiner says. “In this environment, you can find slate on the ground. Walking into the house you see the colors of the hillsides in the wood pillars and the stone entryway. It just creates a flow from the outdoors into indoors.”
In fact, Wills says he, too, was first introduced to Zsitvay by the client’s brother-in-law, who’s also built a home at the Yellowstone Club – mainly because the brother-in-law was so happy with the stone Montana Tile and Stone provided for his project.
“Zoltan and I had many conversations regarding the project and what it really needed to be,” Wills says. “Zoltan did have some preconceived ideas about what the finished product might look like, and we went from there, but there was also a good amount of time to think things thoroughly through.”
Wills estimates it took at least 18 months from when he first started talking with the client until the last of the stone was installed. That thinking time was critical, since he says he works in something of a backwards fashion.
“I look at the area surrounding the home, and then I look at the architectural plans,” he explains. “Then, as the shape of the house goes up, I develop a picture in my own mind of what the interior should look like. That picture has everything to do with color, texture, proportion and effect, as well as where the effects need to be placed.”
In every case, however, he says the clients vetted his ideas.
“I’d develop an area and then run it past the Zsitvays to make sure this was their thinking,” Wills explains. “They’d give me a green light – or not. If it was not exactly what they wanted to see, Zoltan was very good at explaining what they’d like and I could redevelop my ideas in that way.”
Because of the quality of the log work and its rustic detail, Wills says he felt slate was the best material for the house, specifically the PetraSlate® line of decorative and field stone tiles from Source Products Group of Broomfield, Colo. His choice of PetraSlate’s African Blaze for the main areas was to provide a marriage between the floor and the other details.
“The wrong choice would have allowed the floor to just fade away,” he says. “Instead, the color is absolutely spectacular, and you’ll never forget it once you walk on it.”
The African Blaze tiles had the added attribute of being able to work in many patterns with inlays to produce separation among the different areas, as well as producing a large amount of color.
And, says Wills, it also offered the durability necessary for a family and vacation home.
“In the winter they’ll be family and guests in ski boots, because it’s a ski-in/ski-out location,” he says. “And, in the summer there will be lots of foot traffic, with people in hiking boots going through.”
Because of the size of the project, the time involved and the diverse uses of stone, Wills says the amount of though that went into each aspect of the project was, in his words, “extraordinary.”
“By the time we got to the installation, we were certainly prepared for each area,” he says. “Given the size of the house and the detail we put into it, it wasn’t a quick installation by any means.”
Wills’ own firm fabricated and installed the slab countertops, which include both Zimbabwe Absolute Black and Madeira Gold granite, as well as Noce Travertine.
“In the kitchen we used a stone we call Thermal Black, which is the Zimbabwe Absolute Black with a thermal finish so it has a light texture on the top,” he says. “Then, we did a custom rock edge on the perimeter. The Noce is in the master bathroom, and the Madeira Gold is in the bar area that overhangs the living room.”
For the tile work, Wills selected Manhattan, Mont.-based Artistic Tile. Partners Tom Pozar and Steve Bishop then negotiated a contract with Zsitvay, but Wills calls the pair, “as good as money can buy.”
“They were my first choice by far,” he says.
Pozar was the partner most involved working the job, which he says took the better part of a year from start to finish.
“We did the bulk of the work and then we had to wait as other things were done and other people completed the last little bits,” he explains.
From his perspective, Pozar says the most challenging part of the work was the home’s showers, which have 10’ ceilings and incorporate some 600 ft² of Silver Sands custom tumbled slate mosaics, also from PetraSlate.
To do the shower work, Pozar says he built scaffolding in each of them.
“That way you can walk the perimeter and not work off a ladder,” he says. “I’ve also found if you start at the ceiling and let the gravity pull on the sheets and spread them a touch, you’re not fighting them. Starting at the top and working down is far easier.”
As for the floors, Pozar says the real challenges were in the custom cutting of shapes (not only are there custom inlays, but many are hand-tooled to come around the log details), the creation of borders and the disbursing of color to make it appear random.
Pozar and Schreiner were also responsible for the tumbled travertine tile surfaces on the vanities of the bathrooms other than the master.
“We bordered them with some recycled glass tiles and brass bars and it looks quite nice,” says Schreiner. “It’s an interesting way to create a particular look.”
Both Pozar and Wills agree that probably the project’s most outstanding tile feature is the almost 2,000 ft² of African Blaze done in a herringbone pattern on the floor of the home’s first level.
“Herringbone is a pattern we don’t normally do,” says Pozar. “On the diagonal like this, it’s a little different.”
“Herringbone will do many things,” explains Wills. “One thing it will do is show a lot of expanse, so you won’t feel any of the ceiling heights at that lower level. If there’s any claustrophobia there, the 8” X 16” herringbone will get rid of it.”
Regardless of their involvement, all the participants agree that this is a once-in-a-lifetime project, and not simply because the size dwarfs most residential jobs.
“This is the crown jewel of the Yellowstone Club,” says contractor Schreiner. “I probably take it for granted because I’m here every day but I’ve never taken anyone through here whose jaw isn’t on the floor when they leave.”
Wills, the stone designer, says this is certainly one of the most opulent projects on which he‘s worked.
“Given the size of the home and the level of detail, for a rustic application it’s second to none,” he says. “If you love detail, this is the house. Everything is thought through. It’s a custom home on a level rarely seen in this country.”
He credits the constant hands-on involvement of Zoltan Zsitvay for that level of detail, and says from a design standpoint, it was wonderful to have a client who wanted his best.
“This is what I really love to do and they didn’t put any shackles on me,” Wills concludes. “When there are no confines on what you can do, it lets your mind work in a way it wants to. I think they got a very original product as a result.”

Client: Zoltan and Kim Zsitvay, Yellowstone Club, Mont.
Architect: Locati Architects, Bozeman, Mont.
Builder: Montana Mountain Dreams, Big Sky, Mont.
Custom Stone Designer/Natural Stone Supplier: Montana Tile and Stone, Bozeman, Mont.
Tile Installation: Artistic Tile, Manhattan, Mont
Tile Supplier: Source Products Group, Broomfield, Colo.

This article first appeared in the September 2005 print edition of Stone Business. ©2005 Western Business Media Inc.