Where a Blue-Blooded Scotsman Calls Home

Dr. Anthony Pollock’s contemporary home gives a tip of the hat to the surgeon’s native country.

With steady hands, the surgeon pours a cup of coffee and hands it to me. “Here you go,” he says with a thick Scottish accent. Dr. Anthony Pollock, an orthopedic surgeon who works at the Via Christi-St. Francis campus and who was voted one of Wichita’s top doctors by his peers in the July/August ’07 issue of Wichita magazine, stands in his newly renovated kitchen. Like the rest of his house, the space is a mix of contemporary design and refined art. “Once upon a time, it was a Mary Kay house with white, beige and pink everywhere,” he says. Since moving into the home eight years ago, however, the doctor has transformed it into his own comfortable abode.

The kitchen, designed by Diedra Woolery, is finished in shades of green and blue. A glass-tile backsplash with a faint green hue matches the cabinets’ heavy glass doors, and a Zephyr stove hood drops down from the ceiling and complements the room’s clean, straight lines. Beneath the coffee maker is a small wine fridge with two compartments set to different temperatures for bottles of red and white. One of the most impressive features is the room’s heated tile floor. At the back of the kitchen is a sitting area. Two benches beneath a rounded Pella window provide a place to sit and look out on the fairway of a golf course that runs near the house. “Those type of window seats are quite popular in Edinburgh, where I grew up,” says Dr. Pollock. “It sort of reminds me of home.” Another token of his native country is an abstract painting of a dog by Sir Robert Phillipson, his late brother-in-law. The artist’s work is displayed throughout the house.

Dr. Pollock continues into his living room. The room’s high angled ceiling makes the space feel large and open. He originally hired an interior decorator to overhaul the room. “I hired her for just the living room, but one room turned into the entire house,” he says with a laugh. A modern-looking metal statue stands on a coffee table in front of the room’s tan couch and custom draperies. At one end of the room, beneath a lowered ceiling, is the dining area. A mirrored wall adds the appearance of more space to the room, which includes a glass-topped table with chairs and benches on the ends. Two columns with faux painting add a touch of refined elegance. Soft music plays from Bang & Olufsen speakers and a CD player at one corner of the room. A sliding glass door opens up to an extended deck that overlooks the fairway and a water hazard on the nearby golf course.

Back inside, just off the living room, is the master bedroom. A king-sized bed takes up the majority of the room. “Thank God for Tempur-Pedic,” jokes Dr. Pollock. In one corner sits a sleek leather lounge chair originally designed by renowned furniture designer Le Corbusier. A colorful, Andy Warhol-style print of his girlfriend, Diane Cline, owner of The Shadow, hangs on the wall. Dr. Pollock ordered the large print from  allpopart.com, a company that makes customized portraits from photos. (National magazines like O The Oprah Magazine, Cosmopolitan and Elle, as well as multiple TV shows, have featured the company’s work.)

In a room adjoining the master bedroom, separated by a folding door, is a black Steinway piano. “I don’t play, and I do think it’s a crime,” says Dr. Pollock. Hanging along the walls are two black and white sketches by Scottish artist John Knox and a rare painting of a nude woman by Navajo artist R.C. Gorman. An Asian-inspired screen with semi-precious stones stands in one corner, just behind a display column with a lit top that shows off a glass piece by René Lalique.

Before going downstairs, Dr. Pollock stops to point out several works in the home’s entryway. There’s a collection of landscapes from the early1800s by English painter John Constable, art which reminds Dr. Pollock of his native country. An oddly shaped black bench with a high back stands against the wall. “It’s uncomfortable, but it’s kind of a fun shape,” say Dr. Pollock. Charles Rennie Macintosh, the Scottish architect, designer and artist, designed the piece during the early 20th century—around the time Frank Lloyd Wright was designing homes across the United States. “I really like the piece because Macintosh was a Scot who showed Wright a thing or two,” says Dr. Pollock.

We continue into the home’s finished basement. The walls are covered with more art, drawings of British royalty done by Hans Holbein. Dr. Pollock came across the collection while in Denver in 1973. Nearby is an impressive grandfather’s clock, a reproduction of Thomas Jefferson’s clock at Monticello. Farther into the room, next to a sheepskin rug, stands an Asian-inspired black screen. “It actually has quite an interesting story,” says Dr. Pollock. His father, an orthopedic surgeon in Scotland, bought the screen while in Japan in the 1930s and had it in his office for years as a place for patients to disrobe. After retiring, he gave it to an auction house. “Luckily, I found out just in time to get it back before it sold,” says Dr. Pollock. A sitting area at the center of the basement consists of two green couches from Abode, a glass table and a 60-inch Pioneer television. A fire glows in a nearby fireplace. At the back of the room, past a bar that Dr. Pollock uses for the occasional get-together, is a painting entitled “Portrait of a Lady” by Thomas Hudson. The impressive piece was finished in the 1700s and placed in an elaborate wooden frame that’s now chipped on the bottom right corner. “It was perfect for 200 years, until it got into the hands of a surgeon who accidentally dropped it while he was hanging it,” says Dr. Pollock.

At the back of the room are more pieces of art, including a Victorian painting by Sir Edwin Landseer and several modern pieces by Alison Kinnaird. A photo of Dr. Pollock’s father shaking hands with Prince Charles sits on a shelf at the back of the room. The artwork and photo serve as a final example of the pride Dr. Pollock takes in his history and his home.