Great Room

The home's pièce de résistance is the three-story great room, featuring a custom-painted cathedral ceiling with three massive wooden trusses spanning it, a towering limestone fireplace, a 2,500-gallon aquarium, a huge wall of windows framing the gardens outside, bookshelves lining the mezzanine balcony, and a third-story balcony for chamber musicians.

The great room also features quarter-sawn oak parquet flooring, mahogany paneling and moldings, two giant custom chandeliers, motorized custom-made curtains, a custom staircase with oak treads and a mahogany balustrade, and an oversized Texas limestone fireplace rising all the way to the top of the room's 33-foot ceiling. Above the mantel is an elaborate carving of a sixteenth-century "hunt scene." The knights' faces are those of Scott and his three sons.

Suspended high above the great room, two spectacular chandeliers weighing in at approximately 500 pounds each are on a lift system for ease in cleaning and maintenance.

Directly under the balcony level in the great room sits a mesmerizing 2,500-gallon aquarium with a living, ever-changing coral garden and various species of saltwater fish and other creatures that usually live around a coral reef. The aquarium presents an escape from the outside world and a relaxing opportunity to lose oneself in the pageantry of a colorful underwater world.

In order to provide a clear view of the aquarium, 12,000 high powered LED's illuminate the massive tank without generating extra heat. The area above the aquarium has been sealed to prevent moisture from entering the rest of the house. Only about 20 percent of the water in the aquarium needs to be replaced each month. When removed, some water from the aquarium will be siphoned directly into a tank that is hooked up to a desalinization unit in a control room dedicated to tank maintenance that is located directly below the aquarium. The temperature of the aquarium is constantly monitored for any environmental variance that could harm the aquatic life.

Photo on left by E. Anthony Valainis Indianapolis Monthly