The Olins fell in love with their house twice. The first time was when they built it—a grand interpretation of the European châteaux and villas they’d encountered on their travels through France and Italy.

The second came years later, after a fire and a long year of restoration reminded them just how much it meant to them. “It was a labor of love,” Ron says. “And worth every bit of it.” 

Ron and Sandy both grew up in Houston. Ron studied engineering at Rice and worked on computing systems for NASA’s Apollo program. Sandy modeled for Houston department stores before studying journalism. Engaged on Labor Day and married by Christmas, they quickly built a life shaped by curiosity and travel. 

In the early 1990s, a road trip through western North Carolina introduced them to Biltmore Forest. “We fell in love with it immediately,” Ron says. They built their first home there, then a decade later decided to build again—this time a house influenced by the places that had shaped their taste in France and Italy. 

They hired architect Ed White—“a gifted guy in torn jeans,” Sandy says—to translate those impressions into a home. They didn’t want a replica, just the gravitas of the Old World with modern clarity and function. The palette became limestone from Lecce, carved wood and hand-built cabinetry. When the house was finished in 2006, it felt complete: worldly, warm and unmistakably theirs. 

Eighteen years later, an ordinary evening at home took an unexpected turn.   

Their built-in grill sits in a limestone alcove just off the family room, a space they had used without issue for years. That night, sometime after they went to bed, a fire began.  

Around 3:30 a.m., the alarms sounded. Ron went downstairs and saw smoke pooling near the ceiling, then flames along the wall beside the fireplace. Heat had already penetrated the limestone, igniting the studs and trusses beyond. The fire was inside the walls. 

Police arrived within minutes, followed by fire engines. The firefighters contained it quickly. “We were lucky,” Ron says. “Very lucky.” 

By morning the damage was clear. Ron called his insurance broker, and within hours, PURE was on scene. Soon after, PURE’s Large Loss Claims Adjuster, Julie Ivy, took charge of the claim. 

The damage done was more than a scorched corner. Structural elements were compromised, and smoke and water had reached far beyond the flames. Only four weeks into the project, Hurricane Helene swept through Asheville, triggering a second claim. Julie managed both. “With a home like this,” she says, “you have to treat it like a restoration, not a repair.”

Julie’s first major responsibility was to assess the severity of damage and the expertise needed to restore the Olins’ home. She consulted with several experts for the Olins to consider, and they ultimately chose Marvin Spruill of Off Duty Fireman Construction. 

Marvin became the steady center of the rebuild. His team carefully protected undamaged rooms, coordinated specialty trades and kept the project moving—even after the storm knocked out power for a month. He even offered to swap homes with the Olins during construction, to give them a safe and functioning place to live while staying close to the project. They respectfully declined.  

Thirteen months later, the house was whole again. The limestone, plaster and proportions were restored. The bar—one of the most intricate rooms in the house—was rebuilt perfectly. The trusses were stronger than before. “We couldn’t be happier,” Sandy says. 

What have they learned from all this? Sandy smiles. “Don’t ever build another house.” Ron laughs. “That was the most expensive hamburger we’ve ever eaten.” 

It took a year to put everything right again—the stonework, the bar, the quiet symmetry they’d imagined and created. Shaped not just by travel and taste but by trial, the house now feels even more theirs than before—loved once for what it was and again for what it endured.