North Carolina
Deck Houses
Deck House was founded in 1959 by William Berkes and Robert Brownell who worked for Carl Koch building prefab Techbuilt houses. Unlike Koch's earlier modular houses, built mostly with mass-produced materials such as aluminum and linoleum, Deck House introduced natural woods and stones such as mahogany and slate. Deck Houses feature post and beam construction, tongue and groove vaulted ceilings, and sliding glass doors leading out to a deck. Over the years, Deck House and its successor companies have designed or built more than 20,000 houses around the world. In 1995, Deck House merged with Acorn Structures, founded in 1947. The firm was renamed Empyrean International in 2005. In 2008, Empyrean closed and a court-ordered receiver took control of the company. However, by 2009, the firm reorganized and Deck House was back in business under the Acorn banner. Most Triangle-area Deck houses were built by two firms: C. S. Witt of Durham; and Bomar Construction Company of Chapel Hill, owned by Robert (Bob) Bacon and from 1969-1980, with partner Marvin Pridgen. The firms also built houses that were similar to Deck but not official Deck versions.