Tasteful friends...What do we think of the most expensive home in West Virginia?

Publish date: 2024-05-02

They're democrats. Article from 2001

At home in the mountains gets a whole new definition

One of the most expensive homes in Kanawha County, belonging to a state Supreme Court justice and her attorney husband, is taking shape on a mountain above Watt Powell Park in Kanawha City section of the state capital.

State Supreme Court Justice Robin Davis and husband Scott Segal have spent $5.7 million on the structure alone, city of Charleston building permits show. The house is located on Quarry Ridge East, on a road branching off the posh Quarry Creek development. The monolithic home, with four garage bays and two bronze dog sculptures in the circular driveway, will surely be appraised as the most expensive residence in the county, said Steve Duffield, Kanawha County supervisor of real estate and reappraisal. Davis and Segal are living in the home. She declined to talk about it earlier this week, when a Gazette reporter and photographer drove down the steep driveway, marked by four massive columns at the top. Segal was out of town on business. Duffield said the house could easily appraise for $6 million.

The only other home in the county that compares to the Davis-Segal residence is one belonging to Shelley Cuisset, said Duffield. That property, and an adjoining parcel in the Quarry Creek area, is appraised at $5 million, Duffield said. A list of city building permits includes general construction permits for $3 million, $1.5 million and $500,000. These indicate construction costs. Other costs and permits include $250,000 for furnaces and air conditioning; $175,000 for plumbing; $100,000 for electric service; $75,000 for an in-ground pool; $70,000 for landscaping; and $45,000 for a burglar alarm and video camera system. Property transfer records show that Davis and Segal spent $390,000 in January 1997 for lots in Charleston. It's unclear whether those lots constitute the Quarry Creek property. The house has been under construction for at least two years.

Appraisals are normally based on what comparable properties are selling for, Duffield said. The Davis-Segal home and the Cuisset home do not fit that mold, he said. "Such homes are built to address an individual's particular desires and needs," he said. Some homes amount to statements, he said. As for resale of the Davis-Segal home, "I wouldn't foresee that happening," Duffield said.

Before her election to the Supreme Court, Davis enjoyed a lucrative law practice that included labor and divorce cases. A Democrat, she won election to the court in 1996 and again in 2000. The Boone County native has boasted to visitors that her new home is built by union labor. Segal, meanwhile, has made his fortune in asbestos and personal injury cases.

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