I always welcome a chance to visit Oxford and this is only the second time I have featured a house that is not in the Historic District.  Shortly before I reached the outskirts of Oxford, I turned left down a road that meandered past fields that soon blended into wooded areas until I reached the driveway for this house. The 2.76-acre site is tucked into a private setting surrounded by woods along Boone Creek. The house has undergone a major renovation since its construction in 1970 and the previous owner added the guest house. The story and a half main house has a linear plan parallel to the water and the front elevation consists of a center wing with two side wings that step down to the garage wing at the left and the primary suite on the right. One half of the center wing has a gable roof for the second-floor bedrooms and bath and the other half is offset to create space for a front porch with bluestone paving that extends into the front yard.

The gable roof wing façade is articulated with shake siding to contrast with the remainder of the house’s lap siding and the slate blue siding and white trim stand out against the wooded setting. On the other side of the driveway is a large pool surrounded by a wide expanse of bluestone for one to comfortably stretch out on a chaise after a dip in the pool. At one end of the pool is a one-story two-bedroom guest house with a pergola over the three sets of the guest house’s French doors.

The front door of the main house opens into a foyer with a delightful wallpaper ceiling of light blue circles on a white background that is perfectly scaled for the ceiling area and the blue picks up the color of the front door. The “T” shaped hall passes by a guest bedroom with another wallpaper accent of rows of sailboats gliding along a blue background behind a padded headboard of red/white/blue vertical rows. I love these touches of whimsy and I soon learned the imaginative interiors were the work of Dwelling and Design’s Fiona Weeks. 

The vista from the front door frames the open plan breakfast-kitchen-family-dining/office area that wraps around one rear corner of the house. The spacious breakfast banquette is surrounded by a wallpaper accent wall with rows of prancing horses behind the white wood table with a mix of light blue cushioned seating and very dark blue leather Italian chairs. A pair of sliding doors and full height sidelights offer direct access to the rear deck with its retractable awning. The galley kitchen with a center island can accommodate a family of cooks and the wide picture window over the sink flanked by single operable windows offer broad views of the water. The white palette of the cabinets and solid surface countertops along with the stainless steel appliances create a sleek look. To tie the open plan together, the kitchen window valances match the drapery design in the breakfast and family area of vertical rows of large spheres bouncing on a white background. 

The family area seating is grouped around the side wall’s fireplace and built-in millwork and another set of sliding doors with full height sidelights access the deck for a continuous flow for indoor-outdoor entertaining. Part of the deck is protected by the overhang of the gable roof wing that projects beyond the rear wall of the house. The colorful splash of the pink tufted ottoman and the blue sofa with pink accent pillows in the family room is balanced with the white side chairs. Next to the family seating area is a space currently used as a combo dining area/office. The deep roof overhang at the garage provides cover for the side exterior door that provides quick access to the garage’s exterior door for unloading the car.

I returned to the foyer to tour the primary suite with the bedroom that spans the full depth of this wing with both a sleeping area at the front and a pair of sliding doors with full sidelights to steps to grade to access to the rear deck at the breakfast-kitchen family areas. I admired the Mies van der Rohe lounge chair in cowhide for relaxing to enjoy the water views and the interior design touches of the rose red padded headboard and two rows of pink chain links down the white duvet. The best touch of whimsy is the wallpaper pattern in the dressing room and bathroom of oversized rabbits that reminded me of Bemelmans’s art. Fiona Weeks of Dwelling & Design confirmed the pattern was designed by another artist, Hunt Slonem. 

The second floor bedrooms share both the hall bath at the top of the stairs and the cozy ceiling geometry of the sloped ceilings created by the roof’s framing. If I were lucky enough to be a guest, I would claim the spacious two-bedroom one bath guest house for an extended visit. The open plan living-dining-kitchen has “L” shaped kitchen cabinets around the dining table and chairs and a seating area opposite the pair of sliding doors with full sidelights to access a deck at the side wall. Another pair of French doors next to the corner fireplace in the sitting area leads to the pergola next to the pool. The other pairs of French doors are in the primary bedroom and another bedroom with twin beds for guests. 

Beautifully renovated and well maintained house, great layout for easy flow among the main rooms, delightful interior design, two first floor bedrooms including the primary ensuite, open plan breakfast-kitchen-family area with  sunset views, spacious waterside deck, private pier, floating dock and protected shoreline plus a spacious one-story guest house, all creating a private oasis yet minutes to Oxford’s shops and restaurants.  

For more information about this property, contact Barb Watkins with Benson and Mangold at 410-822-1415 (o), 410-310-2021 (c), or [email protected]. For more photographs and pricing, visit www.easternshorehomes.com,   “Equal Housing Opportunity.”

Photography by Janelle Stroop, Thru the Lens Photography, 845-744-2758, [email protected]

Interior Design by Fiona Weeks of Dwelling and Design, (410) 822-2211, 

https://dwellinganddesign.com/.

Spy House of the Week is an ongoing series that selects a different home each week. The Spy’s Habitat editor Jennifer Martella makes these selections based exclusively on her experience as a architect.

Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.

 

In the late 17th century, Lord Baltimore’s government granted large tracts of land on the Eastern Shore to intrepid settlers from the Old World willing to begin new lives in this undeveloped area. One tract, originally named “Hir Dir Lloyd”, consisted of 3500 acres. 200 acres of this grant on the north shore of the Choptank River were acquired by one settler, Thomas Martin, who had left his native Dorsetshire, England, for the New World. In 1663, he constructed a one-room brick house on Dividing Creek, now La Trappe Creek and christened his house “Hampden” in honor of an old friend, John Hampden. Like many houses in Colonial America, the bricks had probably been ballasts from incoming ships. Martin’s one-room house had all the comforts of home, albeit on a diminutive scale, with a corner fireplace for warmth and four hooks in the ceiling from which his bed could be pulled up to the underside of the rafters during the day.

After Martin died in 1705, “Hampden” passed to several generations of his descendants. Around 1750, the house was expanded to create a truncated “L” with a dining room in front of the original room, center hall and parlor with a fireplace at the side gable wall. Around 1840, a kitchen was constructed with a later addition to the house’s front elevation of a small room and porch.

In 1866, Hampden was bought by the Leonard family who then sold it to the Hadley family of Philadelphia in the early 1900’s. One of the Hadleys’ friends who visited them was the noted photographer Thomas Thompson Firth. He became enamored with the area and purchased another Trappe estate, “Beauvoir”. His photographs document the rise, decline and rise again of nearby “Hampden”. In 1937, Firth purchased “Hampden” and his son and his family made it their full time home and they began restoration of the house and grounds. In 2017, the Lang family became owners of “Hampden” and modified the house by making the kitchen the dining room, adding a new hall from the original one-room house past a new kitchen/breakfast area and laundry/mudroom, powder room, ending at a sumptuous primary suite. Their addition respected the 1750/1840 house form and brick material by both stepping back from the original house and cladding the addition in white lap siding.

On the day I visited, I drove along a gravel drive past a caretaker cottage and two other one-story garages and storage rooms with tall red maples lining the approach that turned into a curved drive at the front of the house. I first walked around the property that contains the original smokehouse, pool house with changing rooms/summer kitchen, in-ground pool, pier and a delightful wood polygonal structure at the water’s edge with windows and shutters creating a perfect summerhouse to catch the summer breezes off the water.

I then slowly walked up the sidewalk to admire the beauty of the 1750’s five-bay main wing with its wide front door protected by a hipped porch with benches instead of railings at each side. Two 12/12 windows with black shutters flanked the front door and three single dormer 6/6 windows projecting from the wood shake roofing spanning between the two brick chimneys at the side gable walls. The three-bay 1840’s kitchen wing telescopes down to complete the very pleasing composition of reddish brick, white trim and black shutters. I noticed how the brick changes from the English bond brick rising from the stone foundations to the water table with Flemish bond brick above that changes again to common bond at the upper part of the side gable walls.

I also admired how this house deviated slightly from Georgian symmetry with the dormer windows being equally centered in the roof instead of being aligned with the door and windows below. The rear elevation opens up to the water with a sunroom with wrap-around windows, a spacious terrace of random slate pavers off the kitchen and mudroom with a shed roof extending from the kitchen for shade and al-fresco dining and long windows and pairs of French doors in the primary suite.

The front door opens to the center entrance hall with the stairs at one side and a clear vista through the windows of the sunroom beyond. The entrance hall is beautifully detailed with wide reddish pine flooring and stair treads, white paneled wainscot around the walls and on the underside of the upper stair run and the sinuous stained wood cap of the stair that flares out at the bottom tread and gracefully curves upward as the stair makes a short “U” turn. The stair’s railing has a unique detail near the last bottom tread of a deep horizontal indention, perhaps to guide a blind or unsteady person safely to the floor.

From the entrance hall, a wide cased opening leads to the spacious parlor/living room with its focal point being the fireplace at the side wall. The original fireplace had an elliptical header to accommodate six foot long logs. The design was modified with a smaller firebox with moldings up to a high mantel that spans between two Doric columns. The original arched cupboards that flanked the fireplace are now nooks with windows to the landscape. The jambs of the windows are detailed with wood panels and the two windows overlooking the sunroom have window seats with cushions. The paneled walls are a light apricot yellow as a serene backdrop for the furnishings in shades of olive green, gold, touches of red and blue that combine to create a room in which one could easily linger.

I could also linger in the sunroom with its exposed wood rafters and decking painted bright white, stone flooring with a sisal rug anchoring the deep green rattan seating with bold floral patterned upholstery. Two ottomans in a trio of colorful patterns provide extra seating for using the binoculars to search for waterfowl. Off the entrance hall is original dining room which is now a smaller parlor with a corner fireplace, bright red wallpaper and two loveseats perpendicular to the fireplace for easy flow to the adjoining rooms of the study (the house’s original one-room) and dining room. The cozy study ceiling of dark stained rafters and decking still has the four hooks that Thomas Martin used to raise and lower the bed of his original one-room house!

The original kitchen was transformed into an elegant dining room with the exposed rafters and decking painted white with walls of deep salmon. This is a room for family celebrations or entertaining with a long wood oval table and wood chairs with upholstered seats. The original oversized doors at the front and rear of the room have wide vertical boards in a diagonal pattern with black hand forged hinges and hardware. The new kitchen introduces the most recent modifications to the house and I loved the color palette of wood floors, white Shaker cabinets, white tile backsplash and stainless steel appliances. The tiles have hand painted blue designs of animals, birds and crabs that I later realized were the work of a family member when I saw the artist’s studio upstairs. The kitchen is open to the breakfast area by the windows to the terrace opposite a wall of base cabinets and glass fronted upper cabinets for a bar/buffet area for parties.

The hall between dining room and kitchen has an original exterior wall of brick now painted white for reflectance with chests and tables for family photographs and memorabilia. A cased opening leads to another hall that is a foyer for the service areas of powder room and mud room at the rear wall with another exterior door. The brick floors, white cabinets, hall tree for boots and jackets is a must for active families and pets. The last cased opening leads to a stair to the second floor suite, laundry and the primary suite.

The primary suite’s short hall leads to a waterside room divided into a sitting room and an office area joined together by the painted wood coffered ceiling. The sitting area has a fireplace between floor to ceiling millwork with a side wall for a TV. Long windows and a pair of French doors lead to steps down the lawn and landscape. Double doors lead to the primary bedroom at the corner of the addition with side windows and a rear wall with a pair of French doors between single windows for sunlight throughout the day. Serene colors of peach and rose create a restful retreat. His and hers full baths and separate walk-in closets complete this sumptuous suite.

If I were lucky to be a guest, it would be difficult to choose among the two bedrooms in the main wing or the private ensuite over the primary suite’s sitting room. One guest room is located over part of the parlor and has a fireplace surrounded by paneling flanked by single windows. The front dormer window is above an antique chest and two antique wood beds with crisp white linens. Across the stair hall opposite the full bath is another bedroom with wood spindle beds and blue and white bed linens next to the fireplace. As charming as these suites are, I would probably choose the cozy bedroom with its own staircase, bath, wood pencil post bed frame and single dormer windows at both the front and rear walls for sunlight.

Whether you believe this is the oldest brick residence in Talbot County or it dates from 1720, as an architect, I believe it is an outstanding example of early Georgian architecture. Its setting on a peninsula of 24 acres over two parcels on tranquil Sawmill Cove with its West/Southwest exposure leading to La Trappe Creek, a proven waterfowl staging area on the sheltered waters of Sawmill Cove, is unique. Several families have lovingly cared for “Hampden” and the next owner will be a steward to preserve this picturesque historic property for the next generation.

For information about this property contact Coard Benson with Benson & Mangold Real Estate at 410-770-9255 (o), 410-310-4909 (c) or [email protected].
For more pictures and pricing, visit https://www.coardbenson.com/,“Equal Housing Opportunity”.

Photography by Broadview Interactive LLC

The author is indebted to the descendants of Thomas Martin and owners of Hampden who compiled the book “Hampden” with assistance from The Maryland Room, Talbot County Library and The Talbot County Historical Society in order to share the story of this remarkable house.

Spy House of the Week is an ongoing series that selects a different home each week. The Spy’s Habitat editor Jennifer Martella makes these selections based exclusively on her experience as a architect.

Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.

Two of the six houses I have called home were Craftsman style bungalows like today’s featured house located at the edge of Easton’s Historic District, close to Idlewild Park. So many Craftsman exterior design elements that appeal to me are illustrated in this four-level charming bungalow built in 1920. The front elevation’s three-bay porch is detailed with a rusticated block foundation wall, white skirt board, brick steps leading up to the front door, two white columns framing the center bay with corner wide square columns clad in cedar shakes and a white handrail. The house’s sage green shake siding, white windows and trim, side entry door with a triple window at the main level and two single windows centered above with individual shed roofs create great curb appeal.  The house is sited on a desirable corner lot and at the rear of the house, an elevated deck extends from the rear door to the side property line with a fence for privacy. The spacious deck has room for an outdoor grille, seating and dining areas that overlook the manicured rear yard with a tall dense hedge for additional privacy.

The oversized half glass-half paneled front entry door opens into a welcoming foyer with beautiful pine floors, side stairs with wood newel post, treads and top cap and a Chippendale settee next to the side window. Between the foyer and the living room is a  wide cased opening that frames the vista to the living room’s side wall with a fireplace centered between single windows.  The cased opening’s “jambs” are half walls infilled with partial height bookcases with glass fronts and wood muntins below a short column that rises to the top of the cased opening-one of my favorite Craftsman interior details.  Since the fireplace chimney projects into the room, I would be tempted to add window seats below the side single windows. The wide cased opening, triple front window, side windows and another cased opening to the adjacent dining room creates a feeling of spaciousness and introduces the easy flow between the main level’s rooms.

The red walls of the dining room accentuate the white furnishings of the built-in corner cabinet, hutch and chairs. Double windows at the side wall and the pair of French doors to the rear family room continues the easy flow. The family room has views of the landscape from two double-unit windows at the side and rear exterior walls with the TV in the corner between them. The sage green walls and light peach sheers over the windows create a feeling of relaxation. An alcove off the family room leads to an exterior door to the deck opposite a coat closet and behind the closet is the powder room and the kitchen.  I liked how the kitchen has kept its original white cabinetry and black strap hardware and how the upper cabinets rise to the underside of the ceiling accented by a light sage green paneled wall.  Updates include recessed lighting, tiled backsplash, corian countertops and a large pantry. 

The family room, rear entry, powder room and kitchen extension were part of an addition that had the extra benefit of creating a sumptuous primary suite above at the second floor.  The stairs to the second floor end at a short hall connecting the two front bedrooms and a smaller bedroom currently used as a study. Past the office is the laundry closet and the rear primary suite. All of the bedrooms have their own interior design personality; the bedroom over the living room has deep peach walls, sage green sheers over the windows and a sage green bedspread with floral accents.  Another bedroom has a contemporary feel with dark wood furnishings and bedspread.  The rear primary bedroom has cranberry walls balanced with sunlight from the high triple-unit windows over the gray iron bed frame and bed linens with wood furnishings. A large walk-in closet and bath complete the primary suite. 

Off the stair landing is another set of stairs to the third floor with its knee walls and sloped ceilings creating delightful interior architecture for an open multi-use space, bedroom and storage room.  The lower level is a single open room under the original part of the house for additional storage and windows on three sides for daylight.  

Great location on a corner lot with abundant sunlight, charming Craftsman style exteriors carried through to the interior detailing, beautiful wood floors, wide cased openings on the main floor for easy flow, outdoor rooms of the front porch and rear deck;  three spacious bedrooms, one bedroom/office and two baths on the second level and a third level for views of Easton’s rooftops-a great family house!

For more information about this property, contact Tara Harris with Redfin Real Estate at 443-396-3216 (o), 410-443-9898 (c), or [email protected],“Equal Housing Opportunity”.

Photography by HD Brothers, 202-215-9962, [email protected]

Spy House of the Week is an ongoing series that selects a different home each week. The Spy’s Habitat editor Jennifer Martella makes these selections based exclusively on her experience as a architect.

Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.

 

Several months ago, I wrote about a waterfront property in my neighborhood that had a mesmerizing view across the Chesapeake Bay from Poplar Island to the tops of the Bay Bridge supports.  About a mile from that property is today’s feature and I was fascinated to see the same view across the Chesapeake Bay from the shift in perspective.  As I drove down the gravel drive, slender, towering pine trees lined the drive like sentinels to frame the water as it became tantalizing closer and closer until I reached the house’s guest parking area outlined with huge black cherry trees that no doubt inspired the house’s name. 

Once again I was mesmerized by another incomparable water view over the expanse of water with both the tip of Kent Island and the far horizon of the Western Shore beyond the Eastern Bay appear to be mere lines drawn on a broad, flat canvas of blue. What magnificent sunset views the owners must enjoy from their front row seats ranging from the large boat dock, the rear rooms of the house, deck, terrace and second floor balcony!  

Reluctantly, I turned away from the water to explore the “T” shaped brick house,  built in 1988, blending traditional form with contemporary windows and sliding doors. The massing has a story and a half center wing with side gable wings projecting at different depths and a shed roof that projects from the main roof to create the front porch. The front door opens into the foyer with stairs to the second floor and a vista through to the living room to the water view. The chair rail, crown and dentil moldings at the ceiling and the traditional style stair balustrade introduce the traditional interior design throughout the house.  

The living room’s wallpaper of white swans with wings spread in flight from above is a striking graphic of white against the taupe background.  The mix of rattan and leather seating and the well stocked bar in the dark blue hutch set the stage for cocktails and a stroll around the deck to admire the sunset over the water before coming inside for dinner. The spacious dining room with its front five-unit bowfront window can easily accommodate large family celebrations or dinner parties. Wide elliptical arches detailed with moldings and keystones connect to both the foyer and the living room for easy flow among the rooms. 

The kitchen is open to both the large family room and to a delightful full height bowed wall projection with floor to ceiling windows that creates a cozy nook. One could well imagine enjoy sinking into the plush upholstered chairs to enjoy that second cup of morning coffee and watch the parade of boats and merchant ships on the Bay. The gourmet chef’s kitchen has a galley layout with white cabinets and dark blue corian countertops opposite additional cabinetry that wraps around one corner to contain the R/F with cabinet paneled doors, a tall pantry cabinet, microwave and a coffee bar with a both a Keurig and an Expresso machine. 

The kitchen’s design scheme of white, dark blue and wood floors continues into the family room. The family room’s side wall has a fireplace and built-in millwork on both sides including a wide open area for a large flat screen TV.  The change from crown and dentil molding to stained wood trim signals this is an informal room for relaxing in the seating grouping around the fireplace including two full size sofas and two chairs. Pairs of glass sliding doors infill the entire width of the adjoining screened porch to extend the living space and another single glass door and full height sidelights lead to the deck that connects to the primary suite at the other end of the house. The screened porch wood slat ceiling slopes up to the underside of the collar beam and the white finish creates a light and airy feeling for both sitting and dining areas. A short hall behind the family room leads to the laundry with a mini kitchen and an exterior door to the parking area for access by caterers. Between the family room and the garage is another bedroom and full bath that could be a quiet office area.

The main floor bedrooms are located at the opposite end of the house. The primary bedroom at the corner is aptly named for its prime view of the Bay from the pairs of wide glass sliding doors to the deck and the two side double-unit windows spaced to accommodate the bed. I loved the Turkish style flooring in the primary bath and the layout includes both a corner shower, spa tub, and dual vanities.  Two other bedrooms and a hall bath complete the bedroom wing.  

The second floor layout takes advantage of the geometry created by the numerous gable roofs and knee walls. The stairs end at a hall with a gable dormer opposite the full bath. The space over the bedroom wing has double-unit windows and a half moon transom at each gable end wall, knee walls and sloped ceilings that meet at a flat area to accommodate lighting. The delightful space over the center wing of the house could be used as either a second family room or extra sleeping space for family celebrations. Another gable at the rear wall has glass doors and sidelights overlooking the large balcony with a spectacular bird’s eye view to the panoramic expanse of water. I especially liked how the knee walls around the perimeter of the space were painted deep aqua to accentuate the white angles and intersections of the sloped ceilings.  The area over the garage wing has ample room for storage. 

One of a kind 10.8 acre waterfront site with a range of outdoor rooms to savor the views from the screened porch, the deck that spans the length of the house and leads to the terrace, pergolas at both the living room and the primary suite; balcony and pier. Main floor plan with a range of cozy and spacious rooms, easy flow among the main rooms and the outdoor areas.  Greet your guests at the front door or after they dock their boat at one of the two boat slips at the pier. 

For more information about this property, contact Trey Rider with TTR Sotheby’s International Realty at 410-280-5600  (o),443-786-0235 (c) or [email protected].  For more photographs and pricing, visit www.treyrider.com, “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

Photography by TruPlace, www.truplace.com, 301-972-3201

Spy House of the Week is an ongoing series that selects a different home each week. The Spy’s Habitat editor Jennifer Martella makes these selections based exclusively on her experience as a architect.

Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.

 

The streetscapes of both East and West Chew Streets continue to inspire me for it is easy to succumb to their mix of house styles including three-bay Victorians with center or side entry doors and the telescoping massing of other houses.  These streets were identified in the Lake, Griffing, and Stevenson Atlas of 1877 as “Dr. John Miller’s Addition”.  Dr. Miller later recorded a plat that extended his land over what is now Talbot Street for a total to forty-nine lots.  The streetscapes are a mix of one and two-story houses dating from the late nineteenth century along with the former St. Michaels Flour Mill complex.

Today’s featured house is one room wide and five rooms deep from later additions. The full front porch has privacy from the mature landscaping, the trellis infilling the entire side space above the porch’s railing and the trellis at the opposite corner with vines that have been trained across the side of the porch. From the town sidewalk, a red brick path leads to the porch with simple fretwork on either side of the porch supports. The porch’s painted wood flooring and the color of the front door take their cue in different shades of red as accents against the light blue lap siding and the white trim.

half-French door leading to the kitchen and ends at the rear addition that is slightly offset to accommodate another French door. 

The rear garden is a delightful verdant oasis with a tall tree at one corner that in spring and summer provides shade for the two chairs overlooking the garden. The tall dense hedge along one side and the wooden fence around the rest of the garden provide seated privacy. A diminutive potting shed with a greenhouse window is ready for the next garden enthusiast to nurture the garden.  A path of random stones leads from the wooden arbor at the gate to the alley along one side of the garden to meet the brick walkway around the side of the house to the street. 

I am seeing more empty houses virtually staged like part of this house is and it is helpful for potential buyers to understand how their furniture would fit.  The entry door opens into the front corner of the living room, which maximizes the seating space centered on a rug in front of the fireplace with built-in millwork on either side for books and family photographs. I liked the stager’s choice of the white sofa with blue and white accent pillows opposite two blue side chairs with blue and white accent pillows in a different pattern.  One can easily see how well the room works as the main sitting area with sunlight from the two front 6/6 windows. The side stairs are open to the living room to visually expand the space and a high window provides additional sunlight.

A cased opening leads to the kitchen with a galley arrangement, modified with a slight “L”  to accommodate the R/F, range and sink along one wall.  Above the side wall of base cabinets are one side window and a rear window for direct sunlight and landscape views. Behind the interior wall is a full bath and mud room with a high window and the half-French door at the exterior wall. The tile flooring and bead board wainscot continues into the mudroom and powder room. 

A wide cased opening at the kitchen’s rear wall has a vista to the next room that the stager has decorated as a dining room with an oval table and six chairs centered in the room on axis with the fireplace.  The corner of the room with the side French door and wide rear window and the window at the other side wall offer sunlight throughout the day. I would be tempted to add cozy club chairs in front of the fireplace and orient the dining table in the other direction to accommodate both dining and sitting areas.

The short hall along the depth of the fireplace’s chimney leads to the rear addition containing two rooms. The first room was formerly used as an office with built-in shelving above one wall of file drawers and the other wall of built-in shelving has closed cabinets below.  An “L” shaped work area with its pull-out keyboard tray and more drawers under the side window would be a pleasant space for computer work.  The side exterior door makes easy access for clients. The last room was formerly used as a bedroom with the interior door between two closets and a full French door and window provide views of the garden.

The second floor contains the other two bedrooms with a full bath off the stair hall.  The front bedroom door opens into a hall opposite a window with a side wall of closets. Another door opens into the sleeping area with the other two windows of the front elevation.  Taking out the wall between the closets and the sleeping area would create an easier furniture arrangement for the bedroom with all three windows for sunlight. The rear bedroom has direct access to a rooftop deck for views of the Historic District.  

Charming property in the Historic District where one can walk or bike to the waterfront, shops and restaurants with a wonderful and private rear garden for a restful retreat! 

For more information about this property, contact Amy Stusek with Coldwell Banker Realty at 410- 224-2200 (o), 410-353-6797 (c), or [email protected] more photographs and pricing, visit www.AmyStusek.com, “Equal Housing Opportunity”.
Photography by Curt Ellis, [email protected], www.reelimagemedia.weebly.com

Spy House of the Week is an ongoing series that selects a different home each week. The Spy’s Habitat editor Jennifer Martella makes these selections based exclusively on her experience as a architect.

Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.