Double sets of brick piers flank the driveway off highway 50 to this property and the second set of brick piers flanks black double iron gates with “Bolingbroke Manor”  inscribed in oval plaques on each pier. The driveway soon leaves the highway traffic behind and disappears into the woods with glimpses of water until it turns into a circular drive infilled with planting on axis with the front door of this majestic Georgian house that rests gracefully on its almost 9 acres of land with lawns that slope down to Bolingbroke Creek and to the Choptank River. 

I love classic Georgian architecture for the grace of its proportions and symmetry, hipped roof, brick facades, multi-paned windows, heavily articulated cornice with dentils and details including the elliptical arched transom over the front door with half glass sidelights. What gives this manor house its majesty are the two-story porticoes at both the front and rear facades that are supported by giant Corinthian columns that are the correct diameter for their height. The brick chimneys are bookends to the hipped roof’s ridge and at each side of the main wing, one-story “L” shaped hyphens end in hipped roofs. The scale of the terraces underneath both portico create stunning outdoor rooms framed by vistas of the lawns and water through the column bays.

The floor plan is classic Georgian with a center hall between the four corner rooms of the living room, family room, dining room and kitchen.  The center hall introduces the house’s highest quality of interior décor with the beautiful wood floors, wood wainscot topped with molding, wood door casings with plinth blocks, fluted jambs, and tall cornice; and multi-layered crown molding with dentils.  The light blue walls, crisp white trim, crystal chandelier capped with a medallion, antique furnishings and Oriental rugs create an elegant look.

The front living room and kitchen have pairs of windows at the exterior wall and the rear family room and dining room have bay windows to maximize views of the lawns and water.  The back to back fireplaces between the living and family rooms creates a passage between the rooms and to the door leading though the hyphen’s hall past the primary suite’s bath and closet room next to the primary bedroom. The sumptuous bedroom has double pairs of sliding doors to both the front and rear terraces and side windows flanking the fireplace opposite the large antique bed. 

The family room’s white upholstered furnishings stand out against the pale blue walls and the seating is grouped around the fireplace and TV with the glass top of the coffee table floating above the large Oriental rug. The dining room’s bay window and side window provide water views and the dining room’s built-in cabinet has glass doors for crystal and silver above the top of the wood wainscot and closed cabinet doors below that blends into the wainscot. Between the dining room and the kitchen are a service core of closets and the powder room off the center hall. 

In the custom designed kitchen, cabinetry wraps around the corner of the service core to create a butler’s pantry wall facing the breakfast room. The spacious kitchen is a cook’s dream and continues the blue and white theme with blue walls, white cabinets,  two rows of upper cabinets with molding to the underside of the ceiling, black granite countertops and white backsplash accented with single square tiles inset at chamfered corners of the tile.

The hyphen off the kitchen leads to the breakfast room with a wide cased opening providing a vista to the kitchen’s butler pantry wall.  Wide triple windows offer views of the lawn and water. Front sliding doors lead to a cozy terrace partially enclosed by the manor’s exterior walls.  The remainder of this wing is the laundry, another powder room and the two-car garage. 

The four guest rooms and three full baths are located on the second floor and the bedrooms are arranged at the corners of the floor so there are two walls for windows for each room. There is also a walk up attic for storage. The basement level has an exterior stair up to grade and another family room large enough to accommodate a pool table and separate seating area, a room for exercise and another storage room.

Classic Georgian splendor, exceptional level of detail and craftsmanship, floor plan with easy flow among the rooms, main level sumptuous primary suite, outdoor spaces of front and rear porticoes with flagstone flooring and brick steps, deep water pier with two lifts, private beach, in-ground pool and hot tub-a location on a long private peninsula with 2500 +/- of shoreline along Bolingbroke Creek to the Choptank River, who could ask for anything more? 

 

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] 

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.

On the day I drove to preview this house, I left the traffic of Dover Rd. behind as I turned down a road that eventually became a dead end at a farm with fields on either side of the road. As I turned onto the lane that led to this property, the  pastoral setting was reinforced by a pond across from the driveway to the house.  I drove a short distance along the driveway through woods that led to the clearing for the house.  The front elevation faces farm fields and the rear elevation faces the road along a waterfront property so there is a view of the Choptank River from the house’s rear windows and deck.

I first walked around the house and observed how the house had once been a rancher with the door in the middle of the front elevation.  The transformation of  the front elevation began with the front door’s being moved to face the driveway covered by a new front porch created by an extension of the roof. The living room was expanded by a gable bay projection and infilled with a wall of windows and rows of transoms that rise to the underside of the roof.  The final change was the addition of a wing perpendicular to the original house that added a primary suite and laundry. At the front of this wing, a smaller bay projection with a triple window arrangement and single transom echoes the living room’s wall of windows and transoms. The “L” shaped rear elevation has sliding doors from the primary suite, family room and dining room to a deck overlooking the rear yard and the water view on the horizon.   

When I opened the door, the beautiful honey colored wood floors and pale yellow walls were bathed in sunlight from the living room’s window wall. At the side wall is a fireplace set into a recess so one could add built-in millwork or bookcases.  The fireplace is clad in red brick with the top bricks corbeled out to form a mantel. Recessed lighting was added in the alcove and in the gambrel shaped main ceiling that has a gambrel shape. Other alcoves with recessed lighting define the foyer and the transition from the living room’s high ceiling to the dining room. 

Wall openings at both the living and dining room walls connect these rooms to the kitchen next to the family room. The kitchen’s wood cabinets are stained darker than the wood floors with darker countertops and stainless steel appliances. The kitchen sink’s window overlooks the rear yard and the distant water view through the trees in the rear yard.  The kitchen is open to the family room and sliding doors lead to the deck for al-fresco meals. The base cabinet on an angled wall sets up the seating arrangement for watching TV with a higher double unit window at the front wall to easily accommodate furniture. 

The house is zoned well for privacy with the primary suite at one end of the house and the two guest rooms and bath at the opposite end.  A short hall containing the washer dryer closet connects the primary bedroom at the rear of its wing with the primary bath at the front wall. Like the living room, the primary bedroom has a gambrel shaped ceiling and at the rear wall, dual closets project into the room to create a box bay with a triple window and transom that would be a perfect spot for a seat underneath the windows. The single windows at the side wall are spaced to accommodate any size bed. The bedroom’s corner location is filled with sunlight from the side windows, bay window and the sliding doors to the deck.  The triple window and transom at the primary bath is above the soaking tub with the half tiled, half glass walled shower between the tub and the lavatory cabinets. The guest bedrooms are located at the front and rear corners so both rooms have windows on two exterior walls for sunlight.  The guest bath has dual lavatories and a tub/shower combination. 

Total exterior and interior renovation with an open plan living-dining-kitchen-family area between the primary bedroom suite and the guest bedrooms in a peaceful rural setting. 

For more information about this property, contact Joan Wetmore with Meredith Fine Properties at 410-822-6702 (o), 410-924-2432 (c) or [email protected]. For more photographs and pricing visit www.meredithfineproperties.com, “Equal Housing Opportunity”. 

Photography by True Place, (301) 972-3201, www.go.truplace.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.

The neighborhoods off the Oxford corridor are sought after for their proximity to both Oxford and Easton, the Talbot Country Club with the many waterfront lots along Trippe and Peachblossom Creeks. This 2.5 acre premier lot overlooks the 17th green of the Talbot County Country Club with eastern views of Peachblossom Creek and western views of protected wetlands. It is a great family house with lawns offering broad vistas whose perimeters are protected by invisible fencing to protect children and pets at play and an in-ground pool for family fun surrounded by mature landscaping for privacy. 

The traditional architectural style has a five-bay center story and a half wing with the entry door centered between two pairs of large 12/12 windows.  One-story wings step down on each side and one wing connects to a hyphen leading to the three bay garage.  The latter wing contains a double garage with the remainder of the space a spacious mud room and laundry.  The exterior entry makes it easy for clean up after an afternoon in the pool, a round of golf, or gardening. The massing and the light lap siding, black shutters, gray toned architectural roofing shingles with the accent of the red door offers great curb appeal. The rear elevation opens up to the landscape with walls of windows  in the sunroom and family room/ sunroom, sliding doors from the primary suite and double units of windows spaced along the shed dormer across the center bay of the house. The rear deck is  accessed from both the sunroom and the main floor primary bedroom.  

Brick circular steps lead up to the front door that opens into a spacious foyer between a bedroom/office and the living-dining rooms that span the full depth of the house.  French doors lead to the library/office and another door opens opposite a bath across a short hall that connects the rear family room to the laundry, mud room and garage. 

From the foyer, a wide cased opening offers a vista to the living room’s side interior elevation of a large window, wood burning fireplace, an arched recessed alcove for books, family photographs and collectibles and the door to the primary suite. Sunlight streams in from windows at both the front and side corner of the room.  

The primary suite’s spacious bedroom has sunlight from both the large side window and sliding doors to the deck overlooking the pool and landscape. I admired the stylish primary bath with its dark gray cabinetry and the tower cabinet that separated the dual lavatories inset into the white marble countertop with veins of gray.  The full mirrors are detailed with dark gray crown molding and the porcelain tile floor, subway tiled shower and the sleek Plantation shutter window covering create an elegant bath.

The door to the primary bedroom is centered on a hall between the front living room, foyer and library/office and the rear dining room, breakfast room and kitchen to the family room.  Sliding doors from both the dining room and breakfast room lead to the sunroom with the kitchen windows overlooking the sunroom.  The dining room has an entire wall of  built-in wall cabinetry for a butler’s pantry with space between the base and upper cabinets that becomes a sideboard for serving with lighting above on the underside of the upper cabinets. Double doors from the breakfast room open to sunroom and  the landscape beyond creating a charming area for breakfast or any informal meal.  Since the sunroom also has a dining area opposite the breakfast area, serving holiday meals to overflow guests is easy and everyone is part of the conversation.

The kitchen has a “U” shaped arrangement opposite an interior wall of cabinets containing double ovens and a microwave above a counter. At each end are shallow depth cabinets with a mix of open shelving and upper and lower closed cabinets. The color palette of wood floors, white “Plain and Fancy” cabinets, dark granite countertops and stainless steel high-end appliances appealed to this cook very much.  I could easily picture how I would arrange my collection of colorful Italian ceramics as accents on the counters or open shelves.   

Off the kitchen is the family room with a pitched ceiling from its being located in the one-story garage wing.  The focal point of the room is the chimney that projects into the room and rises to the underside of the ceiling clad in white planks. High quarter circle windows leave room below for tall bookcases or other furniture arrangements like the pair of chests with matching sunburst framed mirrors that gracefully flank the fireplace here.  

French doors with full height sidelights and full length transoms open up this room to the adjacent family room/sunroom with its sloped ceiling of white wood planks and wood floors. Seating is arranged around the large TV at one end of the room. This charming room is a prelude to the larger sunroom with both seating and dining areas for large family gatherings or entertaining.  The continuous wall of wrap-around long windows make this room transparent and offers views of the landscape. 

I envied the large mudroom and laundry with its own exterior door and the bright accent of the red washer and dryer with drawers below at a comfortable height for doing laundry. The second floor contains three other bedrooms and a full bath and all of the bedrooms overlook the rear landscaping with large windows.  Over the garage is a finished attic accessed by stairs in the mudroom.  This room is clearly a  bonus and is filled with sunlight from end gable windows and skylights in the sloped ceilings over the knee walls that would make a great office space.  

Wonderful family home with a main floor primary suite, great flow among the four sitting areas of living room, family room, family room sunroom and oversized sunroom for large family gatherings or for entertaining. Gourmet kitchen, dining room with built-in wall of cabinets with under cabinet lighting to illuminate the serving surface, traditional architectural style-all in the sought after Oxford corridor-who needs anything more?

 

For more information about this property, contact Kelly Showell with Benson & Mangold, LLC  at 410-822-1415 (o), 410-829-5468 (c) or [email protected], “Equal Housing Opportunity).

Photography by Janelle Stroop, Thru the Lens, 410-310-6838, [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.

The approach to this house begins as asphalt then becomes gravel as it passes through a grove of pines up to the parking area. The house is named “Peaceful Point” and it was indeed a fitting name as I opened my car and was soothed by both the sound of the water feature at the side of the driveway and the chorus of birds that encouraged me to relax after a hectic morning. I parked my car and admired the tall lattice fence on its hardscape base that also marks the border of gravel and grass. Planters along the bottom of the fence and trellises at exterior walls await seasonal flowers. the top of the fence and the arched top over the opening for the walkway are festooned with branches that will also soon bloom.  Through the arched top of the arbor, the hardscape narrows to become the walkway to the front door. 

From the parking area, a path of large stone pavers guides you past the water feature and around the house to the rear yard with its carpet of soft and fragrant pine needles for low maintenance ground cover instead of grass. As I walked around the house I admired its setting around a point along Porter Creek that leads to the Eastern Bay. From the end of the pier, the house nestles into its wooded setting at the edge of the point.

The side elevation showed the mix of contemporary roof forms from the single sloped one-story roof of the garage and the one-story gable end of the delightful waterside screened porch at one corner. The rear elevation’s shed dormer breaks up the massing and creates a second floor en suite overlooking the water. The light green siding in a mix of vertical and diagonal patterns and the roofing shingles color of bark blends into the backdrop of trees.  At the front of the house, the overlapping roof forms create a row of clerestory windows  and at the first floor, the front elevation is enhanced by the recessed front entry porch and the box bay window extension. 

The front door opens into a hall between the bedrooms and the kitchen-garage wing. Past the hall the vista opens up to the waterside  “L” shaped open plan living-dining-family room-kitchen with the latter being the short leg of the “L”. The sloped ceiling is open to the underside of the decking and the end wall of the living room is detailed with a wide chimney for the firebox and recessed wood storage flanked by open shelving for display. Behind one sofa at the fireplace  is a beautiful armoire filled with books and I imagined how relaxing it would be to curl up with one of the books by the fire. 

Pairs of sliding glass doors define the living and family area at the corner with the center dining area’s box bay with wrap-around windows overlook the deck. A grand piano brings elegance to any room and here the piano opposite the dining area is both a spot for music and a display for family photos on its top. The cozy family room has pairs of glass doors at its corner leading to the spacious screened porch and deck. I especially liked how a short wall for the TV defines the area while maintaining the open plan.

The large kitchen has a “U” shape with a center island and wood countertop contrasting with the darker quartz countertops over the white cabinets.  The upper cabinets extend to the ceiling and are finished with crown molding and the side wall of cabinets with a lower counter above a drawer has knee space for a workspace. One end of this wall contains tall pantry units and the other end has a bar area with a sink in base cabinets below glass fronted upper cabinets. Behind the kitchen is the laundry and the garage.

The floor plan is zoned very well with three bedrooms and two baths on the main level and another bedroom and bath on the upper level.  One bedroom is set up as an office and the large walk-in closet for the primary bedroom is larger than my guest room! If I were a guest here, I would hope to stay in the upper level private bedroom with its four-unit windows created by the shed dormer for bird’s eye views of the water. 

Built in 1986, the house has undergone many renovations that have kept the house updated for today’s lifestyle including the renovation of the kitchen and bathrooms. The tasteful landscaping with minimal grass and maximum ground cover is a plus and the bonus of the sight and sound of the water feature welcomes you home.  Great family house on a quiet dead end street very close to St. Michaels! 

 

For more information about this property contact Dawn Lednum with Chesapeake Bay Real Estate Plus LLC at 410-745-6702 (o) 410-829-3603 (c) or [email protected],.   For more pictures and pricing, visit  www.cbreplus.com, “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

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.

This spectacular contemporary house was a collaboration between a structural engineer, Charles Thornton and his architect, Alfredo De Vido. Charles Thornton was one of the founding partners of Thornton Tomasetti Engineers of New York City, which grew to become one of the world’s largest firms for the design and performance of structures, materials and systems with offices in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and the Pacific Rim countries. The firm not only designed what was the world’s tallest building at the time it was completed, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia but also six of the current top 15 tallest structures in the world. Alfredo De Vido is an award-winning architect whose exquisite contemporary designs are sculptural forms in their landscapes many of which I have seen in their settings of the flat terrain of Long Island, NY. Both men are titans in their respective professions and had collaborated professionally on such landmark projects in our area as Wolf Trap Farm Park in McLean, VA and the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia’s Fairmont Park.

Charles and Carolyn Thornton bought 18 acres in Talbot County for their retirement home and it was only natural that they chose Alfredo De Vido as their architect. The house is sited at the outermost point of a peninsula with views of the Miles River framed by the surrounding undulating shoreline. De Vido’s design was worthy of its site with over 8,000 sf enclosed by 160,000 cubic ft of volume spread over two floors and a basement.

I became acquainted with Charles Thornton through his post retirement organization that he founded, ACE (Architects, Construction, Engineering), an after school program for high school students as an introduction to these careers. I had the privilege of being a mentor for two years and I also had the opportunity to attend fundraisers for ACE at the Thorntons’ home.

On my first approach to the house, I drove down a long meandering driveway past a pastoral setting of fields, pastures and a barn. Before the driveway became the large paved motor court, I stopped my car to savor the house’s elongated form and its geometry that balances angular forms linked by curvilinear forms of glass to provide diagonal views of the landscape and water. The front and rear elevations pay homage to the Eastern Shore’s telescoping houses with their two and a half story center wings’ stepping down to two story then one story wings. Brick is used for the exposed foundation, chimneys, terraces and accent walls. I especially liked how both the vertical siding and the window trim are painted light gray for a monolithic look that accentuates the multiple window openings. The center wing of both elevations is a beautifully articulated grid of glass framed by spandrel beams and mullions with the spandrel color matching the brick color. At the front elevation, one spandrel cantilevers out to become a roof floating over the front door.

The stunning rear elevation opens up to the water with its grid of glass and mullions with two chimneys piercing the roof plane at either side of the living and dining areas. One chimney is narrow and flanked by long windows at the upper level. The second floor is further articulated by a balcony off one of the bedrooms above the dining room wall below and the sloped wall of another bedroom that pulls back from the sunroom below so it can break out of the wall.

The main floor plan is zoned very well with the right section containing both a single and a double garage with a large storage room, laundry, powder room and sunroom at the rear corner. A discreet secondary entry off the motor court opens into a long walk-in storage closet and pantry for caterers to service large fundraisers or musical events. The center wing contains the foyer, stair hall, living room, dining room and kitchen. The living room is sunken below the dining area and kitchen by three steps at several points for an easy flow. At the bottom of the living room steps a curved bar directs one into the space and another set of steps behind the bar has direct access to the kitchen for ease of serving large parties.

The steps between the living and dining rooms creates a backdrop for built-in seating that defines one seating area with other chairs grouped around the fireplace by the rear window wall. I am sure any first time visitor would be as mesmerized as I was when I first stood in the space that soars up to the underside of the roof decking two and a half stories above where I stood and the geometry of the upper structural elements that defines the spatial volume. The enclosure of the maple clad structural members and window wall mullions and French doors to the terrace against the white planes of drywall that reflects the light is striking as sunlight casts deep shadows across the wood floors.

Since the Owner/Engineer and his wife are also ardent supporters of the Chamber Music Festival, it is not a coincidence that the space has excellent acoustics for live musical performances. I can attest to that since I was fortunate to join 90 plus attendees to hear players from the Chamber Music Festival one delightful Sunday afternoon. As a counterpoint to the soaring height of the living room, the dining room is a one story space with a rear wall grid of French doors and full sidelights. The side wall is articulated with built-in millwork for display of serving pieces. Sliding doors infilled with rice paper between panes of glass to filter the light from the kitchen can be closed to create an intimate space for candlelight dinners.

The kitchen’s dramatic volume begins at the continuous row of windows above the base cabinets at the food prep area. Above are white upper cabinets below the two story front wall of maple framing and infills of glass seen from the motor court. A side wall contains the R/F and wall ovens. The side of the two-level island facing the front exterior wall echoes its curvature and has a second sink, cooktop and bar stools.

The third section of the main floor is the sumptuous primary suite with a rear curved wall of two pairs of French doors flanked by a pair of full height windows to a terrace. This terrace connects to a series of terraces and steps along the rear elevation that connects the three wings of varied heights above grade. The stunning interior architecture of the two-story primary bedroom has a corner fireplace next to the rear exterior curved wall grid of glass and maple clad spandrels. Another beam spans from the curved wall across the front wall of the chimney to create an alcove at the window bay. The spandrel detail continues around the interior walls to cleverly break up what would have been a very high wall of drywall. Above the spandrel of the side wall next to the living room are two large panes of glass that filter light into the upper area of the living room from the rear curved wall of glass and wood. The photo of this room is taken from the opposite corner so you also see through the living room to its rear curved wall of glass and wood mullions!

It is easy to be fascinated by the view from the second floor landing/bridge overlooking both the living room and the kitchen below. Looking up to the sloped main roof clad in wood planks, you see the trusses disappear into the wood clad wall supports in the end wall with its sloped clerestory and thin cables as bracing between the roof trusses. The mix of geometry and materials from the living room’s exterior grid wall of maple clad spandrels, mullions and glass, the sloped clerestory windows of the second floor bedroom overlooking the living room, the second floor bath’s curved wall and the curved railing overlooking the kitchen below that echo the arc of the kitchen’s front wall combine to create a fantastic enclosure of wood, glass and white wall planes.

The second floor hall/bridge connects the studio/den to the four guest en-suites at each end of the floor. The circulation continues through the corner family room to a pair of French doors leading to a deck then to a flight of stairs with wood treads and open risers between solid brick handrails to the ground. I admired how the family room’s windows are low at the corner but are just the perfect height for watching TV. The roof geometry rises as it turns around the notched corner to meet the side wall with its higher windows.

There is also a full basement for storage and the other parcel of this property contains a two-story barn that echoes the details of the main house’s sloped roofs and clerestory window. Inside are a single car garage, two horse stalls and a wash stall. The barn’s upper level contains a two bedroom, one bath apartment for a caretaker or an extended stay for guests. Nearby are a paddock and a turn out shed.

One of a kind contemporary house that is a work of artful sculpture designed and engineered by a dream team of Owner/Engineer, his wife and their Architect. Superb design solution executed with the finest level of craftsmanship. Eighteen acres of privacy, two separately deeded waterfront lots, each with its own dock, over half a mile of shoreline, barn, tennis court, bi-level pool and spa.

I am indebted to the Thorntons for being part of the 2019 Spy House Tour. The Thorntons have left a legacy not only of ACE graduates but also this magnificent contemporary legacy house-Bravo!

For details about this property, contact Rob Lacaze with Long and Foster, Easton, MD -Realty at 410-770-3600 (o), 410-310-7835 (c),or [email protected]. For more photographs and pricing, visit roblacaze.com, “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

Photography by Eve Fishell, Chesapeake Pro Photo LLC, 443-786-8025, www.chesapeakeprophoto.com, [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.

 

One of my favorite Christmas movies is “It’s a Wonderful Life” which may have planted the seed from my childhood to one day being able to help families with small houses for big dreams. I have written before of my past architectural experience in designing affordable new and infill housing for urban neighborhoods for HUD’s HOPE VI Initiative. I was delighted when the owners of this charming house contacted me about their house being a House of the Week. When I chatted with one of the owners, he told me he has a degree in urban studies/planning and had always dreamed of one day emulating George Bailey’s community. His dream was realized when he and his wife bought parcels in Easton’s Historic District to create a three lot infill subdivision and built their own house on one parcel. Unlike many infill lots, their lot size exceeds ½ acre so the house could both be set back from the street that also left ample space in the rear yard for their own “secret garden”. The garden includes crape myrtles, hydrangeas and many other colorful plants with a large shed for the next gardener to store lawn and garden equipment.

Like the infill houses I designed, from the sidewalk this charming cottage appears to be a renovated house because of its sensitivity to the scale of its streetscape of one-story, story and a half and two story houses across the street when viewed from the front porch of the house and its architectural craftsman cottage style. The gable front of the house steps down to a smaller gable that defines the front porch and entry door next to a single window. Two of my architectural pet peeves are posts masquerading as columns and chunky vinyl railings. This front porch is elegantly detailed with properly proportioned columns enhanced with moldings and a beautiful railing. The larger gable contains a double unit window for the front bedroom and the cream colored siding and crisp white trim completes the look.

The front door opens into a short hall between the front bedroom opposite a full bath and the bedroom’s interior was a clue to the stylish interiors in the rest of the house. I have the same white quilted coverlet but here the black furnishings with accents of red in the decorative pillows and the patterned duvet create a cozy guest bedroom which becomes a three room suite with the bath and sitting room across the hall. I admired how the sitting room’s beadboard wainscot aligns with the top of the bottom window pane and how the TV hidden in a small armoire and the hutch with books creates a quiet retreat for a lucky guest. Behind the sitting room and opposite the kitchen is the spacious laundry which I would gladly trade for my stack W/D combo!

The open plan kitchen-dining-living-screened porch is the hub of the house and has great flow for entertaining. The rear wall of sliding doors to the screened porch extends the vista to the landscaped yard beyond and the four-unit window in the kitchen, the triple-unit window in the dining area and the single windows flanking the fireplace bring sunlight throughout the day. I am not a fan of upper kitchen cabinets as I prefer a pantry and this kitchen wins me over with its mix of upper glass fronted cabinets, open shelf units, minimal closed upper cabinets and the large walk-in pantry. The kitchen’s “L” shaped layout has an island on casters and bar stools that can be moved around for large parties. The white cabinets, farmhouse sink, dark quartz countertops, black accents of the island base with its white marble countertop, the black armoire on the opposite wall for storage and stainless steel appliances creates a dream kitchen!

The wood dining room table and chairs in a distressed white finish is centered on the triple window unit overlooking the side yard and is between the kitchen and living room. The living room has an earth toned random stone fireplace surround and chimney that projects into the space between two side windows. I like the mix of the neutral upholstery and side chair cushions against the textures of the rattan chairs, accent pillows of red and the wood bench that now has a new life as a coffee table. The seating group is anchored by the large rug with a red background and oversize creamy white flowers. The rear wall of sliding doors with full height sidelights to the screened porch connects the two rooms visually for an easy flow between the rooms.
My favorite room was the screened porch with its dramatic rug of multicolored oversized flowers, cushioned oversize rattan chairs, textured slat ceiling and wide screened panels for landscape views. How pleasant it must be to relax at the end of a workday in this serene space far from the traffic of the street.

An alcove off the living room leads to the mud room connected to the primary suite opposite the rear porch with another exterior door to the screened porch. The charming bedroom has an iron bed painted white below a trio of high windows and a rear window overlooking the rear landscaped area. The white quilted spread is accented by a blue and brown coverlet and pillows with a blue throw. The primary bath has compartmentalized areas and a pocket door to the bedroom for easy flow between rooms.

Great location near Idlewild Park and the Rails to Trails, one year old Beracah design with numerous upgrades to blend new construction with details inspired by the surrounding Historic District houses, many pocket doors for easy flow, primary suite and guest suite zoned for privacy, outdoor rooms of the front porch and the rear screened porch; move-in ready, as realtors say. My compliments to the Owners for their stylish interiors and to this “George Bailey” for a great urban infill!

For more information about this property contact Sheila Washburn at 410-822-1415 (o), 443-786-6785 (c) or [email protected]. For more pictures and pricing, visit www.sheilawashburn.com “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

Photography by TruPlace, 301-972-3201,https://truplace.com/.

For more information about this property contact Sheila Washburn at 410-822-1415 (o), 443-786-6785 (c) or [email protected]. For more pictures and pricing, visit www.sheilawashburn.com “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

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.

Unlike two of the residential streets off highway 33 in Easton that take their name from the historic estate houses of Doncaster or North Bend, the neighborhood of Arcadia Shores takes its name from an ancient Greek province, “Arcadia”. Today the name evokes a pastoral place of simple pleasure in harmony with nature. Unlike the Grecian Arcadia that was a landlocked province, this neighborhood of Arcadia Shores is surrounded on three sides by Newcomb Creek and the Miles River leading to the Eastern Bay. Woods along Highway 33 and the meandering entry drive that splits and becomes a large arc linking the waterfront and inland lots before looping back to the entry drive provide privacy. Since there is no outlet, it is a family friendly street for walking and biking.

This house is located on an inland lot at the NW corner of the arc with glimpses of the water from the property. The house faces one side of the corner and the driveway is accessed from the other corner so the garage doors are not visible from the front of the house. The massing is very pleasing with the “L” shaped one-story wing containing the two-car car garage’s front gable next to a short hyphen connecting the primary bedroom suite to the two-story house. The “L” shape creates a deck with exterior doors to both the garage and a room currently used as an office.

At the side elevation, the house form becomes a New England salt box with the roof sloping down from the front two-story wall to the rear one-story wall. The red brick chimney becomes a sculptural element with its wide base and one side that corbels up twice with sloped copings to meet the top portion of the chimney with its rows of corbeled brick framing the flue opening. I like the Shaker simplicity of the house’s creamy lap siding with accents of deep blue-green cornice board, dentil molding at the soffit, eave trim and trim around the entry door and windows with the ubiquitous Eastern Shore detail of low sloped headers and the harmonious arrangement of windows around the entry door at the center of the house. The Mid-Century Modern front door with three glazed units in a rain glass pattern was a clue that the interior design might be a non-traditional surprise and indeed it was.

The Owners greeted me at the door and I had a clear view of the open plan living-dining area furnished with a wrap-around sofa defining the sitting area and a beautiful Scandinavian wood dining table with wood molded chairs. The brick surround of the firebox next to the wood storage box becomes another sculptural element and was painted white to lessen the impact of its massing and the long 6/9 windows bring filtered sunlight through the wood slat blinds. I imagine the Owners’ two small dogs appreciated being able to easily see the landscape from the floors!

I especially liked the vista from the dining room table centered on a triple glass door unit to the spacious deck overlooking the pool and the landscape in the deep yard. The Mid-Century Modern sideboard at the rear wall next to the glass doors is strategically placed to be a buffet for large parties that flow from the deck to the living-dining area. The kitchen has been upgraded with new white cabinets, hardware, granite countertops and full backsplash veined in shades of gray and stainless steel appliances. The bar stools at the kitchen counter overhang match the stylish wood dining room chairs for extra seating.

The hall bath has several uses since it has an exterior door for convenient access from the pool area and the main floor bedroom. The bath has two separate lavatory cabinets that could be rearranged to make side by side lavatories to open up the space and the half glass exterior door could have a frosted pane for privacy. The front room next to the foyer is offset from the primary bedroom at the rear of the house. The two rooms could be combined to create a primary suite with access to the private deck between the garage and the two-story main wing of the house. The second floor contains two spacious bedrooms at the front corners of the house that are almost identical in size. Behind the rear walls are large closets tucked under the slope of the roof. Between the bedrooms are the stairs and the combination laundry-full bath accessed from the hall.

The property has three acres for privacy and expansive lawns for play and relaxation, several mature trees for shade and a fenced pool area. This neighborhood has a very desirable location between St. Michaels and Easton and the entry drive is across highway 329 for access to Royal Oak and the Bellevue Ferry. The property’s amenities of water views between the houses along the Miles River, large pool and deck for family fun and entertaining, recent upgrades including floor finishes and the kitchen cabinets, countertops and finishes, open plan living-dining-kitchen area providing views of the wood burning fireplace from both the seating and dining area and main floor primary suite make this house move-in ready. In ancient Greek Mythology, “Arcadia” was the home of the God Pan and his court of dryads and nymphs; this Arcadia is home to full and part time residents who enjoy its private and serene setting of water and woods with broad vistas across large lawns.

 

For more information about this property, contact Rachael Harrison with Long and Foster Real Estate-Christies International Real Estate at 410-745-0283 (o), 443-786-4502 (c), or [email protected]. For more photographs and pricing visit www.longandfoster.com, “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

This property would be an ideal family house with its twelve acres of beautifully landscaped grounds for privacy and play with its expansive lawns, tennis court, pool and 600 feet of shoreline with a deep water pier at La Trappe Creek for access to the Choptank River and the Chesapeake Bay. The Colonial style house steps down from the two and a half story main entry wing to the one story wing with a shallow porch leading to the secondary entry near the kitchen. The house’s exterior classic color palette of white shake siding, black accents of shutters and the main entry door stands out against its verdant background from ranging from shrubbery to mature trees of varying heights. 

The main front door opens to a long foyer that once may have been a front porch but now the room is an elegant gallery with a powder room at one end.  Wide cased openings at the rear wall of the foyer lead to the side by side spacious living and dining rooms of equal size with floors of mahogany.  In the living room, dark brown leather club chairs, ottomans and a long sofa take their cue from the patterned rug to comprise a relaxing grouping around the wood burning fireplace. Another large rug with a more subtle patter anchors the dark wood table and Windsor chairs centered in the room between a side board and wide hutch for storage and display. The adjoining wall is set back from the rear wall for easy flow between the two rooms and the rear wall is detailed with a rhythm of a single window between pairs of French doors. The doors lead to the deep open veranda spanning the length of the main wing to become a true outdoor room overlooking the pool and the pastoral view of lawn, landscape and water   with great outdoor-indoor flow for entertaining. 

Two single doors on the side wall of the dining room lead to the kitchen at the front of the house and the waterside family room with the stairs to the second floor. The kitchen has an “L” and island layout with hardwood floors, white cabinets with period hardware, upper cabinets reaching to the underside of the ceiling with some glass fronted doors for transparency, pale green subway tiled backsplash and stainless steel appliances. The backsplash above the range is accented by a colorful tiled insert inspired by an advertisement for Wenatchie Apples.  The kitchen is open to the family room whose interior architecture dramatically changes by the rear gable dormer above the pair of French doors and sidelights that flood the space with the warmth of the southern exposure. The secondary entry door leads to a short hall and to the game room and an en suite that could be an office or bedroom with its French door/sidelights to match the family room. The waterside shallow rear open porch at these rooms matches the front shallow porch at the front of the wing and would be a great space to sit in the shade and oversee children in the pool. 

The stairs at the side of the room blend into a railing at the loft overlook at the second floor that becomes another gathering space. The stairs to the second floor and the loft separate one bedroom suite at one corner of the floor from the other bedrooms which makes it an ideal guest suite with its own private balcony off the gable dormer. The spacious screened porch is accessed by one bedroom and the primary suite at the opposite corner that spans the depth of the house.  The hall bath serves both the waterside bedroom and the bedroom at the front of the house.  

Most of all, I love how rear elevation’s combination of transparent spaces and the massing of the shed roofed screened porch and dormer windows reach out to the water with a mix of outdoor rooms including a second floor screened porch that spans the length of the main wing above the veranda and the balcony across one of the wide gable dormers at the secondary wing.  

Twelve acres of privacy, waterfront on La Trappe Creek, tennis court and expansive lawns for outdoor play, outdoor rooms of porches on most of its front and rear walls including a screened porch that could become a sleeping porch on warm summer nights, gable dormers creating sunlit interiors, spacious living and dining rooms for entertaining and an open plan kitchen-family room-wonderful family house!

For more information about this property, contact Barb Watkins at Benson & Mangold Real Estate at 410-822-141 (o), 410-310-2021 (c) or [email protected]. For more photographing and pricing, visit www.EasternShoreHomes.com, “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

Photography by Janelle Stroup, j[email protected], 410-310-6838
(410) 310-2021

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.

 

This property is located on a road with dual cul-de-sacs containing waterfront lots along Northwest Harris Creek. Most of the houses date from the 1980’s so I was pleasantly surprised when I turned onto the driveway for this property and saw a Cor-Ten steel sculpture of an oversized dog with a bone incised into its side .  This was my first clue that my visit would not be routine and indeed it was. I drove along the meandering gravel driveway between towering pines and tall hollys, the latter of which obscured my view of the house until my last turn, when to my joyful surprise, a modern house came into view.  Three more sculptures dotted the landscape; a Cor-Ten steel moose, dual kinetic red and white abstract tennis rackets rotating in the breeze near a tennis court and a colorful donkey with a coat of ceramic shards that reminded me of the artist Susan Stockman’s work.  

 I first walked around the property to study the juxtaposition of the original 1980’s two-story house with its split level entry to both the upper and lower floors, exposed concrete foundation, vertical earth toned stained siding and low sloped roof with a dramatic two story addition clad in vertical light gray metal panels at the second floor with horizontal wood siding below. The verticality of the addition’s metal siding pay homage to the towering pine trees that both dot the landscape and whose high canopies provide unobstructed views of the water. The architects wisely chose not to make a seamless addition to the 1980’s house but to create an addition that was complimentary.  The bold approach was in response to the Owner’s program for spaces that would house their outstanding collection of modern art, sculpture and furnishings. Many of their pieces included birds and landscapes of the Eastern shore.

The addition was a labor of love by the Owners’ architects who were also their daughter and son-in-law. The architects created a two-car garage at the basement level and expanded the second floor to provide a “corner” office and a primary suite with a balcony. Both the front and rear of the upper floor of the addition are deep cantilevered forms that float above the ground in response to Critical Area restrictions. To me, this had the added benefit of minimizing the garage doors, not my favorite design element since most are not detailed as beautifully as these are that blend into the wall color. The architects sloped the roofs in both directions and when viewed from the ground, the upper side elevation appears to be a bird about to take flight, an inspired solution, since one of the Owners had retired from NASA. The east-west orientation of the addition allows the Owners to enjoy both sunrise and sunset views.

As I walked up to the front door, I admired how the architects cleverly handled the transition from the driveway to the front door at the middle level of the house. They adjusted the grading to provide a gently sloped curved path of concrete upward to the stoop at the entry foyer. Since handrails were unnecessary, only sleek modern downlights illuminate one’s way at night. On either side of the stoop was a touch of Zen with a bonsai at the corner and the pebbled surface below the deep eaves which obviates the need for gutters.  

Concrete steps lead down along the front side of the house to the full height side and rear walls of the lower floor.  At the upper floor, the side elevation infilled with floor to ceiling glass units in the center leads to a large deck overlooking the water.  The deck not only provides protection for kayaks after an afternoon on the water but also wraps around the rear elevation to end at steps down to the landscape and the hardscaped path to the pier. At the corner of the living room, additional floor to ceiling glass units open up the interior to the landscape and water. The rear cantilevered part of the addition provides shade after a dip in the hot tub or a day on the water.  

When I entered the house and walked up the half-flight of steps to the second floor, the open plan living-dining-kitchen was fully apparent and the glazing and windows that rose to the underside of the sloped ceiling framed the surrounding landscape.  The interior architecture of low sloped ceilings with dark stained rafters, lighter decking, full height glazing and the cable handrails surrounding the stairs was enhanced by the visual delights of art, crafts and furnishings.  I felt I were walking through the modern furniture exhibit at MOMA or browsing the Knoll catalog as my gaze wandered to the Mies’ Barcelona chairs in creamy vanilla, Saarinen’s Womb chair and the Plattner coffee table, among some of the stunning iconic pieces. 

The crafts were simply delightful-I loved the juxtaposition of the sinuous colorful wooden snake poised on the dining room window’s ledge opposite the metal snake, crafted of small metal interlocking gears, at rest on the living room ledge. Art and sculpture filled the room and the lighting was carefully designed to highlight the pieces, especially the interior of the dining room table’s centerpiece of a large bowl that glowed in its spotlight. The “U” shaped kitchen’s sleek modern design would inspire this cook and the floor to ceiling cabinetry at the side wall allowed the space to be fully open to the rear window and the living room.

Past the kitchen, a short hall leads to the powder room, office and elevator at the end to access the lower level. The same attention to detail was evident in the powder room with its glass vessel lavatory and full height accent wall of glass tiles.  I envied the Owner’s “corner” office with its window arrangement wrapping around the corner of the rear and side walls that resembled a Mondrian grid of full transoms above a square picture pane next to a vertical operable pane.  The stunning primary bathroom’s accent wall of floor to ceiling small aquamarine tiles was a background for the glass walled shower and separate tub enclosure opposite the dual lavatory cabinet and toilet compartment. 

Past the primary bathroom is a spacious walk-in closet next to the primary bedroom at the front cantilevered wall.  The window arrangement of transoms and windows again reminded me of Mondrian and the painting under the corner echoed the grid pattern. Doors lead to the shallow balcony that must be the perfect spot for a nightcap before turning in for the night. The lower level contains the two-car garage, elevator, laundry, spacious family room with a sliding partition to create another bedroom when needed and a guest suite. 

Waterfront property on a quiet street, imaginative blend of architectural styles, great floor plan with easy flow among rooms, who could ask for anything more-except the furnishings and art-Bravo and Brava to the talented architects for their stunning contribution to the architecture of the Eastern Shore!

 

For more information about this property, contact Debra Crouch with Benson & Mangold Real Estate at 410-745-0720 (o), 410-924-0771 (c) or [email protected]. “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

Photography by Janelle Stroup, [email protected], 410-310-6838

Architects:  Gregory  Holah and Libby Holah, Holah Design +Architecture LLC, 503-288-4203, www.holahdesign.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.