“Evensong”: Mark Beck Residence

The small architectural community in Talbot County grew even smaller when Architect Mark Beck passed away in December 2021. He was the founder and owner of Beck, Power and Parsons, Inc., a prominent firm with offices in Baltimore, Columbia and Towson. Throughout his distinguished career, Mark received many awards for his custom designed contemporary houses, including a 25 year award from the AIA  for design of a residence in Roland Park, MD, and a Baltimore AIA award for an artist studio and guest house in Monkton, MD. 

Like many architects in the Mid Atlantic Metro areas who designed homes on the Eastern Shore for clients, Mark fell under the spell of life across the Chesapeake Bay. In the early 1990’s, he learned from clients for whom he had designed their house on Irish Creek that they intended to place their house on the market. He purchased it and worked from his new home and also commuted to Baltimore. In 2005, he bought today’s featured property. I had the pleasure of meeting Mark at one of his projects, a collaboration with Landscape Designer Jan Kirsh that was a past House of the Week and we chatted about the projects I had admired on his website. 

Mark’s Royal Oak Cape Cod one and a half story house was built in 1977. He left the street façade alone to blend in with the older houses that defined the streetscape of Royal Oak Road but the bright blue front door is a clue that inside is something completely different. I first walked around the house to understand the massing of the architecture and how it relates to the landscape. As I passed the side two-car garage wing, the full depth of the deep yard was immediately apparent. 

From the screened porch Mark added, hardscape passes by a koi pond then blends into the concrete pool surround with scored joints to break down the expanse of concrete. At both sides of the pool are raised vegetable  beds between the house and a garden shed. At the end of the pool, a white pergola marks the beginning to a new vista past fields on either side of a mowed walkway to the focal point of a reclaimed buoy that Mark painted and  placed on a pedestal as a sculptural focal point. 

A previous addition expanded the house from the original rear wall with low sloped additions to contain a new family room and breakfast room off the kitchen. This gifted architect realized the modification didn’t realize the full potential of the house and views of the site so he re-oriented the main areas of the house on two axes. The first was the kitchen-breakfast room-new screened porch with a vista to the pool and landscaping. The second was in the opposite direction with the goal of opening up the living room to the family room and kitchen. The rear wall of the living room was removed with two columns for support to create an open plan. The full height wall between the living and kitchen has a wide recessed niche to display a remarkable collection of artifacts from his travels. 

Between the music/library-dining room and the breakfast room next to the sunroom is a free-standing partial height wall containing the fireplace with the chimney flue becoming a sculptural element. Now the main living spaces flow freely among each other and create wonderful spaces for entertaining family and friends with the full rear wall of sliding doors and the transparency of the screened porch for peaceful views of the landscape. I especially liked the exposed ceiling of the music room-library painted white for greater light reflectance and the collection of modern icon furniture including an Eames chair, a Saarinen womb chair and Scandinavian dining table and chairs.

To the right of the foyer is a pair of French doors opening into a room with another cased opening to the kitchen opposite the hall so the room could have myriad uses including a guest room. Next to this room is a full bath and a large butler pantry for storage of serving pieces. The other side of the foyer leads to the spacious primary suite that spans the full depth of the house. The suite has great appeal with the front bedroom, short hall flanked by closets and the primary bath at the rear wall  and laundry area. 

The second floor contains two bedrooms and a full bath. The stairs end at an enlarged landing with two contemporary molded “Tulip” chairs in the sitting area separating two bedrooms located over the original house’s footprint. The interior architecture of knee walls and sloped ceiling creates delightful interior architecture.

This is a great opportunity to own the combination of traditional exterior architecture with contemporary interior architecture and a lush rear landscape with pond and pool in sought after Royal Oak. It is always a pleasure to promote my fellow architects and Mark Beck’s legacy lives on in the many houses he designed on the Eastern Shore. If you are lucky to own one of his designs, I would welcome hearing from you for another opportunity to feature his work. 

For more information about this property, contact Kelly Showell with Benson  Mangold Real Estate at 410-822-1415 (o),  410-829-5468 (c) or [email protected]. For more pictures and pricing, visit https://kellyshowell.bensonandmangold.com/, “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.