Coincidentally, this week I am featuring houses in both The Chestertown Spy and The Talbot Spy that are designed by architects which illustrate two very good reasons to hire an architect! To reach this house on Broad Creek, I drove down a gravel driveway through woods and soon the house came into view, framed by an allee of mature trees sheltering smaller canopy trees below. At the clearing for the house, the drive became circular so I could admire the elegant symmetry of the front elevation with its center story and a half wing between one-story hyphens on each side connecting to end wings perpendicular to the front elevation.
The hipped roofs and form reminded me of Georgian architecture but instead of brick, this house is clad in white lap siding. The square skylight at the top of the center wing’s hipped roof and its window arrangement clearly are 21st century. To break down the massing, a wide band separates the center wing’s picture window from the full half moon transom above. At the bottom and each side of the picture window are vertical and horizontal windows and two small vertical windows flank the half moon transom to complete this striking composition.
When the listing agent opened the entry door, I realized the one level floor plan was arranged with a circulation path connecting two bedroom suites at each end of the house between the great room and kitchen. The foyer’s glass door with full glass sidelights is opposite sliding doors to the waterside deck that spans the full seventy-foot length of the house.
The rear elevation opens up to the tranquil views of Broad Creek with multiple sliding doors and full height windows. I especially liked the full range of outdoor rooms from the deck with its elliptical edge and deep built-in seat, covered deck off the foyer, pergola festooned with wisteria and the screened porch off the great room. Sliding doors along the house’s rear elevation create great flow between the indoor and outdoor rooms to enjoy the fall weather.
To the left of the foyer is the corner primary bedroom with a closet whose depth creates a cozy alcove next to it. Infilling the alcove is a window seat with cushions and accent pillows underneath a picture window with operable side units that beckons one to relax and enjoy the water views. Behind the bedroom is the spacious bath with dual entrances for great flow.
From the primary suite, the circulation hall bisects the great room with its stunning hipped ceiling clad in wood with a soft milky gray finish. At the top of the perimeter walls, a wide board becomes the edge of a grid consisting of large timbers below the skylight that casts shadows on the white walls below. Each interior elevation of the great room has great appeal from the front wall with the focal picture window and half moon transom flanked by built-in millwork, the side wall with a fireplace as the focal point for a seating group and the rear wall’s symmetry of three pairs of glass doors below the perimeter band with side windows at each corner. Above the band, the window arrangement of the front wall is repeated at the rear wall. At the side wall facing the kitchen, a cased opening connects the kitchen visually to the great room.
Behind the kitchen is the mud room/laundry with its own exterior door for clean up after a day on the water or in the pool. At the end of the circulation hall is the second primary suite. I admired the interior design of the wall hanging over the bed that could have been inspired by Henri Rousseau’s Jardin Series and the painted furniture piece picks up the colors of nature in the hanging.
Walking back outside, I strolled down a brick path between a low parterre that leads to the large pool with its backdrop of the charming guest house, breezeway and garage between the pool and the tennis court. The dark green board and batten siding camouflages the guest house in its surrounding landscape. The end bays of the guest house are gable forms perpendicular to each other that are offset from the middle two bays of the great room with transoms above long windows and the breezeway bay. Another pergola with wisteria spans across the offset in the walls and offers another option for shade to cool off after a dip in the pool or a tennis match.
Guests may extend their stay when they discover the guest house’s high ceilinged great room with a circular stair to a loft bedroom, a main floor bedroom, bath, and single galley kitchen with an easy care quarry tile floor that flows through the main floor rooms.
This unique property includes two wooded building lots containing 2.12 acres and 2.47 acres, each with a designated County sewer hookup. The parcel containing the house and guest house is 10.86 acres for total privacy. Beautifully detailed design by architect Brier Tomlinson, great interiors (did I mention the Owner would include the furnishings that suit the house so well if a buyer wants a turn key property?), all in sought after Bozman close to St. Michaels -Bravo!
For more information about this property, contact Bob Shanahan with Shoreline Realty, Inc, at 410-822-7556 (o) 410-310-5745 (c) or [email protected]. For more photographs and pricing, visit www.shorelinerealty.biz , “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.
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