This house integrates and juxtaposes old and new spirits in many ways, to the delight of this intellectually curious family, involved in high technology and whose diverse artworks range from historical to Modern and ethnic cultures. Based in Virginia, they enjoy summers of family-time on Nantucket playing tennis, sailing, and smelling the roses. When opened to the public for the Nantucket Garden Club Open House, the house notably generated a most enthusiastic response.

The house design process was driven by a desire to embrace the family’s Nantucket Quaker heritage. Located on lands that were previously occupied by Native peoples, where arrowheads appeared when working the topsoil, the resulting house design is an unexpected combination of Nantucket sea captains and the indigenous predecessors who had lived gently on the land. The effort was to minimize disruption of existing plants and trees – and aside from the roses, the plantings are native to the landscape. Secluded deep on the site, in-plan, the house wraps around a circular, entry court that is nestled into the existing cedar forest. 

The ‘Great Room’ offers a dynamic view of Quaker tradition and, together with adjacent outdoor living areas, enjoys broadside views south of a pristine wetland. Tall French doors and matching rose trellises provide a visually quiet backdrop for the beautiful Rose walk garden. Anchored by a central chimney, the upper-level Master bedroom faces Nantucket town across the Harbor, and then “hinges” in the plan, to laterally embrace the peaceful, wetland basin to the South.  Architecturally, understated elegance is established by a row of slender French doors. Their scale and rhythm define the cedar, rose trellis framing, and Rose walk, making a simple, broadside gesture to the South. Inside, periodic cherry floor runners, set within the maple flooring and a visually muted, basket-weave of structural, timber framing overhead respond to the client’s request to reconceive the traditional, Quaker Great Room. High above, the Widow’s walk, a favorite perch, offers sweeping views.

CREDITS

Frame:  Peter Haigh Construction
Interior millwork:  Bruce Killen – Rock ‘n Roll Construction; and, Jeff Ballinger Fine Millwork
Interior Design:  PAMA, Hugh Newell Jacobsen, Native planting:  Lucinda Young Landscape
Landscape Design:  PAMA
Photography:  Jacques Zimicki