Designed by Leroy Street Studio, an architecture firm with firm urban roots and a Manhattan main office, this countryside home honors its geographical roots while also reinterpreting the styles of rural New England in a modern light. Based on the general theme of a slab-side barn or estate house, the home features wooden siding and two large chimneys. Many of its windows are also rather traditional, set up in rows of small multi-pane arrays. However, an extreme amount of creativity has been applied towards re-imagining the architectural traditions of the region, and the result is a broad house with thoroughly modern structure and amenities. Its interior is vast and open, with a focus on making each room chic instead of just stuffing the building with dozens of rooms. Additionally, a number of spaces that walk the line between inside and outside are included in the design, with free flow of air underneath the shelter of a roof.
Though its overall shape suggests traditional agricultural styles of upstate New York, all of the home’s details reveal its extremely modern nature. Decks are integrated into the lines of the building, and public rooms of the house are set in areas with large windows and views of the property.
By night, the light streaming out of the house reveals where the slats give way to the open-air frame of the structure and where the solid walls line up directly with its exterior. A stone-floored patio at one corner leads to an outdoor area for grilling and recreation.
At its entrances and in key indoor-outdoor rooms, free flow of air is allowed through the building from one side to the other. These areas sit under the same roof and by virtue avoid most of the elements, but they allow the residents a closer connection with nature.
Despite its massive outward appearance, the home’s public rooms are only a single story inside, stretching up to a vast ceiling slope and revealing much of its wooden structure. The main room of the residence consists of a spacious living room and kitchen combination, with an impressive fireplace at one end and a hallway to private spaces at the other. The kitchen is lit by a series of artistically-positioned tube bulbs.
