Last month, I featured the historic “Readbourne” Georgian style house on Lands End Rd. This week ‘s feature is also on Lands EndRd. and in the immortal words of Monty Python, “and now for something completely different”. When I first saw the aerial photograph of this 25 acre property, the contemporary roof of the two-story house seemed to be a sculptural element set into a broad expanse of lawn. Mature trees lined the edge of a bluff 30 feet above the Chester River, Southeast Creek and Island Creek. The distinctive main roof caught my eye for its part convex, part concave, metal shape that is aerodynamic since the high winds so prevalent in our area would sweep over the surfaces without danger of uplift. A secondary one-story wing has a curved roof and the roof over the porch that marks the front door is a curved “hat” shape.

Underneath the contemporary style roof,rustic vertical boards of primarily southern yellow pine aged to a deep brown and new wood shake siding that will weather naturally clad the exterior walls. The vertical boards were rescued from an old tobacco barn, dissembled, the nails pulled and wolmanized and then shipped to the site.  2/2 windows and French doors in a deep accent blue complete the exterior color palette.

I was captivated by the artisan front entry detailing with the sinuous supports of wood, the custom door of reclaimed wood, the pegged joints and the exposed roof rafters. It was not surprising to discover that the master wood artisan Vicco von Voss had left his indelible mark on this truly unique house.

The front door opens into a great room the full width and depth of the main wing.  Large windows and French doors bring sunlight within throughout the day. The chimney for the masonry heater/stove defines the kitchen, sitting and dining areas. The main sitting area furniture is grouped around one of Vicco von Voss’ free form low tables with flared legs in a light wood.  The “L” shaped kitchen has two front windows and one side window for daylight and the absence of upper cabinets is offset by ample storage in the adjacent mud room. The heavy timber framing with buttresses of wood, the exposed decking of the ceiling and the wide plank reclaimed wood floors add great interior architectural character.

The one story wing next to the great room is the mud room/laundry and stairs leading to a full basement and to the second floor.  The master suite wing has a sliding barn door to separate the spaces from the great room. The corner master bedroom was especially pleasing with the bed between two side windows and a pair of French doors leading to a deck.

The second floor ceiling follows the curvature of the roof slope to create dramatic interior spatial volume. The family room is between one bedroom large enough to accommodate two double beds and a cozy bedroom with a ladder to a loft area and its own door to the open porch.  The open porch spans the depth of the house with solid railings clad in shake siding and instead of windows a rhythm of wall openings frame panoramic views of the landscape. What a perfect spot for sleeping in the summer!

Great waterfront site with 25 acres of privacy, a very unique house that blends the best of contemporary and rustic styles with all the modern conveniences and best of all, Vicco von Voss’ artisan touches -who could ask for anything more?

For more information about this property, contact Brian Gearhart with Benson & Mangold at 410-822-6665(o), 410-310-5179(c) or briangearhart@goeaston.net. For more photographs and pricing visit www.briankgearhart.com,  “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

Construction by Yerkes Construction.( Principal Jay Yerkes is now trading as Rosin Creek Collaborative, LLC, 443-282-0063, Jay@rosincreekcollaborative.com).

Wood features by Vicco Von Voss, 410-708-4698, vicco@viccovonvoss.com.

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It is always a pleasure to return to Mt. Vernon Ave., as I could easily imagine living there.  Close proximity to Washington Ave and the amenities of both Washington College and the shopping district of Chestertown are a definite plus.  Not to mention one of my favorite architectural styles, the American Four Square.  The house’s front elevation is very appealing with its full front porch, side screened porch, large windows and the light colored shake siding with black shutters.

The front door opens to a gracious entry hall with a closet next to the “U” shaped stair that gracefully turns with winders up to the main level.  I loved the vista from the living room through the wide elliptical arched wall opening that shows the entry hall furnishings in front of the open railing stairway. A window above the stairs filters light into the hall.  The living room has a triple window that overlooks the front porch and the side wall has a fireplace with two side windows that overlook the screened porch.  Behind the living room is a charming dining room with double windows at the side wall and built-in corner cupboards for display of family photographs and collectibles.

The kitchen is a cook’s dream with a bay window over the sink perfect for growing herbs and a galley arrangement with a center island for the range and storage.  The kitchen and the adjacent family room are the hub of the house with a rear fireplace flanked by French doors leading to the rear private yard.  The kitchen’s wood flooring, darker wood cabinets, light gray marble countertops, white ceramic farmhouse sink and the light from the side and rear windows would inspire any cook to enjoy preparing meals for family and friends.

The three second floor bedrooms are spacious and filled with light from windows on both sides of each room. The master suite has a large bedroom with windows on each side of the French Country bed in a dark wood finish and a long window seat under the pair of double windows that are ganged together. I loved the pebble flooring in the master bath that is a great solution for a non-skid surface.

The wood floors throughout the house, the white walls to reflect the light and the touches of color in the rugs and artwork give the house great personality.  Mature trees that frame the appealing architecture on a great street-hard to resist!

For more information about this property, contact Lisa Raffetto with Coldwell Banker Chesapeake Real Estate Company at 410-778-0330 (o), 410-708-0174 (c) or lisar@cbchesapeake.com. For more photographs and pricing visit www.lisaraffetto.com ,  “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

Photography by Patty Hill Photography, 410-441-4719, www.pattyhillphotography.com

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As an architect whose specialty is housing,  I am especially interested in infill housing in an Historic District and this charming infill house built in 1995 with Victorian touches caught my eye. The three story three bay house’s front elevation has great architectural appeal with its full front porch and hipped metal roof, symmetrical alignment of entry door and windows and the third floor steep gable with an arched window.  The exterior color palette of light green and pale yellow and the historically correct trim, especially the front porch fretwork railing and the articulated columns, also add appeal. I appreciated how the half-French vintage style entry door is located at the driveway side of the house to maximize not only the planting beds that separate the house from the sidewalk but also the floor space of both the front porch and the living room beyond.

The side of the living room has a “L” shaped stained wood stairway wrapped around the  fireplace with its vintage wood fireplace surround and mantel. The stained glass window at the stair landing adds daylight to the living room and camouflages the house next door. The stairway’s stained treads, risers and newel post are detailed with Victorian style as well as  the door, windows and baseboard trim. A wide wall opening leads to the dining room with its double windows looking out to an open side porch that could be easily screened if one wishes.

The powder room and pantry separate the dining room from the kitchen. The spacious kitchen has double windows at the side wall and an “L” arrangement with another wall for the R/F and more cabinets. The windows over kitchen sink get indirect daylight from the spa bay window and the rear yard beyond. After the dishes are done, the cooks can retreat to the spa room with their favorite bubbly!

The second floor contains the bedrooms and baths with the same stained wood trim and refinished mahogany flooring as the first floor.  The master bedroom has two high windows on the side wall and the wall space in between could easily accommodate a bed with a high headboard.  The double windows at the rear of the room add even more daylight.  However, I would claim the third floor area as my bedroom retreat since it has a full bath.  This open space has great interior architecture with daylight from the front gable window and the side gable windows. Luckily there is an elevator from the basement to the second floor so one would only need to walk up one flight of stairs to this aerie that could also be a fantastic artist’s studio or office with its bird’s eye views of the surrounding Historic District.

Victorian style with the low-maintenance benefits of new construction, elevator, period details and finishes, two porches, off street parking-close to the marina and the shops-hard to resist!

For more information about this property, contact Liddy Campbell with Cross Street Realtors at 410-778-3779 (o), 410-708-5433 (c) , liddy@csrealtors.com, or www.csrealtors.com, “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

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Readbourne, circa 1731, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and its  significance is due to several factors. The first is the long ownership of the Hollyday family, who owned the property from 1730 to 1904 and built the Flemish bond brick house.  The second factor is that Readbourne is now the earliest major Georgian structure that remains in the entire state of Maryland.  One example of its Georgian style is the beautiful entry double doors that have a semicircular transom, which historians believe to be  the first of its design in Maryland or any of the other original colonies.

The five-part house has three wings; the center portion, dating from the early 1730’s, was built by James Hollyday.  The south wing, dating from 1791, was built by James Hollyday III.  The north wing was built in 1948 by William Fahnstock, at the time he began the restoration and renovation of the house. The “T” shaped two-story hip roofed center wing is the most architecturally and historically significant part of the house. Steps from the pool area at the rear of the house lead down to the lower lawn with side walls constructed of brick purportedly brought from England.

Readbourne’s 973 acres along the Chester River makes it one of the last largest tracts of land available in the Upper Shore.  The aerial photograph shows the house’s beautiful massing with the dominant center “T” wing flanked by two hyphens connected to end wings with gables at the front and rear.  The quality of the house’s materials with its slate roof, possibly ballast on an English ship that delivered the slate to the house site, brick Flemish bond facades with water table and band details, articulated chimneys, copper gutters and downspouts, multi-paned windows, first floor fourteen foot ceiling heights, all combine to create a distinctive house built for the ages.

There are two entrance halls to the house.  One is accessed from the front parking area and is a charming room with a corner fireplace between full height paneled walls with crown moldings, wood floors, and deeply recessed tall windows framed in paneling.  This room leads to the main entrance hall with the double paneled doors and transom above on the rear wall of the house with vistas of the lawn and the Chester River beyond.The front wall of the room has a recessed arched niche between two wide and tall arched openings that lead to the smaller entrance hall and the staircase that had been moved from its previous location. The paneling in this room is believed to have been from the Winterthur estate in Wilmington, DE.  I stood in this room for a long time to savor its exquisite interior design, elegant in its simplicity and to enjoy the cross vistas that invited me to further explore the house.

One vista from the large entrance hall was to the formal dining room and it was easy to imagine dining in this beautifully appointed room under the antique chandelier that once was lighted with candles.  The rest of this wing contained the kitchen, butler’s pantry and other service spaces.  On the other side of the large entrance hall were a formal living room, sitting/room office, another large formal living room and a screened porch. The dark green walls of the sitting room/office and corner fireplace was a cozy space for work.

I especially loved the dramatic large formal living room that spanned the full depth of this wing of the house with its perfect proportion, full height multi-paned windows at the front and rear of the room, the fireplace centered on the long exterior side between pairs of French doors to the screened porch, elegant window treatments and antique furniture groupings anchored by large antique rugs. The moldings around the doors were especially striking with their pediments above the wide moldings that framed the door openings.

The screened porch also had a fireplace to extend enjoyment of this space past the warm months and the checkerboard limestone flooring in slate blue and cream was set on a diagonal pattern to make the room appear even wider.  Above the screened porch is a deck with a Chippendale styled railing that leads to one of the nine bedroom suites.

The bedrooms were also beautifully decorated in the English country style. It was difficult to pick a favorite one but I finally chose the lovely bedroom with arched niches.  One niche was an entry alcove off the hall and the other was the perfect spot for an upholstered chaise for one to stretch out and read by the fire.  The canopied bed, wood paneled walls painted in a historic pale green, wood floors and the antique pieces all created a serene retreat.

Readbourne offers an extremely rare opportunity to own a significant historic house on 973 acres with over 4,000 linear ft of water frontage along the Chester River, three guest houses, multiple barns, pool, tennis court, eleven ponds, full skeet range and approximately 550 tillable acres.It was such a pleasure to tour this magnificent house and I hope it finds an owner who will continue the stewardship of this remarkable piece of Maryland’s history.

For more information about this property, contact Meredith Fine Properties agents Cliff Meredith at 410-822-6272 (o), 410-924-0082(c), mre@goeaston.net, or www.cliffmeredith.com;

Henner Gibbons-Neff at 410-822-6272 (o),410-829-0698 (c), hennerneff@yahoo.com, or www.landandfarm.com;

Benson & Mangold Agent Schuyler Benson at 410-822-1415 (o), 410-310-3251 (c), sbenson@bensonandmangold.com or schuylerbenson.com

“Equal Housing Opportunity”

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High Street has been the location of several Houses of the Week but this is the first time that two houses located next to each other have been featured.  This house has been renovated with much care and devotion to the preservation of original details, including the front door, original windows, exposed hand-hewn beams, hardwood floors, five-panel interior wood doors,  trim, moldings and built-ins. The two-bay full front porch offers a front row seat to the activity on High Street and is detailed with round columns, bands of trim in a light contrasting color and solid plinths. I loved the vista from the front porch to the other porches of the adjacent houses for a continuous line of sight that encourages checking in with neighbors.

The front door opens to a foyer with the staircase to one side, with the newel post and treads stained to blend with the hardwood floors.  The wide opening to the living room has been infilled with stained wood true French doors, (sans vertical muntins).  An arched doorway at the end of the foyer leads to the kitchen -dining area.  The fireplace in the living room is flanked by high single windows that let light in while preserving privacy from the neighboring house close by. Stained hand-hewn beams below the white ceiling and double windows to the porch contribute to this room’s interior architectural character.

Before the family room was added to the rear of the house, the dining room had a double window that is now a clever built-in for china or collectibles. The dining room is open to the spacious galley kitchen with its creamy palette of cabinets, granite countertops and the stainless steel accents of the appliances. The family room has sliding doors to the raised deck with its pergola to frame the views from the deck to the fenced yard, which is a blank slate to inspire the gardener or to provide a play space to delight young children.

The second floor contains three bedrooms one of which is the master suite with its own bathroom. I especially liked the bathroom with the twin contemporary vessel porcelain lavatories in front of the full width wall mirror that captured the reflection of the window on the opposite wall. All of the bedrooms were light filled from windows on more than one side of each room.

Even though no room was furnished, it is easy to imagine how one’s furnishings would enhance this charming home. Great addition to the Houses of the Week on High Street!

For more information about this property, contact Michele Palmer with Doug Ashley Realtors, LLC at 410-810-0010 (o), 410-920-9435 (c), michele@dougashleyrealtors.com,orwww.dougashleyrealtors.com,  “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

Photography by Janelle Stroop, Thru the Les, Janelle@Thruthelensphotos.com

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