The derivation of the name “High Street” began in medieval Great Britain when towns or villages grew along main routes to provide inns, taverns, markets and shops to travelers and residents. The thoroughfare soon became known as High Street for being the main commercial and retail center. The Queen’s English translates to Main Street but Chestertown’s High Street retains its original name. High Street begins at the Chester River and its residential areas vary from the grand houses at Water Street to the more affordable 3-bay houses like today’s feature. 

This property has the very desirable advantage of a corner lot, offering off street parking in a one car garage off the side street, The wide yard at the side street offers additional sunlight and privacy. As I walked up to the front of the three bay house, I admired the weathered wood fence with an arbor to frame the sidewalk to the full front porch. The backdrop of tall trees at the rear yard and the exterior color palette of two-toned light lap siding and darker trim with the accent of the olive green door was quite pleasing. The symmetry of the three bay house with the door at the left side next to two single windows, three windows above and a single gable dormer at the attic level with an arched top window creates charming curb appeal.

The house is one room wide and four rooms deep with the front door surround of a full transom and half glass/half paneled sidelights enhanced with rosette trim blocks. The front door opens into the living room with the staircase to one side,  detailed with a stained newel post and treads with decorative stair tread brackets.  This room’s architectural charm includes a fireplace on the interior wall, two front windows, a side bay window wall projection and the ceiling’s tin pattern is painted white to reflect the sunlight. Blinds provide privacy and sheers filter sunlight throughout the day. The wood floors are original and could be refinished to suit one’s taste. The fireplace mantel is probably original also and the high back that usually framed a mirror is the perfect place for artwork as it is here.

The light gray walls, wood floors and rosette trim of the living room continues into the spacious dining room with additional trim creating a wainscot that is painted an accent color. Windows at each side wall provide cross ventilation and views to the yards. I was pleased to see the radiator for heating as that is my favorite type since you can also have metal radiator covers made that are the perfect height for extra tables. The table could accommodate family dinners or holiday celebrations and the period light fixture is the perfect touch.  At the side of the dining room is a room with a window that would make a perfect office/homework space with a window for views of the landscape.  Another cased opening leads to the “L” shaped kitchen with a vista of bar stools behind the kitchen sink cabinetry.  Since the kitchen is adjacent to the large laundry/mud room, the kitchen could be opened up by moving the sink cabinetry to the side wall and adding a breakfast area next to the laundry with a new wall between them. There is also a deck for dining al-fresco.  

The laundry/mudroom has a single slope roof facing the eave of the one-car garage.  Changing the single sloped roof to a pitched roof that would hip into the garage roof would create a short breezeway for ease of getting into the house during inclement weather. This would also allow the ceiling in the laundry/breakfast area to be the same height as the kitchen. 

The second floor contains three bedrooms, one bath and a deck stacked above the kitchen deck below.  The primary bedroom is located at the front corner of the house and has two front windows and one double unit window at the side wall that keeps the room sunny throughout the day. The bedroom has two closets, which is unusual for an older home. I especially liked one of the other bedrooms for its quilt in a lovely variation of the “Triangle Showcase” pattern.

If I were a teenager, I would claim the third floor space as my bedroom for its privacy, bird’s eye views of High Streets’ rooftops and the sunlight from the front wall dormer and windows at each side gable walls. The steep steps could perhaps be rebuilt to make this delightful space with the sloped ceilings more accessible.

Corner lot with a single car garage off the side street, compact floor plan with many original features such as wood floors, trim, fireplace mantel, dining room pendant fixture and upgrades to the kitchen and baths.  This charming house has been a well maintained rental and is ready for you to make changes to suit your own tastes. Only four blocks to the Historic District, close to Chestertown’s Rail for Trails and Washington College. 

For more information about this property, contact Retha Arrabal with Doug Ashley Realtors at 410-810-0010 (o), 410-708-2172 (c) or retha@dougashleyrealtors.com. For more pictures and pricing, visit www.dougashleyrealtors.com,  “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

Photography by Janelle Stroop, Thru the Lens Photography, 410-310-6838, Janelle@Thruthelensphotos.com

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.

This charming cottage that was built in 1955 has a great location in the neighborhood east of Washington St. The cottage’s three levels have undergone stylish upgrades in 2016 including renovations of the kitchen and both baths. The lower level was waterproofed and insulated so it now offers myriad uses as an office/guest space or recreation room/ home theater.  The story and a half massing caught my eye with its front elevation’s entry door between single windows at each side with black cottage style shutters, blue shiplap siding that casts shadow lines to enliven the facade, white trim and the blue-gray architectural shingles.  The entry door is protected by a gable roof infilled with the blue shiplap siding projecting from the main roof with brackets for supports over the concrete stoop and black railing. 

The landscape is a gardener’s and nature-lover’s dream with its arrangement of low maintenance perennial plants and flowers that are in full bloom spring through fall.  The plantings were carefully selected not only for color but also to attract many species of birds and butterflies. This has led to the property being certified by the University of Maryland as a Bay-Wise garden and is registered as a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat. 

At the side driveway, there is another entry door to the stair landing leading both to the lower level and directly into the galley kitchen for easy unloading of groceries.  The rear yard offers outdoor rooms of both a deck with a door to the kitchen and a screened porch off the dining room for easy indoor-outdoor flow.  Steps off the side and rear of the deck lead to a pathway of slate pavers ending at a fire pit under the shade of a mature tree. Another taller mature tree adds more shade and at the rear of the property is a small shed for lawn and garden maintenance.

The main floor’s compact floor plan works very well with minimal halls to maximize the sizes of the rooms. The front door opens into the living room with single windows at both the front and side exterior walls. This bibliophile would add a gas fireplace flanked with bookcases on the interior wall for curling up on the sofa with a good book when one is not watching TV.  

From the living room, one has a clear vista past the stairs to the lower and upper levels to the galley kitchen’s door to the deck and rear yard. The kitchen has a side window and another window above the kitchen sink overlooking the deck and yard.  Since the side exterior door has a landing with steps, I would be tempted to expand the kitchen’s side wall to the edge of the landing to create an alcove for a stack W/D combo off the kitchen.  

I admired the kitchen’s stylish interior design with its engineered wood floors, white shaker cabinets, upper cabinets to the underside of the ceiling, butcher block countertops, white subway tile backsplash and stainless steel appliances including a free-standing hood over the range. My favorite detail is the barn door between the kitchen and the adjacent dining room that is a very creative way to eliminate a door opening into either room.  Between the kitchen and dining room is a shallow hall created by closets with one end of a closet opening into the hall for storage of serving pieces. 

The side window of the dining room is centered on the hall and the kitchen for a vista through the house and the dining room table is centered on the side window and the sliding doors to the screened porch for views through to the rear yard.  The screened porch has space for both sitting or dining and the wrought iron furnishings with cushions and glass topped coffee and dining tables need minimal care. The ceiling that follows the slope of the shed roof makes the space airy and light.  

The remainder of the main floor contains a bedroom and bath.  The bedroom is located at the front corner of the house with with windows on each exterior wall.  The gray powdered finish iron bed with its frame’s slight curvature, the gray and white side chair and the bed’s white bedspread and blanket along with the plaid sheets is ready for guests. The hall bath has a background of white subway tile, white beadboard wainscot, hardwood floors and light gray walls, making the perfect backdrop for one’s accents of colorful towels and accessories.

I have written often about my affection for upper floor spaces tucked under the angles of the roof and this cottage’s upper floor is a delightful retreat. The suite spans across the entire length of the house with windows at each gable end. The bath and walk-in closet are located at one side and double doors with frosted glass between the bath and the bedroom allow the light to filter through to the sleeping area.  Knee walls with storage cabinets along both walls eliminate the need for chests and the open railing gives the bedroom the feel of a stylish loft.  I especially liked how cleverly the bath’s bath design took advantage of the knee walls. Recessed shelving provides storage next to the shower with its built-in seat against the knee wall and the ceiling slopes to the opposite wall for the plumbing fittings. The shower’s glass panel and door keeps the space open and light, all the better to enjoy the Turkish style pattern of the flooring.  

Wonderful setting between Chestertown’s retail/restaurant area and Washington College amenities, quiet street with a charming pedestrian scale, great curb appeal from its architecture, private rear yard with landscape and hardscape for relaxation and stylish renovations-Bravo!

 

For more information about this property, contact Liddy Campbell at TTR Sotheby’s International Realty, 410-673-3344 (o), 410-708-5433 (c) or liddycampbell@gmail.com. For more photographs or pricing, visit  

https://liddycampbell.ttrsir.com/eng,  “Equal Housing Opportunity”. 

Photography by Janelle Stroop, 410-310-6838, Janelle@thruthelensphotos.com

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.

I have passed by today’s featured house many times whenever I visited two very close friends who live on the same street. The neighborhood is down river from Chestertown on the Queen Anne County side. Nearby is the 110 acre Roundtop Park located at the head of the Rosin Creek off the Chester River, offering a playground, courts for basketball and tennis, several athletic fields and picnic areas with grills close to a pavilion. The aerial photos show the house surrounded by dense mature trees and the pastoral setting of farmland across the river. Two Adirondack chairs are strategically placed at the pier for the broad views of the river with outbuildings on the other side of the river appearing to be tiny sheds.

Going up the driveway, the view of the “L” shaped house is a framed by a towering tree at the corner of the garage with a glimpse of the river beyond. The post and beam house has a hipped roof and the attached garage has a gambrel roof with flared eaves. Steps lead up to the front door with a hipped roof overhead. The floor plan works very well with the “service” areas of stairs, kitchen and bath at the front and the living room, dining room and a bedroom at the rear for water views. The living room projects beyond the rear wall to provide space at the corner for a French door to access the deck that spans across the length of the house. Continuous steps wrap around the deck’s perimeter leading to the lawn and one corner of the deck has a railing that extends down one side of the steps for safety. At the second floor, the flooring for another deck off the primary suite becomes a porch for part of the main deck below. As appealing as the decks are, my favorite outdoor room is the brick terrace high above the river with light filtering in from the trees above and the seating group around a circular table for an alfresco lunch and relaxing conversation.  The steps nearby lead down to the pier below. 

The roof over the living room’s projection slopes down from the main roof to create a dramatic interior. Stained wood defines the post and beam frame with the stained decking ceiling above.  Stained posts create bays around the rear of the room containing long windows or sliding doors with transoms above for views of the landscape and water beyond with the stone surround of the fireplace and the stained wood mantel for texture.  The living room is open to the one-story dining area, tucked under the second floor above. The wide double window at the rear wall of the dining area has views to the water for a totally transparent space. The drop-leaf table is a great solution for an open plan space that can accommodate a family evening meal or can be extended for holiday celebrations.  The galley kitchen has the sink wall of cabinets facing the rear wall for views with bar stools for breakfast or a quick snack.  The main floor corner bedroom has double windows at the rear wall under the framing of the upper deck above for the views of the landscape and water.  Additional windows at the side provide direct sunlight. 

The “U” shaped stairs with its wood open railing overlooks the living room below and lead both to the basement under the footprint of the house and to the upper floor that contains the primary suite. At the stair landing is the door to the storage over the garage that could become a third bedroom. The second floor landing opens up to create a cozy secondary TV watching area and space for a home office with a handrail overlooking the living room below. The corner primary bedroom has delightful interior architecture from the intersection of the hipped roof with the same exposed stained wood decking ceiling throughout the house. Windows on two walls flood the space with sunlight and the sliding doors between the rear windows lead to the spacious deck for a bird’s eye view of the landscape and the river. 

This wooded waterfront property offers privacy and a great sequence of outdoor rooms from the decks to the brick waterside terrace and down the steps to the pier. All of the main rooms have water views and the spaces flow into each other with minimum hall space. I loved how the wood ceiling and floors give the spaces character and warmth accentuated by the multiple windows that bring sunlight throughout the day. Great tranquil location on the Chester River yet close to Chestertown’s Historic District amenities.

For more information about this property contact  Lynn Hilfiker with Gunther McClary Real Estate at 410-639-2118 (o), 443-480-1163 (c)  or lynnhilfiker@gmail.com. For more photographs and pricing visit www.rockhallrealestate.com , “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.

 

“Widehall” was built in 1769 on the Chester River at a time when Chestertown vied with Annapolis as an important port. Through the years, many prominent people called “Widehall” home. The builder and original owner, Thomas Smythe, was one of the wealthiest men of that time due to his being a merchant, shipbuilder and shipowner who traded with the British West Indies. He also became Head of the State’s provisional government and served in this office until 1776. In 1782, after service to Washington Collage as a founder and benefactor, he was appointed its first Treasurer. Other well-known owners were Robert Wright, Governor of Maryland between 1806 and 1809 and Ezekiel Chambers, State and United States Senator and Judge of the Court of Appeals.

Built on a high stone basement, the house’s many noteworthy details begin at the street. Two short flights of sandstone steps, interrupted by a sandstone terrace, lead up to the front door. In front of the landing, the stone retaining wall with brick piers capped by stone finials were once part of an original “claire-voie” (open-work gate or grille for a vista to the landscape beyond). Two towering trees next to the end piers frame the front of the house.

“Widehall” is one of the largest five-bay brick Georgian style houses along the Chester River and its corner location off High Street provides additional prominence. Its exterior color palette of red brick with white window frames, trim, superimposed keystones at the window headers, roof dormers and the Widow’s Walk railing is classic. The front door is centered in the middle bay, surrounded by a Doric style architrave supporting a full pediment with fluted columns below. The windows have twelve-over-twelve sashes whose louvered shutters were added later. In the 1910 restoration, both the two-stored kitchen wing on the northeast side and the magnificent waterside Ionic two-story portico that spans the full length of the house were added.

The compact floor plan has four rooms off the center hall for easy flow among the rooms. The front door opens to the center hall with arched molded openings to the stair hall opposite the front parlor’s deep wall opening with double pilasters. Another smaller arched opening leads to the hall past the dining room opposite the rear parlor and to the exterior door at the main level portico. The interior color palette of creamy white plaster walls, beautiful wood floors with the crown dentil and arched moldings painted a deep blue green with deep blue bases is striking. Each of the four rooms has a different cornice detail including one design’s alternating courses of dentils and beading. Throughout the main floor, the rooms are furnished with period pieces and other antiques.

In the stair hall, the staircase cantilevers from the wall as it gracefully ascends around three walls to the second floor. The six-inch stair risers, railing, fluted newels, wall pilasters and turned balusters are all crafted from mahogany. I could well imagine being greeted by the Owners as I arrived for an elegant party or fundraiser and being serenaded by a musician playing Cole Porter tunes on the grand piano.

The front and rear parlors are mirror images of each other with back to back fireplaces and above the front parlor’s mantel is a portrait of George Washington. Both rooms are detailed with broken pedimented headers over the wall openings to the center hall and the deep wall openings between the chimneys are clad in panels at the top and sides of the openings.

The moldings in the formal dining room are painted a warm mocha and flanking the fireplace are floor to ceiling built-in china cupboards with a clever detail of two drawers intersecting the paneled wainscot around the room. The period chandelier and the antique table and chairs set the scene for a memorable repast.
Between the dining room and the kitchen is the well equipped butler pantry with built in cupboards, some with glass fronts and a porcelain enamel sink with an integral drainboard. The deep exterior wall ledge at the window above the sink is a perfect spot for flowering plants or herbs to flourish.

When I spoke with one of the Owners, I told him I love to cook and he said the kitchen is one of their favorite rooms. How could a cook not enjoy the white cabinets with bases to resemble furniture, upper glass fronted cabinets for display, dark countertops for contrast, the recessed nook for the stainless steel gourmet stove, and the island furniture piece with a painted lilac base and a granite top. The kitchen is open to charming breakfast room with wrap-around windows for views to the landscape and water beyond. Between the kitchen and the stair hall is a service stair and powder room. I had noticed several appealing folk art pieces throughout the house, especially the one over the kitchen sink that was a view of “Widehall” from the water. The Owner told me they own several paintings by this artist, Jimmy Reynolds in their collection.

The main staircase ends at the front corner of the second floor that is used as a family/TV room with a mix of comfortable furnishings including the leather Chesterfield sofa and Scandinavian armchairs. Behind the family room is an office/ study with a French door and high arched transom leading to the veranda for breaks from work. The other side of the house contains a guest room and the primary bedroom with a wide French door to the veranda. The neutral palette of the primary bedroom’s trim, wainscot and furnishings creates a serene retreat. The primary bath has a tiled floor of small white squares with a border of black tiles and a claw footed high backed soaking tub. The edge of the tub is perfectly positioned at the height of the rear window for gazing at the landscape as you soak off the stress of the day.

If I were lucky enough to be a guest, the third floor and its fantastic interior architecture created by the sloped roof shape from the mansard roof and the deep dormers with arched tops that echo the arched window headers would be hard to resist. The corner room would be my choice for its high paneled wainscot that reaches to the ceiling’s spring line and the double curvature of the upper and lower mansard roofs’ intersection. Being on the third floor also places a guest closest to the Widow’s Walk for unparalleled views of the Chester River and the Historic District.

Listed on the National Historic Register in 1972, this exquisite house, lawn and gardens that gently slope to the water’s edge has been lovingly cared for by its many devoted owners who considered themselves stewards of this unique property from the Hubbards who christened the house “Widehall”, added the two-storied portico and the kitchen addition to the owners in this century whose updates included geothermal HVAC.

Over the years, “Widehall” has hosted elegant parties and philanthropic events. Currently, each bedroom is named in honor of an acclaimed figure with a close connection to both Chestertown and the Eastern Shore. Over the five years that I have selected properties for my weekly column, researching and writing about this historic property has been a special pleasure. To truly appreciate the many historic details throughout this unique property, please visit the website shown below.

For more information about this property, please contact Richard Keaveney at Cross Street Realtors, 410-778-3779 (o), 410-708-6470 (c), or rdkeaveney@gmail.com. For more pictures and pricing, visit www.chesterriverwaterfront.com, “An Equal Housing Opportunity”.

Photography by Steven Buchanan, Buchanan Studios, 410-212-8753, www.buchanan-studios.com.

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.