PROJECT: A Country House and Garden, Dutchess County, N.Y.
ARCHITECT: Gilbert P. Schafer III,
Project Architect; Brent Kovalchick, Jonathan Lee, Project Team
LANDSCAPE DESIGN: G.P. Schafer Architect, PLLC, with Deborah Nevins Associates
INTERIOR DECORATION: G.P. Schafer Architect, PLLC, with Miles Redd, LLC
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A NEW GREEK REVIVAL
Schafer’s 3,000-sq.ft. residence features a compact plan with
only two major public rooms: the dining room, which also functions
In the rear elevation of the house, shown from a dramatic vantage point, the structure is defined by its surrounding precincts of
walled or hedged garden rooms, with the rolling meadow in the foreground. The screened porch to the left acts as a transition between the
interior and exterior of the house, and welcomes breezes from three sides of the property. (All exterior photographs by Mick Hales, Greenworld
Pictures, unless noted otherwise)
Architect Gil Schafer was in the market for a
country house for years. His search took him
all over New York’s Dutchess County, a region
filled with rolling fields, hedge rows, and dairy and
horse farms, which sits between the eastern bank of the
Hudson River and the western border of Connecticut.
The area is also dotted with 19th-century Greek Revival
structures, and Schafer hoped to discover an
overlooked architectural gem that he could make his
own. He’d nearly given up when he discovered a piece
of property that was topographically perfect for what
he had in mind: a small rise between two fields surrounded
by wooded areas. The only thing missing was
the Greek Revival house that
looked as if it had always been
there, so Schafer built the house
himself.
To avoid what the architect
calls the “Dorothy’s-housedropped-
from-Kansas effect,”
Mr. Schafer sited the house in
such a way as to suggest a kind
Greek Revival
of “inevitability”—it looks as though it belongs where
it is. First, the approach to the house was thoughtfully
considered to give the visitor a dramatic sense of
anticipation and arrival.
Next, with New York landscape
designer Deborah Nevins, Schafer created precincts
around the house to give it a sense of place, what
Ms. Nevins calls “definition of the territory.” Exterior
spaces around the house are delineated by hedges and
fieldstone walls and anchored with new mature trees.
Schafer designed the house mindful of how such a
structure might have evolved, beginning with a smaller,
less formal structure, and growing into a more substantial
house over time. Using 19th-century builder pattern
books and surveys of local vernacular Greek
Revival architecture as references, he created proportions
and molding profiles that look indigenous.
The use of traditional and antique building components
furthered the old-house feeling: salvaged antique
or new restoration glass was specified for doors and
interior cabinetry; new wide-board pine flooring was
painted for the kitchen and the less-formal areas; and
where natural stained-wood flooring was called for,
200-year-old heart-pine flooring from BABA Wood,
a North Carolina antique-wood dealer, was installed
and re-finished.
For door hardware, Schafer turned to E.R. Butler
Co., N.Y., both for its selection of knobs and levers
based on Early American precedent, and for its expertise
in metal finishing and patination. Butler custom made
new “mercury” glass knobs based on 19th-century
examples — the first such knobs made since the
turn of the century. All the new brass hardware for the
house was antiqued by Butler, as were the nickel plumbing
fittings. Light fixtures received similar attention as
well, contributing to a consistent level of “patina”
which suggests that everything in the house has been
there for a while. Grinning, Schafer says, “The most
consistent question from visitors is, ‘When did you
finish the renovation?’”
Schafer sited his weekend house on a rise between two fields flanked by wooded hills. Drawing
from the American Greek Revival tradition, the house faithfully honors the farmhouse vernacular of the region while providing a
livable, comfortable home appropriate to a contemporary lifestyle. Although a house built in the 1830s would never have been sited this
far from the road, snow plows and central heating now allow for setting a house on a hill to take advantage of the views. The hilltop site
allowed Schafer to manipulate how the views are experienced from the house, much in the way that the great English classical architect Edwin Lutyens did: treating the house as a threshold to the garden. (Photograph courtesy of G.P. Schafer Architect, PLLC)
Creating a house that appears “old” and integral to
its landscape was a challenge on a number of levels. As
Schafer says, “An architect has to bring to the task an
understanding of what makes houses look old and what
makes them look new. He must also be able to synthesize
that sense of history with the new things that are
inevitable components of residential design today.”
See details about the restoration in the Summer 2002 issue of
Period Homes Magazine.
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