32 Black Gable Houses With Seriously Witchy Vibes
Whether clad in blackened timber or treated to dark paint for dramatic effect, these black gable residences have a bit of a spooky streak. They’re the kind of houses that kids, at this time of year, imagine to be witches’ lairs with spiders clinging to webs spun in shadowy corners. We know better, but there’s still something about these homes that make it hard to look away.
A Bold Yet Minimalist Rhode Island Home
Nestled in a hillside forest and overlooking a large meadow, the Field House in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, was built as an extension of the natural landscape. Designed by Vermont firm Birdseye, the 3,275-square-foot home comprises two distinct black gable volumes—a two-story main house and a one-level garage—which are linked together by an exterior walkway and supported by a full-height wall.
Surrounded by stately oak and eucalyptus trees and exhilarating Santa Ynez Mountain views, a couple living in the stylish enclave of Montecito in Santa Barbara County were understandably enamored with the location. But the homeowners yearned to remodel their house, which didn't live up to its potential considering its surroundings. Anacapa and Bailey Peace Design made their dreams reality, with a restrained revamp that emphasizes the rolling landscape.
A simple floor plan emphasizes the rugged materiality of this elongated, cabin-style home designed by Augusto Fernández Mas of K+A Diseño and Mauricio Miranda of MM Desarrollos in Valle de Bravo.
A multi-gabled house designed by architect Corey Yurkovich for a couple and their longtime friend sits amid beech trees, cattails, and seagrasses on New York’s Shelter Island.
Desai Chia Architecture draws upon rural architecture to create an austere retreat that frames spectacular vistas. The region’s famous West Cornwall Covered Bridge is one of the many vernacular inspirations for the house’s pitched-roof form.
A family in Hamburg, Germany, turned a kitschy turn-of-the-century villa into a high-design home with a few exterior tricks, including sheathing the exterior in one-dimensional, murdered-out black.
Architect couple Andreas Lyckefors and Josefine Wikholm took an unusual approach to designing their dream home. While living in a small apartment with three young children, they bought a site in Askim, a popular suburb close to Gothenburg, where they designed a pair of mirrored residences under a single gable roof.
Homeowners Aaron and Orlee (and their kids) wanted to amplify a sensation of release and relaxation in their vacation retreat, the Ell House. "They just really wanted to arrive in the space," says Montreal-based architect Ravi Handa, who collaborated with AAmp Studio on the couple’s 2,240-square-foot getaway on the shores of Lake Ontario.
It was a lifelong dream for couple Merriss Waters and Andrew Fleming to live in a cabin nestled into a forest on an island, far removed from the hustle and bustle of the city. They recently brought this dream to life at Saltwater Farm, a boutique retreat designed by Jason Grauten, Philip Auchettl, and David Loewenstein of RAD LAB on the shores of Washington’s San Juan Island. Five cabins are located in the pine forest surrounding the main house.
Located on a 13-acre property filled with meadows and wetlands, this home was once a lackluster complex of three midcentury structures—until vonDalwig Architecture unified them with a carefully considered renovation.
Frederiksberg, just west of Copenhagen’s city center, is posh and leafy, an attractive area that melds quiet residential pockets with busier streets laden with cafés and design shops. Historic architecture, including spacious villas dating from the 1800s, characterize the district’s allure.
But for one family, reimagining such a stately structure was more enticing than moving into an original one, so they turned to local architecture collaborative EFFEKT to transform a pristine plot of land into an urban home markedly different from those of their neighbors.
Even as the square footage of this cottage in Fayston, Vermont, shrank in response to budget constraints, architect Elizabeth Herrmann remained focused on making the space feel warm and functional for a family of four and their dog and cat.
Australian architect Roger Nelson spent almost a decade designing a home for his family in Lorne before teaming up with DREAMER to reimagine his vision as a rural retreat. "It’s a space for us to unwind and relax alone or with family and friends," says Roger.
Handcrafted details, energy-efficient principles, and a thoroughly contemporary interior combine at the Friends Lab, a barn-inspired home designed by Madrid-based AMPS Arquitectura & Diseño. The clients are a young family who wanted a house they could share with friends and family on their farm in southern England.
Designed by Montreal-based practice APPAREIL Architecture, Grand Pic Chalet is inspired by the colors and vertical lines found throughout the forest around the property.
Set in a nature park and beech forest in the small Bavarian town of Betzenstein, Germany, is a modern bio-passive vacation house with plenty of quirky details hidden within.
Rising from the foothills of one of Chile's most active volcanoes, this family home near the town of Pucon in the Araucanía region responds to the dramatic landscape that surrounds it. Santiago, and London based practice Ampuero Yutronic's initial concept for Casa Hualle was a simple rectangular volume, but the drawings evolved, through a series of manipulations and interventions, into a more sculptural form.
Two hours north of New York City, an unusual barn emerges from a hill just off a country road. Its black siding and bright-red window frames hint at the imaginative playground inside. This space, with its rope-railed catwalk and indoor tent, is just one element of the multifaceted getaway architecture and design firm BarlisWedlick Architects designed for fund manager Ian Hague.
Eager to leave Taipei behind for a quieter life in the mountains, a retired Taiwanese couple took the recommendation of their son-in-law and hired Spanish architect Urdaneta Zeberio to realize their vision of an affordable retirement home in rural Nanzhuang, two hours north of Taichung.
San Francisco couple Jim and Noriko would be the first to admit they never thought much about architecture—that is, until late 2013, when they took possession of one of the city’s many worn-out Victorians. By hiring acclaimed architect Anne Fougeron, they hoped to compensate for their lack of knowledge and create something extraordinary for themselves and their young daughter. The facade’s historical details were preserved and painted Gunmetal by Benjamin Moore.
This elevated prefab cabin along the Chilean Andes has a buffer zone that helps protect it against harsh climatic conditions. The 1,033-square-foot Casa R opens up to a "chiflonera," an intermediate space between the interior and exterior commonly found in Patagonian homes.
The reclaimed hickory facade of the Micro Cabin by BC-OA is punctured by windows that overlook National Forest Service land.
Completed in May 2018, the Crossfield Street House is the residence of architect Jonathan Pile, his wife Katherine, and their five-year-old son.
"It only cost about $48,000 to build, which was incredibly cheap," says Turner of the Stealth Barn. "We got the Timber Frame Company to supply the shell, then we clad it and fitted out the interior and windows ourselves. The idea was to take the archetypal black tar-painted agricultural building and make an almost childlike icon of that."
Although synthetic slate roof tiles have been around since the 1970s, the way architect Stephen Bruns used them to completely clad Woven House is unusual. "I love this material," says Bruns. "The way light reflects off the tiles creates a specular effect, almost like a mosaic." That reflective quality is enhanced by the floor-to-ceiling windows by Loewen.
Clad in wax-covered pine, this 645-square-foot dwelling in Amsterdam is striking on the outside and endlessly charming on the inside. At night, the large windows give the compact home a lantern effect.
Architect Michelle Linden worked with Brothers to create a minimalist house. Inspired by the inward-looking approach of Cistercian abbeys, Linden oriented the U-shaped structure around a courtyard.
A look at the home's front facade. In a Melbourne suburb, Splinter Society Architecture designed the versatile home for Mark and Cara Harbottle and their three young children.
The crumbling stone walls of a 17th-century farmhouse in the remote countryside of Dumfries, Scotland, presented a unique renovation opportunity for Lily Jencks Studio and Nathanael Dorent Architecture, the teams behind this project. Rather than demolish the old walls, they inserted a crisp, modern home within them, so as to emphasize the site's history and passage of time.
![Nestled within a forest clearing near the Argentinian city of Córdoba, this 2,153-square-foot house named "La Negrita" is designed to exist in harmony with nature. Designed by Córdoba–based Morini Arquitectos, the house first reveals itself as a black corrugated wall in the middle of the woodlands. "The house is totally introverted [and] mysterious towards the street and extroverted towards the interior," says Morini.](https://images2.dwell.com/photos/6191803854900514816/6480722186339094528/original.jpg?auto=format&q=35&w=160)
Nestled within a forest clearing near the Argentinian city of Córdoba, this 2,153-square-foot house named "La Negrita" is designed to exist in harmony with nature. Designed by Córdoba–based Morini Arquitectos, the house first reveals itself as a black corrugated wall in the middle of the woodlands. "The house is totally introverted [and] mysterious towards the street and extroverted towards the interior," says Morini.
Landscape architect Kevin Campion went to great lengths to protect the poplar trees during construction. Delta Millworks charred the cedar gable fronts following the shou sugi ban technique.
At the northern end of the Stockholm archipelago, a humble cottage becomes a gorgeous seaside retreat for a nature-loving family.
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