Baltimore Tree House

Tags:: Architecture; Culture; Outside

The wooden structure next to Laurie and Peter Stubbs' house outside Baltimore is made out of trees and is nestled in the woods but it isn't technically a tree house. "The trees here are basically poles with very high branches--90 feet high!--so there was no way we were going to be building in the trees," Laurie says. "We've been trying to think of a non-tree house name--the Fort, Tree Fort, Bamboo Fort--but nothing's really stuck." Plus, it's not just for Stubb's children, daughters Abigail, 9, and Emily, 13. "Kids are small for a very short time and then they grow up and go to college and you're left with this structure," she says. "We wanted it to have a use after they're gone--a place we can sit in and read or have a drink and entertain company."

— Miyoko Ohtake

Stubb and her family moved to their home, located on 2.25 acres just north of Baltimore, in 2001. "The outdoors here are a big playground," she says. "We had always wanted to build something for the girls that looked natural." In the summer of 2008, they finally materialized their wish with the 128-square-foot "tree house" that they designed themselves. Drafting the plans came naturally: Laurie is the principal of Place Architecture, Inc. and her husband, Peter, is an architect at a firm that focuses on institutional projects.

Photograph courtesy of Laurie Stubb.

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