Berkshires House XX

Architects’ Statement

As a student at Williams College, our client lived for a year in a cabin on a hill with a spectacular view of the valley and in the distance, Mount Greylock, the highest mountain in southern New England. After marriage to his college sweetheart and a successful career in finance, he and his wife leapt at the opportunity to buy that beautiful piece of the Berkshires and build a house large enough to accommodate their extended family on vacations and holiday gatherings.

The first phase of construction was a “barn” containing a garage, three bedrooms and baths, and a temporary kitchen so that they could spend time there while the main house was under construction.  

The main house is essentially a one story building with a walk-out basement and a wing containing the master bedroom and a study. In designing the house, we worried that a one story building would look like a suburban ranch and would be dwarfed by the mass of the barn. To mitigate that, we added five glassy cupolas on the roof bringing daylight to the interior and increasing the feeling of substantiality.

The main living spaces and the screened porch are directed toward the remarkable view to the southeast. The original barn building and the master bedroom wing flank the main house and form an entrance courtyard. The house is painted white, and the wings are dark green, emphasizing their “out-building” feel.

The sloping land enabled us to include a pool a full story lower than the living spaces so that it doesn’t interrupt the view and is easily accessed from changing rooms and a bath in the basement level. The living / dining and kitchen are all in a large open space focused around a double sided fireplace and adjacent to a large terrace which overlooks
the pool and the hayfield.

Interior Designer’s Statement

The main public space – the heart of the home – is a 50’ long open plan with soaring ceilings. This expansive living space includes the kitchen and banquette, pantry, dining area, and living room.
Stunning views of the Berkshires shape every space.

Our primary design challenge was to create definition without distracting from the view or the architecture. We designed for warmth and intimacy within the larger context by employing
strategic color and scale changes. Our design ensures that each area of function throughout the home, the parts within the whole, feel unique in personality - from tranquil to vivacious.

To underscore our clients’ love of autumnal color, we established a palette of yellow gold, orange, rusty red, tree bark brown, and plum. This palette is expressed in chunky textures and color gradation rather than in pattern, which keeps the space harmonious.

We let materials “walk the talk” in our interior design: iron, smooth natural brass, rough blackened steel, white oak, and cut glass; these layer rusticity with refinement. The lighting design places
fixtures within the rhythm of the architectural fenestration. Most of the furnishings in the living room were custom designed and many primary pieces throughout the house were fabricated by local
artisans from Berkshire County, Vermont, and upstate New York.

“Oasis” was our approach to the master suite. The bedroom is woodsy and calm; fine weave linen window treatments are accented with twig tie backs and the ceiling features a printed wood grain wallpaper. The bathroom is a watery retreat with aqua glass tile. Koi swim overhead in swirling pools on the papered ceiling.

We had a lot of fun with painted stripes in both guest suites. By varying two-color shiplap boards, the spaces are distinct yet thematically connected. The two guest bathrooms bring color from the shiplap stripes onto the ceiling.

Located just off the pool deck, the ground floor interior design is pure “pool house.” We turned up the volume on the color palette with shocking pink, bright orange, lime green, turquoise, and yellow surrounded by a soft white envelope. Modern pegs line one side of the hall back to a sunny yellow kitchenette. In the bathroom, distressed plank porcelain tiles feel like a beach cabana with
a turquoise summer sky.

Design & Build Team

Architects: Burr & McCallum Architects, Williamstown, MA
Interior Design: Karen Beckwith Creative, Lenox, MA
Photography: Scott Barrow Photography, Lenox, MA
General Contractor: Eric Zahn Builders LLC, Pittsfield, MA
Kitchen & Initial Master Bath Design: Keeler Concepts by Design LLC, Ghent, NY
Home Stylist: Lisa Clark Jenks, Williamstown, MA
Windows: Pella Windows & Doors, Greenfield, MA

Press Contact: Rose Carlson, Public Relations Coordinator, Burr & McCallum Architects
rose@burrandmccallum.com, 413 458 2121