Fall 2020
HUDSON VALLEY/BERKSHIRES/CATSKILLS
ON THE
Cover
Artistic Lineage Ki n gst o n , NY
Sarah Elliott, Licensed Real Estate Salesperson Halter Associates Realty Cover Story on page 62, Listing on page 65
Strong Foundation Architects on their favorite regional buildings
Artists’ Oasis
Designing an age-in-place home and studios
California Dreaming A farmhouse holds Arts and Crafts delights
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upstate HOUSE
| FALL 2020 • 1
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| FALL 2020 • 3
FALL 20 20 ISSUE
Steven Holl Architects’ T Space in Rhinebeck is a nonprofit art gallery offering artists exhibition and performance spaces as well as residencies.
Features 14
REINVENTING THE FAMILY FARM
Departments 8
In Sullivan County, the Kerr family turns a faily homestead into a certified-organic hemp farm and updates its farmhouse. ARTISTS’ OASIS
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Grigori Fateyev of Art Forms Architecture creates an age-inplace home with dual studios for a creative couple in Hudson. CALIFORNIA DREAMING
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A couple relocates from the Golden State to offer a modern take on Arts and Crafts style within a 19th-century Gardiner farmhouse. 20
By Marie Doyon
Architects name their favorite buildings in the Hudson Valley, along with the ones they wish they’d designed themselves. 80
BAC K PORCH
At Fahari Bazaar in Chatham, Fahari Wambura offers stylish, vibrantly colored home goods, clothing, and accessories from Tanzania.
ARTISTIC LINEAGE
By Mary Angeles Armstrong, Photos by Winona Barton-Ballentine
A Calvert Vaux-designed Victorian, once home to painter Jervis McEntee, hits the market in Kingston. Sponsored House feature
ARE A SPOTLIGHT: PEEKSKILL
This small city at Westchester’s northern edge combines the convenience of easy access to Manhattan with its own urban cultural scene and surrounding natural attractions.
VARIED VERNACUL AR
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AREA SPOTLIGHT: ELLENVILLE
Surrounded by the Shawangunks, Catskills, and two creeks, this 222-year-old village offers spectacular scenery, abundant outdoor activities, and a culturally diverse populace.
By Brian PJ Cronin, Photos by Roy Gumpel
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BOOK REVIEWS
Postmark Books and the Golden Notebook present books on the A-frame, “scentual” gardens, weekenders’ spaces, and historic homes.
By Niva Dorell
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ENTRYWAY
We bring you bespoke items from throughout the state: a minimal bike rack, a collection of crystal chandeliers, and alpaca woolen home goods and fashion.
By Anne Pyburn Craig
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THE M A R K ET 78
I N D E X O F A DV ER T I S ER S
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MAP OF THE REGION
Cover photo of 99 West Chestnut Street, Kingston, by Winona Barton-Ballentine; photo above of Steven Holl’s T Space in Rhinebeck by Susan Wides.
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| FALL 2020 • 5
E DIT OR'S N O T E
Hardwon Homes for New Arrivals
T
he Hudson Valley real estate market is in a frenzy, with a post-9/11-style wave of New Yorkers searching for houses Upstate. Newcomers from the city want to avoid another surge of Covid-19 cases, which would necessitate another lockdown, forcing them to balance work, childcare, and virtual school again. Plus, it’s hard to pay rent to live in a city whose cultural, dining, and entertainment options are closed. But there are few houses available in the Hudson Valley, since most homeowners are staying put and riding out the pandemic, so prices are climbing. Since the lockdown ended earlier this summer, a seller’s market has developed, with houses being bought within days—sometimes hours—of being listed, often at inflated prices, following bidding wars with the winner paying cash. It’s a stressful situation, for sure; from what I’m hearing anecdotally and reading in the New York Times and on social media, buying a house here ranges from being highly competitive to impossible. I talked to two newcomers about their experiences. For Paolo, whose last name is being withheld on request, leaving the Lower East Side was easy. After spending the lockdown in a large one-bedroom apartment with his marketing-consultant wife working remotely and his seven-year-old son attending school online, he was stunned when the landlord raised their rent substantially. Meanwhile, his work as a musician ceased completely, so he “became a house-husband” during the lockdown, ensuring his son “was okay with school,” his wife “had her things working, lunch was being served, and nobody went bananas.” Paolo’s wife was already looking online for a weekend house, wanting to be closer to nature, when the pandemic hit. “She decided to accelerate things,” he says, so they drove Upstate in late April to look at houses. “Our broker said the market was stopped; sellers didn’t know what was going on, nobody did,” he says. They made an offer on a single-family home on half an acre in the village of Hurley that had been listed for many months and closed on it in July. Although they’re still settling in, Paolo feels lucky compared to friends who are still looking: “A friend of ours told her broker, ‘I don’t want to be competing with cash and crazy offers, I can’t afford it and I don’t think it’s right.’ But we didn’t have such a rush.” In August, Paolo wasn’t sure whether his son’s school would reopen, and was considering finding part-time accommodation in the city if it does, but he doesn’t regret moving. “Being in the city is very hard with no vaccine in sight,” he says, though he misses friends and the Metropolitan Museum—“I
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called it ‘my church,’ but it’s closed now; when it reopens, who knows for how long or how it’ll be?” Upstate, he’s been “positively surprised” by “how nice people are, how diverse too. We were concerned about finding enough diversity, wanting to raise our kid in an environment with people of different races, genders, opinions, you name it.” One place where diversity is evident is Kingston Point Beach, where Paolo says his son would happily “live in the water for eight hours a day. For me, it’s a very pleasant place. I call it my sleeping pill, it’s so relaxing.” At press time, Molly Rubin was closing on a 17acre property in Marbletown on the Esopus Creek. She and her husband and two children, ages three and seven, share a large duplex in Crown Heights with her parents and her sister, with whom Rubin runs a home-based wholesale accessory design company. “My sister isn’t leaving the city no matter what happens—hell could freeze over,” she laughs. “I need to be there part-time carrying on work.” But because she and her husband share the rent with her extended family, having a mortgage Upstate is feasible. “We’re lucky to have this situation,” Rubin admits. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz who lived and worked in Ulster County 20 years ago, she was already looking for a weekend house Upstate, “even before coronavirus made it more difficult to accomplish, but I did find something!” After learning that her children’s private school may not reopen this fall, Rubin and her husband wanted “a place for [our kids] to be free and just learn about life outdoors if they can’t be in a classroom.” The house they’re buying was on the market since 2019. “It’s a place that needs work,” she says. “The downstairs is completely finished; the upstairs is completely unfinished. I guess it would’t appeal to people who wouldn’t want a work-inprogress. But my husband is handy; with a couple of friends we can make it happen.” Rubin calls her house “an odd predicament,” but admits it’s also “a dream come true.” She explains, “I know from having lived up here how valuable riverfront property is, and this house is totally private. The minute we saw it, I thought, ‘If we don’t go for this, we’re going to regret it.’ I’ve traveled the world, I’ve lived many places, I’ve had a family, and I still think about the Hudson Valley. I don’t care how many people have moved up here or what’s changed. I love it, and I know there are still beautiful places to find.”
EDITORIAL EDITOR Susan Piperato susan.piperato@chronogram.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR David Perry david.perry@chronogram.com DIGITAL EDITOR Marie Doyon SPONSORED CONTENT EDITOR Ashleigh Lovelace BOOK REVIEWS books@chronogram.com PROOFREADER Peter Aaron CONTRIBUTORS Winona Barton-Ballentine, Anne Pyburn Craig, Brian PJ Cronin, Niva Dorell, Marie Doyon, Roy Gumpel PUBLISHING CO-FOUNDER & CEO Amara Projansky CO-FOUNDER Jason Stern EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Brian K. Mahoney CHAIR David Dell Upstate House is a project of Chronogram Media.
ADVERTISING & MARKETING (845) 334-8600 X100 MEDIA SPECIALISTS Kris Schneider kschneider@chronogram.com Jen Powilson jen.powilson@chronogram.com SALES MANAGER Lisa Montanaro lisa.montanaro@chronogram.com MARKETING DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS Samantha Liotta ADMINISTRATIVE FINANCE MANAGER Nicole Clanahan PRODUCTION PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Kerry Tinger kerry@chronogram.com PRODUCTION DESIGNERS Kate Brodowska, Amy Dooley
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upstate HOUSE
| FALL 2020 • 7
E NT RY WAY
Rack It Up Outside the house, bicycles provide a liberating combination of socially distanced refreshmen, exercise, connection (to nature and other folks) and transportation. Inside the house, they’re awkward to work and live around, and, let’s face it, most bike storage racks are better suited for the garage. The solution from Brooklyn-based Savageworks: the Washboard Bike Rack—versatile, handsome, and sturdy—will let you display your bike with as much love as you feel riding it. The walnut Washboard measures 10 x 12.25 x 4 inches and attaches to the wall via a small cleat hidden from view. Grooves and ridges carved along the top, reminiscent of an old-fashioned washboard, allow for quick and easy positioning and removal of your bike as well as an artful display. “Centered on the idea that bikes are beautiful, I sought a form that would be a good companion to the simplicity of a bicycle,” says maker Scott Savage, a sustainability-minded architect who grew up in Utah with “hard work and the joy of making things” as family touchstones. “I tried to find a shape that was simple, functional, and interesting.” Savage makes each Washboard Bike Rack himself, using hand tools and a CNC machine for the ridged parts; all of his materials are sourced locally in Brooklyn. Although Savage once planned to become a Disney animator, he wound up studying architecture at Pratt Institute; having realized he preferred 3D design, he founded Savageworks in 2012, a year after graduation. “At the time, I was really drawn to furniture and just had to make something,” he says. But what was meant to be a onetime-only experience turned into a business. “I told myself 8
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I just needed to get it out of my system, and then I’d be good, but instead, it’s just gotten worse! I’m constantly mulling over an idea for how to make something or how to approach a problem, so having a place to collect ideas is really helpful. Plus, it helps keep my mind less cluttered if I can get it out. It’s been slow going, but lots of fun.” Other creations include the Plug Table, a fanciful round side table available in maple or colorful polyester; and an oval baby crib. . —Anne Pyburn Craig SAVAGE-WORKS.COM
Scott Savage’s living room wall sports one of his handmade Washboard bike racks. For pricing and availability, contact him at savagewks@gmail.com.
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upstate HOUSE
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E NT RY WAY
Seeking Softness
Weekender Alpaca Cardigan, $150 Samantha Holmes Pom Pom Fair Isle Hat, $42
Alpaca wool is curiously soothing, says veteran Suzanne Werner. And at Fluff, her Hudson store, it isn’t uncommon for customers to come in just to caress the impossibly soft creations or linger over the range of gift items (including stationery, tea towels, toys, candles, perfume, and organic skin care products) created by Werner and her knitting team or sourced from 43 artisans’ collectives in the US, Australia, Mexico, and Peru. When New York on Pause made in-person shopping impossible, Fluff’s online business picked up, but now that the store is open again, the softness seekers are back. “People are sending robes, sweaters, and socks as gifts, because the fluffiness just makes you feel better,” Werner says. “We’d actually been doing well. Then when we reopened the store, with a whole lot of safety precautions, we had a lot of people come in. There was a pent-up demand for silky softness, and we’ve had a lot of really cool things coming in to meet it.” Fluff Alpaca got started when Werner and her husband moved Upstate from New York City in 2014, having successfully sent their grown children off into the world and retired from their law careers. Werner, an avid knitter since age seven, fell in love with lustrous, lightweight alpaca fiber at the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival and since 2016, the couple has been sharing 80-acre Green River Hollow Farm, an old dairy farm in Hillsdale, with 15 Huacaya alpacas; the farm is also home to a llama named Trixie, a donkey named Lulu, and a menagerie of Icelandic horses, chickens, cats, and German shepherds. During the pandemic, the Werners are also sharing space with their adult children, and Werner’s daughter Emma is one of four part-time knitters. “We have a farm full—all the kids moved up from the city, so we’ve had quite a few boys helping with the farm and doing grocery runs,” says Werner. “One night we looked around the table and everyone had alpaca on. I realize how lucky we are to be here and do what we do—supplying softness and watching these gracious critters graze.” Alpaca fiber is waterproof and hypoallergenic, comes in a vast range of natural colors, and is produced sustainably by tidy, amiable, adorable creatures from the camel family. Living with alpacas and working with their wool, Werner seeks to walk as lightly on the earth as they do, and Fluff is part of a sustainable global network of alpaca aficionados. “We work with the New England Alpaca Fiber Pool, which collects alpaca from all over the US and makes it into different things,” she says. “We source from all over the country and from Peru and Ecuador. We’ve done a lot of research and found new designers working with alpaca, and we’ve got lots of choices at lots of price points.” Alpaca fiber lends itself to all manner of creations, and Fluff offers pillows; blankets; travel blankets; and checked, striped, diamond-patterned, and solid throws in subtle and bright colors (priced at $145 to $175). The clothing line includes gauzy women’s cardigans, stylish men’s sweaters, ponchos, scarves ($50 to $85), baby clothes, and alpaca wear for pooches. Then there are the ever-popular alpaca socks, starting at $17 per pair, available in over 60 patterns and styles in a wide variety of colors. “Everyone should have a pair,” says Werner. “They’re as soft and warm as cashmere, and they last forever.” —Anne Pyburn Craig FLUFFALPACA.COM
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ENTRY WAY
Crystal Vision No other lighting is quite so atmospheric as a chandelier, and handmade chandeliers by Schonbek have graced some of the finest spaces on the planet since 1870. To celebrate its 150th anniversary, Schonbek has created the St. Simons line of chandeliers, which feature a captivating design that reflects the brand’s eye for exemplary artisanship. Schonbek began over a century ago when young Adolph Schonbek struck out on his own from his grandfather’s glassworks and opened his first factory, determined to make a name for himself as a crafter of crystal chandeliers. The company landed in Plattsburgh, New York, where it is now based and still crafts its fixtures by hand. “The production of each fixture reflects a level of quality that is unparalleled in today’s marketplace,” says Charles-Antoine Poirier, Schonbek’s director of creative, design and product development. “Many employees working at the Schonbek factory have been here for more than 30 years. The commitment and pride of all workers make this place a unique place to be and gives it a special identity, which translates to our product lines.” Poirier says it’s those committed artists who make the meticulous process of bringing fresh forms to light work out so well. “While a design process can be challenging, Schonbek’s team of artisans and designers have a wealth of knowledge and experience in creating designs that redefine the standards for premium lighting,” he says. “Innovation has long been a part of our culture as a brand and continues to drive our passion and commitment to finding new, yet timeless methods for expressing design through light fixtures. Hence, being challenged is a part of everyday life when designing new products. By trying to explore new solutions, new processes, we conduct trial and error. Innovation thrives on uncertainty.” Schonbek’s new St. Simons line of chandeliers, priced at $999.00 and up, is intended as a fresh infusion of classical romantic elegance into contemporary spaces. The concept, Poirier says, showcases Schonbek’s ability to create a balance between classical and modern design,”The silhouette of a chandelier can be molded into a variety of forms to match its context. However, each silhouette shares a larger commonality—they all offer a bit of glamour and a touch of romance. That is especially true with the St. Simons line, which brings a light feminine touch to the spaces it illuminates, with its shape and crystal detailing. It also gives presence to a room and adds a warm feeling when lit.” —Anne Pyburn Craig
From top: A modern Scandinavian living room interior features a Schonbek chandelier from the St. Simon’s line. Schonbek also offers wall sconces, including the VESCA.
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| FALL 2020 • 1 1
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Upstate: Living Spaces with Spaces with Space to Live LISA PRZYSTUP PHOTOS BY SARAH ELLIOTT Monacelli Press, 2020 $36
Where exactly is Upstate New York? For Hudson Valley residents, it’s the vast area stretching from north of Albany up to the Canadian border and over to Pennsylvania; but for New Yorkers, it’s mainly the areas surrounding the Hudson River, Catskills, and woodlands just above the Capital Region. For author Lisa Przystup and photographer Sarah Elliott, “Upstate” translates to “inside” 12 houses located mainly in and around the Catskills. Nearly all of the luxurious full-page images in their coffee table-sized book, Upstate: Living Spaces with Space to Live feature interiors—even the landscapes shown through these homes’ windows tend to be out of focus so as not to distract from the decor and furnishings. The result is more of a study of how weekend residents from New York City (or other parts of the world) have recreated their confined urban lives within the much more spacious rooms of older rural houses. White is definitely a theme here, with walls, ceilings, trim, and even floors all painted in gallery-like pale tones, which turns all of the furniture, lamps, wall-hangings, and even radiators contained within the rooms into objects to be considered as art. The book’s more colorful homes in Tannersville, Ghent, and Claryville stand out in stark relief next to the predominantly cool white style. There’s not a person or pet included in any of the images, and the lack of any relationship to the wonders of the natural world waiting just outside each interior’s windows and doors takes away from the passionate stories of the families who created these eclectic, showroom-style homes. But with the continuing exodus of city dwellers to “Upstate,” this book may come in handy for those seeking inspiration for their own new interiors.
Open House: 35 Historic Upstate New York Homes CHUCK D’IMPERIO Syracuse University Press, 2020 $29.95
Combining two favorite Hudson Valley pastimes—being nosy about gorgeous houses and taking spontaneous road trips—Open House is both a fantastic guidebook and an absolute pleasure to read for local history buffs. Upstate New York radio personality and Monumental New York author Chuck D’Imperio takes readers on a tour of significant residences in counties across the upstate region. His lively prose includes the story of each building, along with its architectural history, the facts on how to get there, and when the tours start. D’Imperio’s engaging storytelling is peppered with quotes from local historians that put the reader inside each home—from mansions to famed naturalist John Burroughs’s ramshackle Catskill Mountains cabin—at the time when its original inhabitants were making that particular building matter.
A-Frame CHAD RANDL Princeton Architectural Press, 2020 $29.95
Are there advantages to a house without walls? Providing easier maintenance and simpler interior design, the A-frame home became popular in the 1950s as prosperous Americans expanded their footprints to include second-home living and flocked to these easyto-build dwellings. Architectural historian Chad Randl charts this unique building style in A-Frame, which is lavishly illustrated with photographs and actual building plans. But the book’s best eye candy comes in the form of retro illustrations featuring A-frames from the 1950s to 1970s, including travel brochures, real estate advertisements—even the Fisher Price A-Frame Little People Play Family toy. Evolving from vacation homes, A-frames were also used commercially as motels and diners—most notably in early roadside eateries that culminated in the national chain of International House of Pancake (IHOP) restaurants. Another notable use was with churches, as the front of the A-frame becomes a perfect “frame” for the Christian cross. In fact, St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church on Route 212 in Woodstock is a good example of this dramatic design. After the 1970s, A-frames became somewhat cliched, but the style’s contributions to double-height living spaces and features like juttings, or cantilevers, cannot be overlooked. Another key advantage: As skiers and Alpine-dwellers have always known, there’s not a lot of snow to shovel off the A-frame’s roof. JAMES CONRAD, CO-OWNER THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK 29 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK GOLDENNOTEBOOK.INDIELITE.ORG (845) 679-8000
Scentual Garden: Exploring the World of Botanical Fragrance KEN DRUSE PHOTOS BY ELLEN HOVERKAMP Harry N. Abrams, 2020 $50
Ken Druse is a gardener’s hero, consistently delivering densely informative, beautifully designed books that belong in a museum. In his newest book, Scentual Garden—a glorious companion piece to his previous book, The New Shade Garden: Creating a Lush Oasis in the Age of Climate Change (Harry N. Abrams, 2015), which we consider an essential for any upstate home library—Druse organizes plants by their amazing scents and offers guidance on how to arrange them in the home garden for the perfect blend. Ellen Hoverkamp’s photography focuses closely on the necessary details and is simply stunning— you can practically smell the honey plants with every page turn. JESSE POST, OWNER POSTMARK BOOKS 449 MAIN STREET, ROSENDALE POSTMARKBOOKS.NET (845) 658-2479
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Reinventing the Family Farm A family turns an estate into an organic hemp farm, and updates its farmhouse. By Anne Pyburn Craig
W
hat do you do when you inherit the family farm with the stipulation that it must stay in the family? If you’re David Kerr, you hire an exceptional estate carpenter and recreate the beloved farmhouse that evolved over decades and generations—and add 12 acres of organic veggies and a test crop of hemp. When the Kerr family first arrived from Scotland in barely settled Sullivan County in 1840, they established themselves on 500 acres in what became the Town of Highland. “They owned a patch along the Delaware, charging a toll to the canal boats that came through,” says descendant David Kerr. “They farmed on the side. Later, there was an eight-bedroom boarding house that never generated much revenue.” Still, the farm stayed in the family. Kerr’s parents tried farming, he says, “but it didn’t work for them, and they went back to teaching.” Today, about one-fifth of the Kerr family’s Torrwood Farm’s original acreage remains intact. In the 1970s, David’s father Charles discovered a literal wellspring of profit on the property: spring water. Realizing it could be bottled and sold, he established Catskill Mountain Spring Water. “I was a teenager when Dad heard an ad for spring water and remembered a little spot on the farm,” says Kerr. “He had me clean it out and we had the water tested—you’re allowed 300 parts per million of solids, and this had 69.” Kerr is the founder and CEO of Orthomerica, which manufactures artificial limbs and orthopedic braces. He and his wife were living in Newport Beach, California, when Charles died, leaving him Torrwood Farm. “There are 110 acres left, but it’s the prize—the top of the mountain,” Kerr says. 14
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The Kerr family’s 150-year-old farmhouse was disassembled and rebuilt across the driveway by Shay Builders for a better view of the pond.
Native stone gleaned from antique walls on the property was repurposed for the fireplace and adorned with antique bridge lanterns.
The rambling farmhouse needed a makeover, so Kerr hired Hopewell Junction-based Shay Builders to do the job. Master carpenter and builder John Shay impressed the Kerrs in their initial phone conversation, and Shay in turn fell in love with the project at first sight. “Such a gorgeous farm, and it hadn’t been updated,” Shay says. “The farmhouse was 150 years old. It had been added onto over the years, and we kept that look, chose a site across the driveway with a better view of the pond.” To build the new house, the old one was dissembled, and Shay says he and his team “repurposed every beam and historic piece we could” to create a house with the same rambling, historic ambiance. Inside the 8,000-square-foot house, the main entryway presents an open-floor plan with a den, dining room and kitchen; there’s a separate mudroom entrance and a master bedroom suite with two interior stone walls. Off the kitchen, where windows overlook the pond, is a screened-in sunroom; a bluestone patio with a fireplace runs along the entire rear of the house, part of 2,000 square feet of finished outdoor living space Upstairs are three bedroom suites around a central common room, each with its own bath with pedestal sink and clawfoot tub. The exterior is clad in ¾-inch beveled cedar siding and a metal roof; wraparound porches made of tongueand-groove fir. The entire left side of the house is a barn-style
space with bluestone floors; above it, a large room lined with antique beds features a central playspace for visiting grandchildren. “The depth of John’s understanding [of construction and master carpentry] is phenomenal,” says Kerr. “We fell straight into the butter tub with him, and we’re grateful. The way he sets a second nail to prevent settling, overlaps things. He was hired to do the William Randolph Hearst property, (now Snow Hill Farm in North Salem, New York) and when you talk to him you understand why. “My biggest hands-on thrill has been gleaning stone from the distant stone walls to repurpose into three giant stone fireplaces and the dry-laid wall along the road,” Kerr continues. “I’m not a builder or farmer; I go up there and do the unskilled things, so scavenging stone is perfect. And it’s starting to look like an estate again, like someone’s taking care. We’re planting lots of lilac and forsythia.” That’s not all they’re planting, either. Torrwood Farm has an invaluable asset in Kerr’s son Lucas, who’s working with Cornell Cooperative Extension on test plots of organic hemp on the farm’s virgin soil, 12 acres of which have been cleared for planting. Lucas, an Army Ranger veteran of three tours in Iraq and an entrepreneur in his own right, grew interested in hemp when CBD oil cleared his eczema. upstate HOUSE
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To the great satisfaction of both father and son, Cornell Cooperative Extension is researching CBD-infused bandages. Meanwhile, Cornell has pronounced the land “ideal” for hemp, and an inlaw who’s moved up from Kentucky has the large kitchen garden “running like a Swiss watch,” says Kerr. “Who knows, maybe I’ll start something where I offer Michelin chefs the chance to stay in the stone cottage for a couple of weeks and create dishes for us from our own stuff. We’re near both the city and the Culinary Institute of America, after all.” With Catskill Mountain Spring Water no longer in business, the property’s natural water supply is now the basis of a state-of-the-art computerized irrigation system. Two of the cleared acres are in active hemp production this year. “Lucas has never farmed before, he’s doing this by the seat of his pants,” Kerr admits. “He went through the organic certification process with the Northeast Organic Farming Association, during which they crawl all over you. He’s remarked, ‘Man, Dad, this is a lot of work!’ But he’s determined.” But Torrwood Farm’s most important function will always be providing a welcoming hearth for family and friends, as it has for generations. David’s dad had six sisters and a brother, and he has three sisters himself, so Torrwood is there for the Kerrs’ many aunts, uncles, and cousins, and their assorted families. “Everyone is responding and coming up with their new kids and such,” says Kerr, happily. “My mom is 98 and she’s coming up later this week. She’s really excited that we’re reinventing the farm for the family.”
Clockwise from top left: An antique weathervane shows that not a detail from the original farmhouse went to waste; the Kerrs are avid antique collectors, so furnishing Torrwood with items from their collection was a delight; in the kitchen, modern conveniences harmonize with antiques to create a comfortable family farmhouse feeling; the main bedroom suite and the three upstairs ensuite bathrooms each feature a cast-iron clawfoot tub. 16
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upstate HOUSE
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COMMU N IT Y S PO T L I G HT During the pandemic, Ellenville is offering an array of outdoor dining options in its small, historic downtown area, including outside Tony & Nick’s Italian Kitchen.
E
llenville, located where the Shawangunk Ridge nearly touches the eastern Catskills and two creeks converge to form the Rondout Creek, is one of Ulster County’s most economically and ethnically diverse municipalities. Home to groundbreaking industrialists, bisected by the D&H Canal and the “Old Mine Road” (now Route 209), and gloriously scenic, Ellenville has long been both destination and way station. The village began with a large land purchase in 1798 by Alpheus Fairchild, who christened the area Fairchild City. His original home, in the heart of today’s village, was sold to the Hormbeek family, whose tavern became the seat of local government; when the community needed a new name to apply for its own post office, innkeeper Nathan Hormbeek’s sister-in-law Ellen “swayed them with her charms,” as local lore tells it. Ellenville’s original chief industries—lumber, glass, and pottery—gave way to hospitality and spring water. Knife-making had a good run, too; it was said that every pioneer wagon needed a “Napanoch axe” from Ellenville’s neighboring hamlet, and Imperial Schrade—formed in the mid20th century through the consolidation of five older cutlery companies—still employed over 200 when it closed in 2004. Channel Master, founded
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Diverse Destination By Anne Pyburn Craig
in 1949 by Joseph Resnick with $7,000 from the sale of his brother’s nearby cabbage farm, sold $12 million worth of TV antennas a year by 1954 and gave rise to an aluminum plant. The local airport is named after Resnick, who went on to become a congressman. Ellenville’s last large factories closed in the 2000s, succumbing to the national trend toward offshore manufacturing, taking several hundred blue-collar jobs with them. (Genuine Schrade blades are still prized by those in the know.) But it’s hard to keep a good village down, and a considerable renaissance has recently been bolstered by intelligent local governance aggressively pursuing grant opportunities and presiding over environmental remediation of former iron and scrap metal yards. Two state prisons, the medium-security Ulster Correctional and the maximum-security Eastern Correctional, are co-located in neighboring Napanoch and employ many Ellenville residents; Eastern, one of New York’s oldest prisons, resembles a castle. THE SCENE In response to COVID-19, Ellenville has been “adorned with gorgeous flowers,” says Amberly Jane Campbell, publisher of the Shawangunk
Journal, a weekly newspaper that has taken the place of the 140-year-old Ellenville Journal with solid local reporting and a website, NewsAtomic, that aims to become a one-stop shop for hyperlocal publishing. That’s thanks to “some of the current and former students [who] got together with the school art department and made beautiful murals,” she explains. “And they’re closing the street by Restaurant Row on weekend evenings for outdoor dining. It’s a gloriously peaceful place to be right now.” When the pandemic hit, the village had an enormous advantage in place: Ellenville Regional Hospital, nationally recognized for its emergency department and quality of care. “We streamlined the workflow, locked some doors, changed patient rooms to negative airflow so any virus would get blown straight out of the building,” says hospital CEO Steve Kelley. “It worked. No one caught it here. We had 28 COVID patients who came to us from other hospitals after being on ventilators, and they all went home.” Locals feast—though mostly on takeout these days—at the Publik House, Dominick’s, and Tony and Nick’s Italian Kitchen and enjoy fine Mexican from Gaby’s Cafe, pizza at Arianna’s, and farmto-table at Aroma Thyme Bistro. Barthel’s Farm Market and Creamery offers fresh produce, baked
Photo courtesy Tony & Nick’s Italian Kitchen
ELLENVILLE
THE FACTS ZIP CODE: 12428 POPULATION: Village of Ellenville, 4,037; Town of Wawarsing, 13,157
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME: $46,895 PROXIMITY TO MAJOR CITY: Ellenville is 99 miles from New York City and 81 miles from Albany.
TRANSPORTATION: Ellenville is located at the intersection of Routes 209 and 52, 20 miles from Route 17. Shortline buses travel to New York City. Metro North’s Port Jervis Line runs between Middletown, 25 miles away, and Hoboken, New Jersey; and Amtrak trains from Penn Station stop at Poughkeepsie, 34 miles away. Ellenville is 28 miles from Stewart International Airport in Newburgh and 90 miles from Albany International Airport. The Joseph Y. Resnick Airport serves private planes.
NEAREST HOSPITAL: Ellenville Regional Hospital is within village limits.
SCHOOLS: Ellenville Central School District serves kindergarten through fifth grade at Ellenville Elementary and grades six through eight at Ellenville Middle School; high school students have the option of Ellenville’s Pathways in Technology (P-TECH) Academy, a grades nine-to-14 option offered at no cost to families. Progressive private options include High Meadow School, serving nursery through eighth grade in Stone Ridge; Oakwood Friends School for grades six to 12 in Poughkeepsie; and Woodstock Day School and the Sudbury School, both serving pre-K through grade 12 in Woodstock. POINTS OF INTEREST: Ellenville Downtown
Photo: Steve Aaron for Ulster County Tourism
With both the Shawangunk Ridge and the Catskill Mountains nearby, Ellenville residents never run out of hiking and rock climbing options.
goods, and ice cream; and Cohen’s Bakery has been been famously making pumpernickel and rye for almost a century. Most years, people flock to Shadowland Stages, a renovated Art Deco gem whose staff is now putting together a lineup of live performances for 2021 while presenting a classic film series online. The Ellenville Library and Museum, repository of local history, began serving patrons curbside this summer. Outdoor activities are big here, and the Shawangunk Mountains offer several options, from the simple charms of the Rail Trail to rock-climbing adventures for the hardiest. Then there’s personal flight—Ellenville is considered the best hang-gliding spot east of the Mississippi, and the folks at Mountain Wings will teach you how. Peaceful marches for racial justice were happening twice a week at press time. “I went to one and it choked me up,” says Campbell. “All these beautiful local children—all races, girls in hijabs, athletes, and they’re all friends. They march around, then sit and talk. They have good role models—this is a community where the lefty radicals and the conservatives sit together in positions of power and get things done. Our police train in verbal judo.”
THE MARKET “The market is extremely hot—it’s almost a frenzy, it’s crazy, like after 9/11,” says Mary Sheeley, a broker with Stoeckeler Realty. However, she adds, “You can still find some pretty good bargains here, but you can’t hesitate, go mull it over and come back Tuesday, because by Tuesday it’ll be gone. Things are gone almost before they hit the market.” As of July, Ellenville still had inexpensive fixer-uppers with good bones; three-bedroom, two-bath houses were available at well under $100,000 for those willing to invest some TLC. Under or around $200,000, you can find updated and/or slightly larger versions. Much of the village’s housing stock consists of older Colonials and saltboxes on half-acre lots, with some of the larger ones divided into multifamily units in the $250,000 to $400,000 range. A five-bedroom, 3,500-square-foot ranch with a great room, cathedral ceilings, and attached two-car garage was being offered for $449,000. But buyers in Ellenville should be wary when it comes to internet services, cautions Sheeley. “The village has free WiFi everywhere now,” she says, “but there are still places in the outskirts with nothing but dial-up. We’re working on it, though.”
Historic District, Cohen’s Bakery, Publik House, Gaby’s Cafe, Arianna’s, Tony & Nick’s, Dominick’s, Sook House, Aroma Thyme Bistro, Barthel’s Farm Market, Peter’s Market, Mountain Wings Hang Gliding, Shadowland Theatre, Historic Hamlet of Cragsmoor, Hunt Memorial Building, Sam’s Point Nature Preserve, Lake Minnewaska, Minnewaska State Park Preserve, Stony Kill Falls, Lake Maratanza, Bear Hill Preserve, Cragsmoor Stone Church, Shawangunk Scenic Byway, Verkeerderkill Falls, Ice Caves, Ellenville Downtown Historic District, Hanging Rock Falls, Ellenville Rail Trail, Lippman Park, Joseph Y. Resnick Airport, Ellenville Regional Hospital, Eastern Correctional Facility, and Ulster Correctional Facility
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COMMU N IT Y S PO T L I G HT
T
he city of Peekskill sits on a picturesque bay near Westchester County’s northern border, at the gateway to the Mid-Hudson Valley, where the Hudson River narrows and mountains rise on either side. But it’s not just the physical valley that begins here. Many of the cultural and social shifts that have come to define the Hudson Valley over the past 20 years took root here first. In the 1990s, Peekskill became the first municipality to invite artists in New York City to move north, taking out ads in art magazines to offer generous incentives and low interest rates for those who wanted to live the SoHo loft lifestyle at a fraction of the SoHo cost of living. By the time businessman Ted Bitter came up from Brooklyn in the late 2000s, there was already a flourishing arts scene underway, and Peekskill’s racial diversity reminded him happily of his former home. But unlike the city that never sleeps, Peekskill went to bed early. “By eight o’clock here, everything was dark and dreary,” Bitter recalls. So Bitter decided to wake things up a bit by opening up the Bean Runner Cafe 13 years ago to bring more coffee and live music. The cafe became one of the harbingers of the next wave of the Hudson Valley renaissance: Peekskill Coffee House had opened across the street a few years earlier, and more live music arrived at the (late, lamented) 20
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Lifting All Boats By Brian PJ Cronin
12 Grapes and the restored Paramount Theater; meanwhile, Peekskill Brewery began making its own beer back when “craft beer” was a novelty as opposed to something every Hudson Valley town brews. “Now,” says Bitter, Peekskill is “alive and kicking, particularly on weekends.” THE SCENE And Peekskill is still buzzing, even as the uncertainty around the COVID-19 crisis is changing the physical and emotional landscapes of many local downtowns. The Bean Runner stayed open in the early days of lockdown but started a “pay-what-you-can” program to feed those who’d lost jobs but felt sheepish about accepting a free meal. Bitter’s wife, Drew Claxton, spearheaded a mask-making campaign, donating masks to first responders and putting out a basket of free masks at the Bean Runner. The Peekskill Rotary Club and Manzer’s Landscape Design & Development teamed up to donate over $45,000 of free meals. Local chef Eric Korn and Louie Lanza, who owns six restaurants in Peekskill, helped spearhead the Million Gallons project, cooking and donating thousands of gallons of soup to those in need. What’s most remarkable about the Million Gallons project is that it began handing out enormous quantities of food in mid-March as
the crisis was just beginning. But it’s fitting for Peekskill, which is always a step ahead. The city has been holding a Juneteenth parade for 10 years now (Bitter himself served as one of the parade’s Grand Marshalls last year). And in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, the longstanding Peekskill branch of the NAACP organized and held one of the first local protests in New York State. And so, on one of this past summer’s first warm weekends, Peekskill was as lively as ever—masked and distant, but lively. The farmers’ market bustled, with a giant dispenser of free hand sanitizer on hand and an elaborate foot-traffic flow plan to keep people happy and moving. Music played from numerous Central and South American restaurants and bodegas. And throughout the city’s warren of streets all the way down to the waterfront, friendly folks were out and about.
Peekskill’s spacious waterfront park is easily accessible from its downtown, and the populace flocks there on weekends for sunning, strolling, exercising, and letting children play.
Photo: Anne Meadows
PEEKSKILL
THE FACTS ZIP CODE: 10566 POPULATION: 24,272 MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME: $55,221 PROXIMITY TO MAJOR CITY: New York City is 41 miles to the south. TRANSPORTATION: Route 9 travels across downtown, and the Bear Mountain Bridge is five miles north. A Metro-North train station sits at the riverfront; the trip to Grand Central takes about an hour and 15 minutes. NEAREST HOSPITALS: Hudson Valley Hospital Center is two miles away in Cortlandt Manor. SCHOOLS: Public school students in Peekskill move through a series of smaller schools containing just a few grades: Woodside School for kindergarten and first grade, Oakside School for grades two to four, Hillcrest for grades four to five, and Peekskill Middle School for grades six to eight before matriculating to Peekskill High School. The city’s private schools are the parochial Assumption School (pre-K to eighth grade) and Ohr Hameir Seminary - Tifereth Israel High School (grades nine to 12, boys only.) POINTS OF INTEREST: Bean Runner Cafe, Peekskill’s waterfront park features several sculptures, including the well-known piece The Golden Mean, a bronze piece with goldleaf details completed in 2012 by Carole A. Feuerman.
Peekskill Coffee House, Gleason’s, the Quiet Man, Birdsall House, Homestyle Desserts Bakery, Taco Dive Bar, Peekskill Brewery, Division Street Grill, PK Blendz Juice Bar, Hudson Creamery, Ruben’s Mexican Cafe, Kathleen’s Tea Room, the Hudson Room, Fin & Brew, Paramount Center for the Arts,
THE MARKET Peekskill’s diversity extends to its housing stock, with apartments and numerous co-ops sharing listings with spacious onefamily houses. Suzanne Welch, an associate broker with Coldwell Banker for 16 years, has watched the market go through many changes. “Ten years ago, it would take over 300 days to sell a home in Peekskill,” she says. But in the last 10 years, “there’s been incredible change” thanks to the Chamber of Commerce, the Business District Committee, and the fact that “you can get a lot of bang for your buck here. We do have a lot of people coming up from the city, and that’s been ongoing. But drastically, in the past three years, there’s been significant change. This is the one market where homes have been going up three percent every year, solid. Some towns they may get flat for a little bit. Peekskill has continued to grow, as have the commercial businesses here. There’s lots of bars and restaurants and whatnot. But days on the market, now it’s 25 days into contract.” The average listing price for a house is around $325,000. “You can get a lot for that. But homes that I’m listing at $330,000 are selling for $400,000. We have low inventory, low interest
rates, and a mass exodus coming out of the city” due to the pandemic, says Welch. “I just put a house on the market about a month ago, we had nine offers, and people are waiving contingencies, they’re waiving appraisals to get the homes. We had nine offers on that; we’re closing soon. Then I put another house on a week later, and it was the same people all making offers again—and better offers with even less contingencies. People want to get out of apartments. They want some space.” Maybe that’s why Peekskill’s co-op and condo prices run lower. At press time, a one-bedroom apartment in a co-op listed for under $100,000, although it’s more common to find them in the $150,000 ballpark. One- or two-bedroom condos were priced at $150,000 to $300,000. Or consider becoming your own landlord: In July, an updated four-family Colonial on the north side of the city listed at $599,900. How about taking one apartment for yourself and renting the other three out to friends and family? You’d certainly be keeping in Peekskill’s spirit: In times past and present, whenever this city is down on its luck, its people look out for one another and help each other weather the storm.
Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Depew Park, Peekskill Riverfront Green, Lincoln Depot Museum, Flat Iron Gallery, Bruised Apple Books, and Blue Mountain Reservation
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| FALL 2020 • 2 1
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H O USE F EAT U RE
Located in a historic neighborhood of Hudson, artists Margaret Saliske and Anthony Thompson’s H-shaped home, featuring dual studios and a central living area, provides a contemporary frame for the surrounding Victorian, Georgian, and Tudor houses. Photo by Dan Karp
Opposite: The bulding’s shape “is governed by the functional requirements of the studios within,” says architect Grigori Fateyev. Unfolded elevation profile study by Fateyev.
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ARTISTS’OASIS A creative couple builds an age-in-place home and studios. By Niva Dorell
O
n one of Hudson’s oldest streets, Margaret Saliske and Anthony Thompson’s house stands tall and far back, behind a fence with a gate covered in clematis vines. The H-shaped, charcoal gray house was designed by architect Grigori Fateyev to be unobtrusive. At night, with the lights off, it disappears almost completely into the dark, but on a sunny day, the sharp-edged, concrete house manages to blend in with, yet stand out among, the surrounding Victorian, Georgian, and Tudor houses. The building is both an art studio and dwelling for its owners, Saliske, a sculptor, and Thompson, an abstract landscape painter. After over 20 years of restoring the 5,000-square-foot, 19th-century Greek Revival house next door, where they raised their daughter and cared for Saliske’s elderly mother, the artists sold their former home and half of the original 1.25-acre plot to build a new house for growing old together on the remaining half of the property. Saliske and Thompson’s chance introduction in 2010 to Fateyev, principal of Hillsdale-based Art Forms Architecture, through their mutual friend, the astrologer A.T. Mann, led to a collaboration with clear parameters. Saliske and Thompson each wanted their own independently functional studio building— standing side by side to form the two parallel lines of the letter H—that would be joined together by a common space—the H’s horizontal middle line; the house also needed to include a handicapped-accessible bathroom and a patio for outdoor dining. Caring for Saliske’s mother influenced their approach to designing a space to accommodate their later years: Saliske is 66 and Thompson is 82. “How you stay in your house when you get older was important to us,” Saliske recalls. “You can’t stay in your home if you can’t get in the shower.” The design process began with the couple showing rough sketches of their ideas to Fateyev, who grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia, and designs art studios, galleries, and museums—“spaces for making art, and spaces for contextualizing, framing, and exhibiting it,” he says. “I see artists as important colleagues, because
they are doing research into questions of spatiality and space, and of course, questioning the human condition, which we [architects] are also doing.” Once the master plan was complete, and community opposition to building a contemporary structure in a historic district was overcome, Thompson’s side of the building was constructed first, and the couple lived there while Saliske’s side was built. “It was great to have him go first,” says Saliske, who had extra time to tweak her design. The entire 2,400-square-foot building, including both studios and the connecting common space, was completed in 2015. “I think artists spend a lot of time imagining their ideal studio,” says Thompson. “Most people never realize it, but we were really lucky. We had ideas, and Grigori made them functional and made them real.” Fateyev built the house using insulating concrete forms, triple-layered insulated glass, radiant concrete floors, and fiberglass window frames to create an airtight house that nearly meets the passive standard. The couple’s heat and electric bill is 20 percent of the cost of heating their old house in winter. Since poured concrete becomes a structural element—the walls support themselves—Fateyev was able to create cutaway windows and entrances. Also, with concrete, Fateyev notes, there is less rotting, mold, and mice, which were problems in the Greek Revival. “You think as an artist you can design your own space, but you really can’t,” Saliske says. “You think that you really know how you want to move through a space, but you don’t understand proportions in relation to yourself all that well. I’m continually so pleased as to how my physical being works in the space—how wide, how high, what the distances are— and it’s so hard for someone who’s not an architect to realize that, even though you’re a visual person.” Thompson wanted a building with indirect sunlight from above, as much windowless wall space as possible, and a distance of 36 feet from the farthest wall—the optimal distance from which to view his artwork. “That distance didn’t have to necessarily be part of his painting space, just a point at which Tony could view his work,” Fateyev recalls.
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Thompson’s large, cube-shaped studio is entered via a kitchenette (one cabinet for dishes, the rest for art supplies) through an eight-foot glass door with an exterior “screen door” of wood slats. Fateyev calculated that skinny northfacing skylights in the 22-foot ceiling would provide the greatest amount of indirect sunlight, so he installed seven two-by-six-foot Velux skylights to filter the light and insulate the room. In the middle of summer, the skylights let in shafts of sunlight; the rest of the year, they allow only indirect light, yet the room remains bright. Being in Thompson’s studio, says Saliske, is “like being in a shoe box with the lid off. It’s an atmosphere of perfect light.” A second-floor loft serves as a storage space for Thompson’s paintings and a guest bedroom, with sanded, sealed plyboard floors that are easy to clean. The bed, with a 36-inch-high guardrail wall behind it, overlooks the studio. On the opposite south-facing wall is a five-bysix-foot window offering views of Olana and Mount Merino on clear winter days. Thompson’s space also contains a full bathroom and a mechanical room. The single-story, 400-square-foot common space, which the couple nicknamed the “DMZ”—demilitarized zone—between the two studios, contains the kitchen and dining area. A north-side outlet to the backyard provides a view of the couple’s old house. Sliding doors on the south side lead to the front yard and a terrace, where Saliske and Thompson dine in the warmer months, gazing over a boxwood hedge at a profusion of perennial flowers and trees, including a Japanese maple, spirea, mock orange, red obelisk beech, ilex, red sunset maple, Japanese lilac, river birch, smoke bush, and Chinese junipers. For her building, Saliske wanted lots of direct sunlight. “I want to feel like I’m living outside and inside at the same time,” she told Fateyev. Since she also does antique restoration and conservation— her commissions include Olana’s interior decorative stencils and a decorative wall painting at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site—she also wanted a wood workshop, a door wide enough to fit furniture, and more windows.
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Saliske and Thompson share a centrally located kitchen and dining space that is topped by a roof terrace accessible from both sides. Photo by Dan Karp
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Fateyev designed Saliske’s building using a general 20-by-20-foot cube as a starting point. Her studio is entered through the DMZ via a 24-inch doorway encased in 10-inch-thick concrete walls. The relative narrowness of this entry, Fateyev explains, emphasizes the intentionality of the passage, making going into Saliske’s high-ceilinged studio feel deliberate and uplifting, like entering a sacred space. To achieve Saliske’s “outside/inside” feeling, Fateyev created a 16-foot glass curtain wall of six windows wrapping around a corner. A four-foot-wide glass door provides additional access to the outdoors and lets Saliske bring in materials; above is a four-by-four-foot Velux accent skylight. The couple’s dog often sits by the windows, watching the birds outside, and Saliske says when she brings her potted plants inside for winter, her studio feels like a jungle. There are woodcutting and polishing machines; and adjacent are a laundry nook and large, white subway-tiled, handicapped-accessible bathroom with glass shower wall. Bamboo stairs lead to a living area, positioned over Saliske’s studio, including a couch, armchairs, and a TV nestled into bookshelves covering a wall. A small writing desk sits beneath a window. A double sliding door separates the living area from Saliske’s bedroom and bathroom, which features a small skylight. The disappearing sliding doors and glass guardrail wall overlooking the studio provide an unobstructed view from the bedroom into the living area and the studio’s massive windows below. An almost imperceptible incline in the ceiling (two inches per foot) allows for water drainage without gutters. Typically, the couple dines and spends evenings together, but during the day, they live in their separate spaces. “We love to visit each other,” Saliske says. “We’ll have lunch in my space and tea in his space. We’ll go in and look at each other’s work and hang out in each other’s spaces. It’s really nice.” While both sides of the building are entered at ground level, only Saliske’s bathroom is fully handicapped accessible. “The plan,” she says, “is that we would eventually reside in my space with Tony’s space being rented.” Her stairway will allow a chair lift to be installed. For Fateyev, Saliske and Thompson being artists was advantageous because they paid extra attention to aesthetic details like the exterior paint color (Evening Dove by Benjamin Moore) and the wood treatment at the back of the house, which Saliske stained. Saliske also designed the dining area’s loveseat, Thompson’s cabinet, and several chairs. However, without an official living room, there’s not much need for furniture; in fact, when a friend asked Saliske, “Where do you entertain?” she laughingly replied, “We don’t entertain.” Saliske and Thompson found the process of working with Fateyev delightful. “It wasn’t like that David Byrne song, ‘This is not my beautiful house,’” Saliske laughs. “Grigori was so much fun to work with because he had no ego. He was willing to try anything.” While Fateyev “created spaces around our needs,” she adds, “as much as I knew what I needed, I could never have imagined that space, and it continues to surprise me.” 28
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This page, from top: Late-afternoon sunlight fills Saliske’s sculpture studio (photo by Scott Benedict); overlapping openings and apertures help to expand the sense of spaciousness in Thompson’s loft. (photo by Paul Rocheleau). Opposite, from top: The artists, who often visit each other during the day, meet for a cup of tea in Thompson’s studio (photo courtesy Margaret Saliske); the loft on Saliske’s side of the house doubles as an office and living area (photo by Dan Karp).
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SP ONS O RED CO N TE N T
WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY A Primer on Basic Styles, Functions, and More
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ew features of a house have as large of an impact on both its function and design as the windows. That’s because every type of window has a distinct role to play, whether that’s for added light, air flow, or ease of use. To help you decode the wide world of window options, we turned to the pros at Marvin and their premier Hudson Valley dealer, Williams Lumber and Home Centers. With multiple locations, including two design centers in Pleasant Valley and Rhinebeck, Williams has been a go-to for home improvement in the Hudson Valley since 1946. Much like Williams, Minnesota-based Marvin was founded as a familyowned and operated lumber company in 1912. At either of the Williams Design Centers, you and your designer, architect, or contractor can work with their experienced associate teams to envision and execute an entire plan for your window installations. The experts at Williams can guide you through Marvin’s three premium product collections—Signature (which includes Ultimate and the new minimal Modern line), Elevate, and Essential—each with its own range of customization options.
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Windows 101 There are many factors to consider when selecting your windows. Understanding how each style functions and the value it can add to your space is a great place to start. Single Hung The single-hung window is the quintessential window type. It’s a clean, classic style that slides up to let air flow in and out through the bottom window. They’re versatile, affordable, and easy to use.
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Double Hung With double-hung windows, the top window also opens independently for fresh air at the both top and bottom levels. Double-hung windows are great for areas where you have enough space and flexibility to easily reach the top. If you prefer the style but don’t have the space, singlehung windows may be more what you’re looking for. Casement Casement windows are hinged on one side and swing inward or outward with a crank or push-out operation. That means you get ample daylight through a single, uninterrupted pane of glass, clean sightlines to the outdoors, and plenty of fresh air. If your home already
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has single or double-hung windows, consider swapping them for casements to reap the benefits above. Sliding Sliding (also known as gliding) windows are a go-to option if you’re looking to save space. They open horizontally, so they’re well suited for tight spaces without a lot of access, like over the kitchen sink.
views and light with three or more windows that form corner angles. Bow windows are similar to bays, but have smooth curves instead of corners and are made up of at least four or more connected windows.
Awning Awning windows are hinged at the top of the frame and like casements, swing outward with a crank or pushout operation. They’re named for their most-used location—tucked under the awnings of your roof so they can bring in a refreshing breeze even in wet weather.
Picture If you have romantic views like a lush garden or mountains in the distance that you’d love to bring to your interior experience, a statement picture window is definitely calling your name. A picture window is a type of fixed window that doesn’t open, but what you trade in access to air flow you get back in expansive views and light. They also pair well with openable windows on either side so you can have the best of both worlds.
Bay and Bow Though known for their cozy interior nooks, bay windows function primarily to open up a room with three-dimensional
You can find examples of all the above window styles on display at the Williams Design Centers in Rhinebeck and Pleasant Valley.
Williams Lumber Can Host Virtual Tours Want the full tour of your window options from the comfort of your home? Ask a Williams Design Center Associate to set up a virtual tour for you so you can efficiently decide on and place your custom Marvin window order remotely. Plus, contact your local Williams Lumber and Home Center to ask how they can host a virtual tour with a Brand Ambassador at Marvin at 7 Tide, Marvin’s brand experience center. You’re welcome to include your architect, contractor, and any other decision-makers. Together, you’ll explore possibilities, visualize your specific designs, and find the right solution to move your project forward quickly and efficiently at Williams Lumber, and as their tagline says, “Nail It Right The First Time!”
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HOUSE FEAT U RE
CALIFORNIA
DREAMING A 19th-century farmhouse offers a modern take on Arts and Crafts style. By Brian PJ Cronin | Photos by Roy Gumpel
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oug Wallingford and Rick Seer only wanted advice on what color to repaint the exterior of their 1880s farmhouse in Gardiner. But the couple enjoyed working with Lillian Thiemann of Vivid Design Studio so much that they asked her if she’d help them remodel the house’s four bathrooms. When Thiemann entered the seemingly typical 1880s farmhouse, her jaw nearly hit the floor. “From the outside, you have no idea that something so magnificent is inside that house,” she says. To step through Wallingford and Seer’s front door is to be transported back in time and space to early-20th-century Pasadena, where the British Arts and Crafts movement was inspired by coastal California’s sunlit forests and clear skies to develop a new regional dialect. The Gardiner house’s commanding mahogany staircase, which features an angled balustrade and is lit from above thanks to an expansive swath of windows on the upstairs landing, is a small-scale riff on the grand staircase in the Gamble House in Pasadena, an Arts and Crafts touchstone designed by Greene and Greene, an influential American architectural firm founded by brothers Charles and Henry Greene. In Wallingford and Seer’s 3,000-square-foot farmhouse, the staircase is complemented by mahogany support beams across the low-slung 32
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ceiling of the adjacent living room, where the original stone fireplace serves as the focal point. Plush leather chairs and Mission furniture accent pieces help create a space evoking a hobbit house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and tucked away just off the Pacific Coast Highway. Standing on the Shoulders of Giants Wallingford and Seer can’t take complete credit for the farmhouse’s Arts and Crafts design. The late real estate magnate Julien Studley bought the clapboard house in the 1990s and, while traveling out West, visited the Gamble House and fell in love with the style. Seeking to redo the Gardiner house in a similar fashion, he found someone perfectly fit for the job: Matthew Bialecki, an architect from Southern California who had recently relocated to New Paltz and was already familiar with the Western Arts and Crafts movement, as well as its British roots and Northeastern vernacular. It was American furniture designer Gustav Stickley who brought the budding movement from England to America, initially to upstate New York, in the early 1900s; he wrote in 1909 that the movement’s aims were “simplicity, durability, fitness for the life that is to be lived in the house and harmony with its natural surroundings”— all principals that the Gardiner farmhouse exemplifies.
Considering Wallingford and Seer’s backgrounds, it’s hard to believe that the house wasn’t designed especially for them. Both men have roots in New York City, where Wallingford worked as a banker for J.P. Morgan Chase and Seer was a theater director. They individually migrated out West, where they met over 20 years ago when Seer began teaching at the University of San Diego. From there, Wallingford transferred to Japan for work, another place where the Arts and Crafts movement took hold, and the couple continued a long-distance relationship until he retired and returned to San Diego, where they married. But at their modern California house, the couple found that their collections of Mission-style, Stickleydesigned, and Japanese furniture, along with the art Wallingford brought back from Japan, never quite fit in. When a Hudson Valley-based friend happened to tour the Gardiner farmhouse soon after Studley put it on the market, he called Wallingford and Seer. The couple had already been discussing eventually relocating to the Hudson Valley, and immediately after seeing the farmhouse, Seer began arranging his early retirement. “We saw this house and thought, ‘Our furniture belongs here,’” says Seer. “It’s also enormously atmospheric. This [living] room, for example, would be wonderful to stage an Agatha Christie play in.”
Opposite: Doug Wallingford and Rick Seer’s carefully landscaped backyard includes a gentle slope between the pond and the farmhouse. This page, from top: Wallingford (left) and Seer have combined Arts and Crafts-style cabinetry with colorful pottery and other items to create a cozy kitchen; the mahogany staircase, with its angled balustrade, is a miniature version of the grand staircase in the famous Arts and Crafts-style Gamble House in Pasadena.
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From left: The stone fireplace is the living room’s focal point; in the hallway leading from the side entrance near the garage, a small nook, designed for displaying flowers, is lit from above.
The Matter of the Bathrooms Speaking of grisly mysteries, there was still the matter of the bathrooms. As Thiemann discovered, they were not done in the same jaw-dropping style as the rest of the house. The walls had been covered by the previous owner in dark gray slate tiles, a style that the couple diplomatically refer to as “modern industrial chic.” Popping a few of the tiles off answered the question of why they had been chosen: The bathroom walls were in need of extensive repair. “Dark tiles hide a multitude of sins,” says Thiemann. Once McMahon’s Contracting Service repaired the walls, Theimann got to work designing bathrooms tying into the rest of the house. In the downstairs powder room, which she figured would get the most foot traffic, a wooden sink with a gold faucet nods to the Arts and Crafts style, and golden tiles seem to float across the floor, making the room glow. The secret, says Theimann, is in the grout. “It’s a light-colored grout, but it has little pieces of yellow metallic, a tiny bit of translucent bling,” she says. “But not so much that it pulls your eye away. It’s almost like a vibration between the tiles, the way the light hits it. That’s what gives it that float effect.” The golden tiles are also used in the backsplash of one of the two upstairs bathrooms, both of which also take advantage of brightly colored tiles and skylights to offset dark wooden cabinets.
All in the Details Light is an essential element in one of the house’s other significant renovations. The dark, luxurious wood tones associated with Arts and Crafts homes is conducive to Southern California’s endless bright summers, but not to dim Hudson Valley winters. Additional lighting fixtures, rimmed with strips of wood in a manner evoking Japanese lanterns, were installed throughout the house to combat shadows and illuminate the intricate level of detail that went into Bialecki’s renovation. Even after two years of living in the house, Wallingford and Seer admit that they still sometimes walk through it like children in a candy shop, amazed at its craftsmanship. In the four upstairs bedrooms, for instance, built-in bureau drawers appear shallow but actually plunge deep into the walls, and intricate woodwork hides all traces of nails or screws. And throughout the house, the ornamentation on the drawer pulls, columns, and doorways continues to surprise, and in one case, confound the couple: A metal wheel that looks like something from an Art Deco bank vault sits on the door to the master bedroom. “It looks like you just turn it, but you don’t,” says Seer. “I tried that the first time we toured the house and ended up accidentally locking myself inside the bedroom.”
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From top: The sunroom features architect Matthew Bialecki’s custom-designed furnishings, which take Arts and Crafts design into the 21st century, along with a sea-colored tiled fireplace reflecting the surrounding outdoors; in the backyard, Wallingford and Seer have designed several intimate outdoor settings; seen from the front yard, the farmhouse looks typical of the 19th-century Hudson Valley, belying its modern interior and Arts and Crafts treasures.
A Modern Twist Downstairs, the furniture that Bialecki custom designed for the sunroom gives Arts and Crafts design a modern twist; so does the sunroom’s stone fireplace, which he decked out with a whimsical mosaic of oceanic-hued tiles. Installing an updated HVAC system has allowed the couple to use the sunroom year round, and the sunroom in turn inspired a redesign for the kitchen/dining area. Like the sunroom, the kitchen and dining spaces employ floor-to-ceiling wraparound windows and soaring skylights to let the outdoors inside, along with an impressive amount of light. The kitchen, which had also been done in “modern industrial chic,” now boasts recessed wooden cabinets and counters accented with tiles in Mediterranean blues and greens, echoing the fireplace tiles in the sunroom. From the kitchen and dining area, the couple and their guests can savor the view of the 30-acre backyard, which runs into 70 acres protected by the Open Space Institute that stretch to the white cliffs of the Shawangunk Mountains and Minnewaska State Park. “We get lots of deer and turkeys and bears on the property,” says Seer. “Compared to downtown San Diego, it’s a lovely shock to the system.” Reclining in a Stickley leather chair in the living room, Wallingford agrees, and adds simply, “We really like the look of the house and its coziness. It’s a really comfortable house for us to be in.” upstate HOUSE
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Varied Vernacular Six Architects Pick Their Favorite Hudson Valley Buildings. By Marie Doyon Homing in on a definitive design vernacular for the Hudson Valley is a near-impossible feat. Buildings here range from pastoral perfection (a la 17th-century Dutch barns) to elegance incarnate (hello, 19th-century village Victorians) to boundary-pushing Modernist meccas (like architect Adam Dayem’s Sleeve House in Taghkanic). But whether your aesthetic is classic or contemporary, there is something for you amidst these rolling hills and riverfront towns. And who better to spot the true gems than architects themselves? We asked five professionals who have designed buildings in the Hudson Valley to pick their favorites. Here’s what they said.
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Rick Alfandre on the SUNY New Paltz Student Union Atrium Rick Alfandre’s focus on “lasting beauty” led him into the sustainability space, where he designs and builds high-performance, environmentally harmonious, and healthy designs in the commercial, industrial, and residential spheres. He designed the LEED Platinum-certified building at 231 Main Street, New Paltz (where his and other offices are located), as well as Emerson Resort & Spa in Mount Tremper. One of Alfandre’s favorite buildings in the Hudson Valley is the Student Union Glass Atrium at his alma mater, SUNY New Paltz, designed by Ikon5. “Originally, I thought the design of the addition to the Student Union was too reminiscent of I. M. Pei’s addition to the Louvre,” he says. “However, the contrast between the 2010 glass building and the adjacent brutalist student union and administration buildings really is enjoyable. The amount of glass feels outside of my design comfort zone or sensibilities. As such, it continues to challenge my thinking about architecture. The building has become iconic.” When asked what building he wished he’d gotten to design, Alfandre points to the SUNY New Paltz Engineering Innovation Hub, which was designed by New York City-based Urbahn Architects and opened in September 2019. “This would have been a great project to work on,” he says. “It is a wonderful addition to the higher education resources in the Hudson Valley.” Alfandre Architecture PC New Paltz | Alfandre.com upstate HOUSE
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Steven Kratchman is drawn to a challenge. Using the source of complexity in a project as its departure point, Kratchman and his firm take a problem-solving approach, whether working on conversions, historic and landmark properties, renovations to occupied buildings, or vertical additions that integrate new structures with old. One of the buildings Kratchman admires in the region is the private home renovation and enlargement in Garrison called the Hudson Highlands residence. “The source of my intrigue is the confluence of professional and personal roots tangled into one structure,” Kratchman says. “Overlooking the Hudson, it is an original farmhouse designed by James Gamble Rogers, a noted Beaux Arts-era architect from approximately 100 years ago. More recently, the farmhouse was reimagined and enlarged by COOKFOX Architects. Before starting my own office over 20 years ago, I trained and learned at two different and well-known firms headquartered in New York City: one included James Gamble Rogers III, the grandson of the noted architect, and the other had Bob Fox. These two firms, Butler Rogers Baskett and Fox & Fowle, had two architectural traditions. This Garrison property also has two visions knitted into one structure making a third, newer vision. The intrigue is a metaphor for my personal career.” Though his firm has primarily focused on residential projects in the Hudson Valley, including over a dozen projects slated for Croton-on-Hudson, where Kratchman lives, he is hoping to move into the commercial space Upstate. In the future, he has his sights set on projects like renovating the Bear Mountain Bridge toll building, converting abandoned train stations into commercial restaurant buildings, and master planning and building out transit-oriented development on the Hudson Line from Croton-on-Hudson north. Steven Kratchman Architect PC Manhattan | Kratchmanarchitect.com
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Photos by Rob Cleary
Steven Kratchman on Hudson Highlands
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Pliskin Architecture takes a contemporary spin on classic design, whether designing a modern farmhouse from the ground up or bringing fresh life into a vintage structure. So, it’s no surprise that principal Barak Pliskin picked the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory as his favorite Hudson Valley building. The adaptive reuse project, managed by Coppola Associates, reimagined a 19th-century industrial building as a multiuse live/work hub, which is home to, among others, youth education arts nonprofit The Art Effect. “It presents an ambitious vision for what a post-industrial Hudson Valley can look like,” Pliskin says. “Between the vibrant incubator for companies and creators, the new residences, and the expansive sustainable initiatives, the project has been a good ambassador for a potential next chapter for the Hudson Valley. The balance of historic preservation and present-day programming has made the project both relevant to the history of the Hudson Valley, and a viable venture for years to come—a valuable precedent as we examine other adaptive reuse projects.” Pliskin Architecture PLLC Manhattan | Panyc.info 42
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Photos by John Garay
Barak Pliskin on the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory
Photos by Iwan Baan
Joshua Pulver on Steven Holl Founded by Joshua Pulver in 2004, A+C embraces clean, modern design with good detailing and interesting materials. A+C has worked on several residential projects in the region that you can glimpse, including the side of a recently completed home in Woodstock at the top of Cannon Circle. Two works-in-progress that you can peep in Rhinebeck are a home on Hilee Road and another on Platt Avenue. When asked what building in the Hudson Valley he admires, Pulver admits that “most of the good modern homes and best design in my opinion are tucked away.” But for publicfacing options, his picks are Steven Holl’s own home and T Space, both in Rhinebeck. “I find [Holl’s] work and use of material very original, lyrical, and holding a consistent thread of investigation over time,” Pulver says. The lesson? “Experimentation is okay!” As far as a building he wishes he’d designed, he cheekily responds, “Olana, but that would require a time machine.” Architecture + Construction, PLLC Manhattan | Apluscny.com
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PART OF THE
FAMILY
Photo credits from top: Robert Rodriguez, Jr.; Robert Rodriguez, Jr.; John Halpern Courtesy of ScenicHudson.org
Jeff Wilkinson on Beacon’s Long Dock Park and Newburgh Jeff Wilkinson’s firm specializes in high-end residential design with an emphasis on placemaking and restoration, including historic masonry renovation. Integrating sustainable design and techniques like timber-frame construction, Wilkinson aims to reduce waste, salvage vintage materials, and showcase area artisans and craftspeople through his work. You can see examples of his design at Dolly’s at Garrison Landing, Mama Roux in Newburgh, and the Beacon Institute. For an architectural education, Wilkinson recommends touring Newburgh’s East End for some “extant gems,” including buildings by Calvert Vaux, Frederick Withers, and Andrew Jackson Downing—plus Downing Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Wilkinson’s absolute favorites, in the Newburgh hamlet of Balmville, are the c.1915 Tudor house at 33 Commonwealth Avenue by Hobart Upjohn and the c.1856 home by Frederick Withers at 469 River Road. He wishes he had gotten the commission for the kayak pavilion at Beacon’s Long Dock, but he thinks the final product is “terrific” and “best viewed from the river.” Jeff Wilkinson, RA Newburgh | Jwra.com
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How do you want to live?
ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIORS
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SPONSORED CONTENT
architect spotlight Profiles of Design Firms Working in the Hudson Valley and Beyond
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uilding or renovating a home may seem like a simple proposition, but it’s easy to get in over your head. Though your personal tastes will influence many of the decisions you’ll make—the location of the property, the size and style of windows, the landscaping, and more—when it comes to the effects of those decisions, a trained eye and a team of experts can provide satisfaction, aesthetic beauty, and safety for decades to come. Whether you’ve got your eye on building or renovating in the Hudson Valley, Catskills, or Berkshires, there is a wealth of design expertise for you to choose from. Depending on your project, a skilled architecture, engineering, or landscaping firm can provide the know-how and vision to create a home that finally feels like it was made just for you. After all, a space designed for your needs that works well for your family and your particular environment is what good design is all about. Though architects and designers of decades’ past may have earned a reputation for enacting their own visions above all else, the work of contemporary design firms is more client-focused than ever before. As a result, the buildings and landscapes
you’ll find in this section reflect the complex synthesis of many variables: artistic vision, technological advances, site consideration, budget constraints, ecological needs, and client lifestyle. However, every firm will still have their individual style, so it’s important to make sure you find a team whose vision matches your dreams. When choosing an expert for your project, consider the firm’s aesthetic point of view through examples of projects past and good old fashioned getting to know them. Whatever your ambitions, there is a solution from the field of professional architecture and design to match. In the pages that follow, you’ll see profiles and work from seven architecture firms, one landscape architecture firm, and one structural engineering firm. The creative teams behind these pages work, live, and play in our region. Their work is increasingly reflected in the small towns and rural landscapes Upstate, from approachable cabins in the Catskills to historic estates near the Hudson River. The projects span everything from the forefront of conceptual design to historic renovations that allow for our contemporary day-to-day, and everything comfortable, sustainable, and beautiful in between.
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architect spotlight
Andre Tchelistcheff architects Where: Rhinebeck and New York City What: New Construction and Renovation for Residential, Commercial, and Hospitality Projects
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t took me years to develop a practice that wasn’t pigeon-holed into a style, like a character actor,” says Andre Tchelistcheff, founder of SoHo-based Andre Tchelistcheff Architects. “The work of my firm spans historic restoration, new classically based designs, and contemporary work.” The child of Russian emigres, Californiaborn Andre grew up in the Middle East and Asia. In addition to the cultural and stylistic fluency these formative years abroad lend to his work, Andre’s professional experiences outside the architecture field have enriched his perspective on design and architecture. After graduating with a Bachelor of Art in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley, Andre worked for five years as a carpenter, giving him a practical, first-hand understanding of building. And after receiving his Masters of Architecture at MIT, he worked with a classically trained decorator, which helped him learn how to create beautiful, livable interiors. “All of my initial plan sketches are illustrated with furnishings, so one understands the scale and can better envision living in the space,” says Andre. A stalwart advocate for hand drawing, he sketches every residential project—from the floor plan and elevation down to the molding details—on paper. “Hand drawing allows for participation. You can sit there with the client and erase and make changes on the spot,” he says. “A house presented in CAD seems so like a finished product, but with a pencil drawing, there is this sense that there is room for input, it’s still malleable.” No matter the project, Andre works collaboratively with clients to extract a vision that meets their needs while being harmonious with the setting. “Context is pretty big to me; that comes from years of living in countries that abandoned their cultural contexts and went for Western Modernist concepts that were inappropriate, in particular environmentally,” he says. “At times there is a discussion about appropriateness; of what may or may not work within a given context. It doesn’t need to be the same, but there should be some sense of continuity or a clearly defined intentional break of context.” Andre Tchelistcheff Architects has a comprehensive concept of context that folds in everything from topography and typology to culture, nature, and climate to create spaces that are encompassing of these aspects yet delightfully individual. Tchelistcheff.com
A modern take for a country kitchen and dining area. Opposite: A new classical country manor estate; a historic Hudson River estate master bathroom, retaining the original wall murals; a Hudson River spa; An 18th-Century farmhouse with a new black concrete pool set into a hill of wild grasses. upstate HOUSE
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architect spotlight
Alexander Gorlin architects Where: New York City What: New Construction, Additions, and Renovations for Residential, Multi-Family, Commercial, and Institutional Projects
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he houses that Alexander Gorlin designs look like they could have always been right where they are, “like they grew out the landscape,” he says. The gently curving zinc rooflines of a house Gorlin built in Nova Scotia, perched on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, emulates the waves that crash against its rocky shore. Each glass and concrete pavilion is angled to frame its own distinct vista: a historic lighthouse, the sea-lanes to Halifax, a World War II Allied bunker. Gorlin, a native of New York City, knew he wanted to be an architect from a young age. “I always built elaborate cities and train sets all over my parents’ apartment,” he says. After graduating from The Cooper Union and Yale, he worked for I. M. Pei for a few years before launching his own firm in 1987. Alexander Gorlin Architects has always specialized in a wide range of projects, but it’s the residences that allow his distinct vision to come to life. In the Rocky Mountains, he found inspiration in the region’s Anasazi stone ruins. The house he designed outside of Denver reimagines the ruins as partially enclosed in glass and terraced up a mountain to help break down its scale. “Even though it’s a large house, it appears intimate and grand at the same time,” he says. In 2012, Gorlin got the opportunity to work on a residential project in Upstate New York, preserving and enhancing a 1784 Dutch stone farmhouse in the Catskills. The historic residence became the centerpiece of a new plan that linked it to the property’s existing barn structures through a series of pavilions—an intimate community of structures that appear as if they grew organically over time. “When you come to a site, there’s an overall view or feeling to it,” he says. “The idea of the house is to focus the view and distill it into a much more intense involvement with the landscape.” When viewed under this lens, the many homes his firm has designed across the country begin to speak the same language, just in nuanced accents that communicate their distinct histories and seasonal changes. “To live in one of my houses is always new and fresh,” Gorlin says. “Even though the house as an object is always the same, the experience is always different.” Gorlinarchitects.com From top: The residence in Leeds, New York, incorporates a community of related buildings, giving the impression of a small country village. Located on a steep, heavily wooded site in the Rocky Mountains, this 8,000-square-foot house extends into the surrounding landscape. The series of angled glass and raw concrete pavilions of the residence in Ketch Harbour, Nova Scotia, captures 360-degree dramatic views. Photos by Peter Aaron. 50
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architect spotlight
Larson Architecture Works PLLC Where: New York City and Pine Plains What: New Construction and Historic Restoration for Residential, Commercial, and Institutional Projects
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eople are looking for something authentic in the Hudson Valley,” says Doug Larson, director of architecture and design for Larson Architecture Works. For Larson, it’s easy to see that we’ve been here before. The late-19th Century Arts and Crafts movement also championed handcrafted products over those produced by industrialized manufacturing. “In response to globalization, we’re experiencing a resurgence of authentic design today,” he says. At the forefront of Larson’s private practice is his experience with teaching structural engineering and architectural history, which is always driving him to consider the historical and cultural context of a place and the power architecture has to add or take away from it. Eventually, it led him Upstate from New York City, where he began unearthing some of the region’s historic buildings and restoring their polish. That was certainly the case for the unassuming Colonial on an old dirt road that he and his wife Victoria renovated in northern Dutchess County. “When we visited friends Upstate, we’d take an atlas with us and map out where we thought the landscape was really beautiful,” Larson says. “I saw right away that the house could be fixed up as it was.” Larson also oversaw the design and restoration of Pine Plains Memorial Hall, which he completed pro bono. Now known as the Stissing Center, the c.1915 building had been abandoned for 30 years by the time it was bought by a community member in 2015. Though there was an opportunity to update the building as a hyper-modern performance space, Larson knew it was important to preserve and highlight the building’s rustic character. The team kept the building’s weathered accents, like the patinated tin ceiling and sections of peeling paint, and updated the central theater layout with a sculptural design made from unfinished, skip-planed white oak. “We didn’t want to make it so polished,” he says. “We wanted to keep some of the simple, agrarian character of the town.” Whether the firm is working on a historic renovation or new construction in a clean contemporary style Upstate or in New York City, consideration of a building’s particular environment always leads the design conversation. “Architects and designers who come in with one design aesthetic are doing it in spite of the place,” Larson says. “We want to design in concert with it instead.” Larsonarchitecture.com Clockwise from top: The central stage at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains. Interior of the Larsons’ home in Dutchess County. The Larsons’ Colonial-style home was updated with a contemporary, open floor plan. Exterior of a residence and retreat in Columbia County. upstate HOUSE
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architect spotlight
richard miller, architect Where: Woodstock What: LEED and Passive House-Certified Sustainable Design for New Construction, Renovation, and Historic Rehabilitation for Residential and Commercial Projects
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ichard Miller has worked on a number of prominent projects across his native Hudson Valley, including Dia:Beacon, Frida’s Bakery and Cafe, Henry’s Restaurant at Buttermilk Falls Inn, Main Course Catering and Marketplace, and the Denizen Theatre. When he started his Upstate practice in 1998, he brought with him the latest environmentally responsible and green design principles, as well as 12 years of experience working in New York City, including six as a project architect at premier preservation firm Beyer Blinder Belle working principally on the rehabilitation of Grand Central Terminal. The product of two artists, Miller split his youth between New York City and the Shawangunk Mountains. As a result, he gained equal exposure to the New York art world, international building design, and the beauty of the natural world. Miller’s upbringing gave him a deep passion for the creative process, which is infused into his work creating innovative design solutions in response to his client’s needs and aesthetics. Miller’s design work and use of materials reflect a sculptural approach. One of his recent residential projects, a weekend cabin in Olivebridge named Kite House, draws on the influences of his father’s steel and bronze sculptures, as well as futuristic design. As with any owner-architect relationship, trust was key to the success of the project. The client wanted the house to be a compact mountain cabin of durable materials on a site where no trees should be cut and that it was to look and feel like an alien spaceship had landed in the woods. Paramount to the entire project, of course, was that it remained on budget. The resulting house is an intimate conversation with its site, where it is nestled among tightly spaced pines “as if it just landed there or is about to take off,” Miller says. “It’s a treehouse-like progression of experience, with the stairs spiraling up three levels through each space to a beautiful 18-foot, cantilevered floating screened porch.” The one-of-a-kind design provides a fresh spatial experience that at every turn transcends the expected. When discussing what has most informed his work, Miller likes to quote the artist Robert Irwin: “Seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees.” Rather than coming to each project with a preconceived idea of a look or a layout, “it is more fulfilling to get to the zeitgeist of the owner’s needs,” he says. “That’s what’s most satisfying in the architect-client experience—the process of working together to create a beautiful project that is the soul of the place and of the client, at generally the same cost to build, with the added design value. When you achieve this cohesiveness, that is the art.” Richardmillerarchitect.com From top: Stony Kill House interior showing the steel and hickory stair design. The living room also acts as a light monitor, bringing natural light to the back of the basement playroom below. Olivebridge Cabin exterior view. The client asked that “the house look as if an alien spaceship were landing in the woods of Upstate New York.” Inset: A 3D computerrendered concept sketch of the Olivebridge Cabin. Night view at the entrance canopy of the Denizen Theatre in New Paltz. Inset: A view of the planted roof above the Denizen Theatre that reduces the heat-island effect and sustainably addresses site runoff. 52
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ART FORMS ARCHITECTURE Grigori Fateyev, RA Principal email: gf@aformsa.com phone: 413.429.5302 instagram: @art_forms_architecture
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architect spotlight
cwb architects Where: New York City What: Custom Homes, New Construction, and Adaptive Reuse for Residential, Commercial, and Institutional Projects
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or CWB Architects principal Brenden Coburn (the “C” in CWB), the idea that architecture should connect you to the world outdoors is a given, something “that good architecture does without making too much of a fuss,” he says. Instead, Coburn believes that the process should primarily be centered around the people you’re designing for. “For us, it’s also about designing rooms that make space for the sort of activity that allows one to relax, to read a book, to daydream, to have a drink, or an intimate conversation with a friend.” That’s exactly the enticing, convivial feeling you get when you see any of the homes the firm has designed. Whether it’s a historic Brooklyn row house or a rustic Upstate getaway, they all have a modern warmth that feels connected to the real people who live there. “Architecture is ultimately about thinking how space works to support a well-lived life,” Coburn says. For many of CWB’s clients from New York City, that means a well-lived rural life, either part or (increasingly) full-time. The firm’s homes in the country, like the romantic, light-filled Bug Acres in Woodstock, balance the needs of rural and urban life and support the emotional work of recharging one’s batteries. The design for Bug Acres, which replaced an existing weekend retreat within the same site, was entirely centered around the owners’ love of the original house’s screened porch. To Coburn, even the simple pleasure of a screened porch could be emphasized and celebrated for the social gathering space it is. The 16-by-24-foot all-cedar screened porch holds a dining room table, couch, two chairs, and a woodstove for use in fall and spring. “The ability to sit and listen to the sound of wind moving through trees, song birds, crows, and the late summer din of cicadas are crucial things to be designed for,” Coburn says. With more people expressing interest in building Upstate—including CWB’s own marketing director and senior project manager Rachael Stollar, who recently relocated to Rhinebeck—there’s ample opportunity for the firm to meet the needs of part and full-time residents alike. After all, with CWB’s emphasis on livable designs customized for every homeowner’s individual habits, hobbies, and entertaining needs, a home of one’s own is exactly what you’ll get. CWBarchitects.com
From top: The screened porch of this Upstate getaway floats over a stream with views towards the sculptural rock outcropping beyond. Interiors by Fearins Welch Interior Design. Photo by Matthew Williams. The vertically stacked windows next to the custom dining table highlight the drama of the surrounding landscape. Interiors by Fearins Welch Interior Design. Photo by Matthew Williams. A new terrace overlooking the Long Island Sound, designed as part of a renovation and extension of an existing home in Darien, CT. Interiors by Fearins Welch Interior Design. Photo by Francis Dzikowski. upstate HOUSE
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architect spotlight
s3 architecture Where: Rhinebeck and New York City What: New Construction Modernist Residences
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ost of the appeal of moving out to the country is a bracing daily dose of the outdoors. The nourishing qualities of the natural world always seem especially poignant for those who grew up in rural spaces and end up spending much of their lives and careers in urban ones. This balance of urban and rural life and respect for the land is at the heart of all the projects from S3 Architecture, co-founded by architect Christopher Dierig and his husband Doug Maxwell, who hail from Kentucky and Texas respectively. The Upstate Modernist collection of homes by S3 is the embodiment of this rusticyet-refined design sensibility—what S3 calls “rural modernism.” The first development, Brooklyn Heights Farm, includes five alluring dwellings located along Brooklyn Heights Road, (so-named by weekenders from the borough) and are designed to both capture and emulate the surrounding beauty of their individual environments. At the Reed House, they took inspiration from the cattails that line the nearby springfed pond, reflecting their forms in the vertical cladding and natural materials. Another of their residences, Vogel House, was named for the Dutch word for “bird,” a reference to the lush meadow fit for taking flight where the home is to be built. In response, S3’s design carries a distinct wing-shaped structure and unique folded roof. Dierig and Maxwell prioritize sustainability, conservation, and preservation with every project they undertake. At Brooklyn Heights Farm, they worked with the Dutchess Land Conservancy to build a sustainable master plan that incorporated limited development and protected open spaces on the 200-plus rolling acres of a former 1800s dairy farm. “When we’re working in such a beautiful area, we really want to respect the land,” says Dierig. To maintain minimal waste and a low-carbon footprint, each project relies on an efficient balance of modular building techniques, sustainably harvested materials, and local teams who craft the finishing elements. Dierig and Maxwell have been working on projects in the Rhinebeck area for a few years, and with a new office and studio space opening right in the center of the village not far from their own recently completed home, their roots are firmly planted in the Hudson Valley. “We love the people and culture here. It’s an incredibly inspiring place to work,” Maxwell says. UpstateModernist.com Vogel House is a client residence to be built in Rhinebeck. Cabana is Dierig and Maxwell’s private residence, which cantilevers over a cliff edge for dramatic forest views. Christopher Dierig and Doug Maxwell at the construction site of Salisbury House on Brooklyn Heights Farm. 56
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architect spotlight
Wagner Hodgson Landscape Architecture Where: Hudson, NY and Burlington, VT What: Landscape Architecture for Residential, Commercial, Municipal, Institutional, and Hospitality
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hen most people think about landscape architecture, they don’t usually think about houses. Instead, they might imagine a wellmanicured college campus or a city park— and understandably so, considering Central Park creators Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux are credited as some of the founders of the profession. Just like a well-designed home needs an architect, however, a well-designed site needs a landscape architect. For the team at Wagner Hodgson Landscape Architecture, a landscape, no matter where, is simply a series of interconnected systems. The role that water, soil, or human-made structures play on any piece of land can have ripple effects for years or decades to come. When the Wagner Hodgson team takes on each new project, whether initiated by an architect or a homeowner, they start by looking at a property holistically to develop a master plan, which maps out the goals for the outdoor space 10 or even 20 years down the road. This future-focused plan will incorporate variables like what the space needs to support healthy tree and plant growth, that future pool you might want to add five years down the road, and even how your topography will weather stormwater movement and drainage. “Most people don’t have the budget to do everything on their wishlist,” says landscape architect and Wagner Hodgson partner Dale Schafer. “The master plan can help you see how to phase projects in over time.” When the team is working on new construction, they can consult with an architect on how to site the house on the land, where to place the driveway, and how other structures should be organized on the site. (The team often brings in a drone to help map out a property’s topography.) After providing a plan, they can also oversee the work of individual contractors, from those hired to create custom masonry features or to curate the plant life in the gardens and around the house. As a team that works so intimately with the land, it’s only natural that they design each space with principles of sustainability in mind. “We try to tread lightly on a site,” says Schafer. “We look at a site as sustainably and ecologically as possible, but we really do it automatically because it’s just in our DNA.” Wagnerhodgson.com
From top: Exterior of the c.1920s main house, Aerie Point, Panton, Vermont. Photo by Jim Westphalen Photography. Terrace and pool, Taconic Retreat, Taghkanic, New York.Photo by Paul Warchol Photography. Terrace made of local Panton stone, Aerie Point, Panton, Vermont. Photo by Jim Westphalen Photography. upstate HOUSE
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architect spotlight
murray engineering Where: New York City and Rhinebeck What: Structural Engineering for New Building Design, Renovations, and Historic Preservation
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s engineers, we’re hired to help architects turn their dreams into reality,” says Robert Murray, a structural and forensic engineer who’s run his own firm since 1998. “Sometimes, an architect comes to us with a creative and complex design idea, and they want us to help them make it work—lots of glass; lots of cantilevers; big, tall spaces. We make challenging projects look easy to build. And if we can find an easy way to build, it can cost less.” Murray Engineering’s projects range across the construction and renovation spectrum, from mid-level high rises in Manhattan to singlefamily residences in the Hudson Valley and the Hamptons. The firm’s portfolio includes work on such iconic spaces as St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Astor Courts in Rhinebeck, the corporate office of Giorgio Armani in Manhattan, and the Maria Mitchell Observatory at Vassar College. “We’re diversified in our work, so everything we do carries over into other projects and makes all of our work stronger,” says Murray. Murray Engineering collaborates with architects, home owners, contractors, and design consultants to devise innovative, cost-effective solutions to engineering problems—including new building design, and rehabilitation and historical preservation. Despite his much-sought-after expertise working on larger commercial, residential, and institutional structures, Robert Murray has a passion for single-family construction. “It doesn’t get engineering attention normally,” says Murray. “No one wants to hire an engineer. Who wants to pay an engineer when you can use that money to buy granite countertops instead?” A well-timed consultation with an engineer, however, can save money upfront and aggravation down the line. “We help people avoid spending money they don’t have to, and help them do it right the first time,” says Murray. “It can be really expensive to fix buildings that leak and don’t perform well.” Or not. Case in point: Murray received a call recently from an anxious homeowner. There were structural issues with the homeowner’s 1962 ranch in Red Hook, and he was concerned that the cost of fixing the house would break the bank after a contractor had quoted him an exorbitant figure. Murray went out to take a look and found that extensive renovations were unnecessary. He explained to the homeowner how his building worked and what was needed to fix it simply and economically. “It’s a real joy to offer a solution to a client who thinks they have to engage in tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of work,” says Murray. “I love to help people spend their money well.” Murray-engineering.com
From top: Restoration of the first indoor pool built in the US in 1902; Rhinebeck. Structural design for a private residence with spectacular Hudson River views; Rhinebeck. upstate HOUSE
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architect spotlight
SLADE architecture Where: Millbrook and New York City What: New Construction for Residential, Commercial, Hospitality, and Institutional Projects
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rchitecture operates on many scales,” says Hayes Slade, principal at Slade Architecture, which she founded with her husband, James, in 2002. “There is the larger planning scale, how you lay out the property; then the piece itself, the building; then the room scale; and the very last is the tactile scale, where the choice of material is a huge concern.” With careful attention to detail, the Slades select materials for their well-crafted visual and physical qualities as well as their durability, using local sources when possible. “We go for timeless in terms of sensibility but also in terms of low maintenance,” Hayes says. “You want to be able to actually live in your house.” The duo splits their time as a firm and as a family between Millbrook and Manhattan, working across typologies. In the Hudson Valley, their projects are primarily in the residential sphere, where they draw from their own upstate living experience to design functional, clean, and soulful homes. “It’s very useful to be in the same situation. There are certain commonalities that you understand by also being up here—the importance of a mudroom, for example,” Hayes says with a chuckle. Observing the topography and environmental specifics of a site over time, the Slades design homes that work in concert with the landscape to passively heat and cool, as well as to block exterior sight lines while preserving outward vistas. “Ideas about privacy are very important in this kind of rural context,” says James. “So we dialogue with the client about how they want to live. You also want the buildings to fit into the landscape in a way that maintains the pastoral quality that we have in this area.” With this focus on conservation and sustainability, the firm has incorporated solar panels and geothermal heating and cooling into several of their residential projects, designing clean, contemporary, organized abodes that will carry their clients into the future. “We really believe that architecture is about the inhabitants and telling a story,” James says. “Architecture is this background that we are all living and working and playing in. It needs to help the relationships thrive in the space.” Sladearch.com Top left and right:A flagship fivestory Mattel store in Shanghai designed for the Barbie fiftieth anniversary, organized around a central Barbie-stair with 800 dolls in the trademark pink. Photos by Iwan Baan. Middle: A Miami apartment brings the feel of the beach and surf inside. Photo by Ken Hayden. Bottom: This Dutchess County residence deploys solar power, geothermal heating, and other conservation strategies. Photo by Tom Sibley. 60
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TWO PHOTOGRAPHERS RESTORE A GOTHIC REVIVAL GEM IN KINGSTON By Mary Angeles Armstrong | Photos by Winona Barton-Ballentine
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as it a preternatural eye for hidden treasure that led Aaron and Sari Ruff to discover their historic home on Kingston’s mansion row? In 2011, after a long housesitting stint in the Berkshires, the two decided to permanently exchange city living for the Hudson Valley’s more relaxed pace. At first, they searched for a rental in both Catskill and Kingston but nothing appealed to them. Then their real estate agent suggested they take a look at a rambling 3,400-square-foot, three-story house that had been sitting vacant for four years. “The first thing that struck me was all the natural light,” Aaron remembers of that first viewing. “I loved the different angles and curves of the various spaces and that none of the floors were on the same plane—it wasn’t a box.” Both Ruffs have a background in photography and each have professions that in some way or another cultivate beauty. Sari Ruff worked for multiple years with an artist’s foundation and Aaron Ruff owns the construction company Stalwart Groupe. It isn’t surprising that the two could see past the home’s ramshackle quality to its past—and its future potential. “I could tell it used to be very beautiful and had been really cared for at some point,” Aaron says. “I felt like it just deserved to have its glory back.” After this initial encounter, the two sat in their car discussing the potential change in their plans. “We 62
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hadn’t really been around Kingston,” says Sari. “And we knew nothing about the neighborhood.” As they sat there, a local walking down the street with a book under his arm stopped to chat. They explained their dilemma and the friendly neighbor ended up taking them to dinner at a local restaurant. They were sold. “We basically bought in Kingston sight unseen,” says Sari Ruff. “But after that, we were game. We’ve been here ever since.” Designed by Calvert Vaux The Ruff family (which welcomed a son soon after moving in) hadn’t just stumbled onto a beauty in the rough, they’d found a distinctive slice of local history. Built in the mid-19th century, the home’s original two-story structure was the first-floor lodging and second story painting studio of Hudson River School artist Jervis McEntee. Designed by his brother-in-law Calvert Vaux, who also collaborated with Frederick Law Olmsted on New York’s Central Park, the studio was the Upstate workspace for the Kingston-born McEntee, who was known for his moody landscape paintings of the Catskills. In 1899, the studio building was purchased and moved from its original Rondout location to West Chestnut Street where subsequent owners built up and around it to create what is now a four-bedroom, two-bath, Gothic Revival masterpiece. Although the
The downstairs dining room was fully refurbished by owners Sari and Aaron Ruff, who replaced the damaged floors with pine floorboards painted to match the original oak upstairs. Opposite, clockwise from top left: Steps lead down from the second-floor landing to painter Jervis McEntee’s original painting studio. The second-floor guest bedroom features wallpaper handprinted to match the home’s original tin tilework throughout the interior. Sari Ruff utilized plain white wallpaper and then a cut block and silver paint to create the effect. Designed by his brother-in-law, Calvert Vaux, Jervis McEntee’s painting studio now looks out over Kingston’s Mansion Row. Born in Kingston’s Rondout area in the early 19th century, McEntee was a member of the Hudson River School of painters, known for his brooding, dark portraits of his native Catskills.
home had some beautiful bones, the Ruffs, who did all the renovations themselves, had their work cut out for them to bring it back to its original splendor. Sitting on a quarter-acre lot, the home is entered via a bluestone walkway and features a raised covered porch. The Ruffs restored the original decorative cornices and square pillars lining the front entrance hall, which also features marble tiled floors. To keep the interiors authentic, the Ruffs “reused as much of the existing trim work as possible and then recreated it when necessary,” explains Sari. From the entrance hall, the home naturally flows around an uncovered central brick chimney, through corniced archways to a living room, dining area, and hallway with access to the kitchen and an office space, separated by a pocket door. The floors downstairs needed to be completely replaced, so the Ruffs used the opportunity to add radiant floor heating and then finished the pine floorboards to match the original wide-plank Douglas fir floors in the rest of the house. To accent the home’s antique flair, they added an eclectic array of chandeliers both downstairs and upstairs, which they found at Zaborski’s Emporium nearby. Directly below the art studio, the home’s kitchen retained the original floors, which were salvageable, but the rest of the space needed a complete update. The Ruffs added new stainless steel appliances and a whiteupstate HOUSE
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tiled backsplash, as well as gray-painted, wooden cabinetry. New butcher block countertops complement an antique slate-topped island in the center of the room. The Ruffs painted the remaining walls white but kept the original wood window and door frames, beams, and trim, and left an exposed brick wall behind the stove. The adjacent downstairs bathroom features a freestanding tub and original exposed wood and brick walls. An Artist’s Restoration A fully rebuilt pine staircase leads from the front hallway to the second-floor landing. Currently, the space houses a large aquarium brimming with colorful tropical fish. From the second-floor landing, steps lead down to Jervis McEntee’s studio. The doubleheight studio retains the original vaulted, exposed wood beam ceilings designed by Vaux, as well as the original floor boards and a blue-and-white-tiled fireplace. Multiple windows wash the space in natural light. Sari added two wrought-iron chandeliers—hand-me-downs from her aunt—to the space and a wall of blue painted bookshelves are filled with the family’s collection of books and personal memorabilia. Like the kitchen, the upstairs master bedroom and bathroom also required a complete remodel. Here, the Ruffs completely replaced the floors, adding radiant heat as they’d done downstairs, and removed multiple interior walls to create one huge space that flows from the second-floor landing to the street-facing front window. At the back of the master suite, the bedroom features many of the eclectic creative touches that signify their blended personal style. “I love finding little things that have their own character and story,” says Aaron. The couple rescued iron inlaid windows from a nearby construction site, transforming them into a headboard for their bed and added two rescued non-working radiators as bedside tables. Through a carved, corniced archway, the master suite’s central space was repurposed as an open bathroom. The Ruffs added a freestanding tub to its center and then utilized storm windows rescued from another construction site to create a separate shower stall in the corner. At the back of the suite, along the streetfacing wall, an open, fully modernized walk-in closet abounds with space and has a washer-dryer. An additional second-floor bedroom features wallpaper handprinted to match the home’s occasional tin ceilings and walls. Off the third-floor landing, the home’s former attic has been fully converted to their son’s hideaway bedroom. Painting the low vaulted ceilings to mimic the night sky, the Ruffs were also able to accentuate the angular cut-outs, ceiling pitch, and beams of the ample, rambling sleep/play room. The dormer windows on all four sides provide expansive views of the yard, as well as the friendly neighborhood that first drew the Ruffs here. While they are sad to leave their diamond, no longer in the rough, the home’s remodel has given both a taste for bringing houses back to past glory. “We both love the feeling of having accomplished something like this,” explains Sari, who after this experience has a new penchant for designing interiors. Aaron has transitioned his citybased construction company to being fully Upstate, and now helps Hudson Valley homeowners restore their own finds. He’s happy with the project as well. “We were able to create a modern living space without destroying the home’s beauty. It’s a mix of old and new, but it still has character. You can still really feel the history.”
From top: The second-floor master bathroom required a gut renovation and total reconceptualization before the Ruffs transformed it into the generous floor-through space it is today. The couple converted the third-floor attic into a bedroom and play space for their son. During the teardown, the family discovered many unusual artifacts leftover from previous generations—including a pair of cufflinks, a printing press block, and an elementary school graduation certificate—plastered between two wall studs. The home’s first-floor kitchen was a part of the original construction. Like most of the home, it required a complete renovation and an updated design. “Even though it’s one home, there are all these different little areas,” says Aaron Ruff. “Creating the separate spaces has been so much fun.” 64
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ON TH E COVER
upstate
REAL ESTATE LISTINGS Houses | Land | Property | Brokers
99 West Chestnut Street, Kingston $ 6 5 0,0 0 0
Photo: Winona Barton-Ballentine
Sarah Elliott Licensed Real Estate Salesperson Halter Associates Realty sarah@halterassociatesrealty.com (845) 514-3628 halterassociatesrealty.com
T
his unique gem, designed by famed Central Park architect Calvert Vaux, sits atop one of the most coveted streets in Kingston. Rescued and reimagined by its current owners, this sensational four-bedroom, two-bathrrom home is an exquisite sanctuary that combines rich original details and modern luxuries, with a charming apartment at ground level that’s perfect for Airbnb or a full-time resident. Large windows and high ceilings allow in tons of natural light. One of the major wow factors of this home is the second-floor den. This portion of the home was originally the studio of Hudson River School artist Jervis McEntee. The structure was relocated intact from nearby to serve as an addition to this home at construction. It is amazing to see this space, which retains its original character, where the renowned artist created many masterpieces. The angles and light of this one-of-a-kind property are delightful. There is also a great bonus space, currently being used as a home gym, but which could also lend itself to many other possibilities. The yard offers a slice of privacy, with a gated driveway; and there are raised garden beds and walkways made of Hutton brick. A Kingston classic!
upstate HOUSE
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INTRODUCING HUGHENDEN WOODS — A WOODSTOCK ESTATE
HALTER ASSOCIATES REALTY: THE SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN LISTED AND SOLD!
There is only one Woodstock, and there is only one g enden Woods. Whatever your needs, this gracious estate is likely to meet or exceed them. Create the ultimate family compound, exclusive corporate getaway or artists retreat. The three stunning homes and a premiere sports complex total 10 bedrooms and 10 baths, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, indoor and outdoor Olympic size swimming pools and a club style bar and lounge—all spread across 23-plus acres comprised of 5 private, wooded parcels with mountain and valley views. This incomparable property has many elegant details at every turn. Offered at $3.999m ont ct ete ntine fo o e det i s t ete c ntine g i co o
POOL
POOL WOODSTOCK
$1,999,000
WOODSTOCK
$1,879,000
WOODSTOCK
$1,495,000
$850,000
WOODSTOCK
$825,000
LAND WOODSTOCK
$895,000
ANCRAM
HALTER ASSOCIATES REALTY: THE SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN LISTED AND SOLD!
SHOKAN
WOODSTOCK
STONE RIDGE MARBLETOWN
$799,000
KERHONKSEN
$449,900
$769,000
SAUGERTIES
GLENFORD
$347,500
WEST HURLEY
SAUGERTIES
KERHONKSEN
www.halterassociatesrealty.com www.halterassociatesrealty.com Woodstock NY Office Woodstock NY Office 3257 Rt 212, Woodstock, NY 12409 3257 Rt 212, Woodstock, NY 12409 6 6 • 845 online at upstatehouse.com [P] 679-2010 [P] 845 679-2010
Kingston NY Office Kingston NY Office 89 N Front St, Kingston, NY 12401 89 N Front St, Kingston, NY 12401 [P] 845 331-3110 [P] 845 331-3110
KINGSTON
$444,000
KERHONKSEN
KINGSTON WOODSTOCK
$269,000
&
Hudson Valley Properties Millbrook Real Estate Serving All Counties in the Mid-Hudson Valley
$3,950,000 | Germantown | 86-Acre Hudson River Estate In the heart of Linlithgo and part of the original Livingston estate, this property looks west with panoramic views of Catskills and majestic Hudson River. 3/4 mile stream for swimming, fishing and canoeing. Highly efficient, geothermal, solar powered house offers low utility costs! Apple orchards, vegetable and flower gardens, trails, pool, movie theater and old fashioned ice house converted into a bar. MLS#391143. George Langa | m: 845.242.6314 | o: 845.677.3525
$2,995,000 | North East | Pleasant View Farm One of the most iconic farms of Dutchess County. Beautiful setting on 260 acres with 360° views. Create your own estate or continue the farming tradition. Main house and farm buildings set back from quiet road. Large pond, mostly gently sloping land, magnificent mountain views; land protected by conservation easements. 10 minutes from Mashomack. MLS#375610. George Langa | m: 845.242.6314 | o: 845.677.3525
$1,900,000 | Union Vale | Country Lifestyle on Killearn Road Built in 1988 and completely remodeled and expanded in 2005. Admire the eat-in kitchen, used by TV master chefs. Open to the kitchen is family room with French doors out to another terrace with porch and attached BBQ area. Principle en suite offers a sumptuous bathroom. There are 3 additional bedrooms and 2 large baths. Large second floor play area/office. Plenty of outdoor entertainment space on 40 acres! MLS#389882. George Langa | m: 845.242.6314 | o: 845.677.3525
$1,595,000 | Wassaic | Lovely Farmhouse Built in 1900 with many updates and a new wing added in last 8 years. Just off of Tower Hill Road, this 5-bedroom, 4-bath house provides an abundance of privacy. Breezeway French doors open to gardens, gunite pool, soccer field, basketball court, beautiful views, paths and seasonal stream. Minutes to the Village of Millbrook, Millerton and Sharon. MLS#382185. George Langa | m: 845.242.6314 | o: 845.677.3525
$1,295,000 | Clinton Corners | Country Living Lovely 1700s farmhouse surrounded by horse barn, paddocks and pond. Rolling meadows and woodlands across 60 plus acres offer endless hacking on horseback, hiking and many other outdoor sports the heart may desire. First floor owner’s suite with fireplace, beamed ceilings, country kitchen and much more to enjoy! Close proximity to Rhinebeck, Millbrook and local polo grounds, and about 90 minutes to NYC. MLS#390191. George Langa | m: 845.242.6314 | o: 845.677.3525
$975,000 | Rhinebeck | Family Compound Rare opportunity to be close to Village, yet feel miles away! Property hosts 2 homes built by same owner/builder. 3-bedroom ranch has family room with stone fireplace, master suite, sunroom and gunite pool, peacefully located above the road. The 2-bedroom residence is located toward the back of the parcel, backing up upon forever protected green space. Open floor plan, full basement and 2-car garage. Plus 24x36 barn. MLS#392760. Brian Woolsey | o: 845.905.8744 | m: 845.797.6720
$875,000 | Kerhonkson | Modern Escape Turn-key contemporary on 2.34 private acres showcases majestic mountain views. This sleek and modern property features open-concept living, modern wet room-style baths and a gorgeous main bedroom suite with direct access to heated inground salt pool and cabana. MLS#20202797. Garrett Morton-Adams | m: 803.38.5549 | o: 845.687.0232
$799,999 | Amenia | 20-Acre Oasis with Mountain Views Updated 3-bedroom home with meandering brook and manicured landscape. Hardwoods, updated baths and granite kitchen with stainless appliances. 2 decks with views. Peaceful getaway, horse farm or land to harvest; endless possibilities. Near many outdoor activities, major routes and trains; just 85 miles to NYC. MLS#392923. John Derevjanik | m: 845.702.4390 | o: 845.473.1650
$340,000 | Town of Poughkeepsie | Sutton Park Updated raised ranch Smart home boasts 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, pool and sunroom with skylights. Updated granite kitchen with gas stove, and ample space and cabinets. Under 10 minutes to Vassar College and 15 minutes to trains make this a commuter’s dream — set in a suburban neighborhood but accessible to city life. MLS#6057438. Jacqueline Walton | m: 646.226.8682 | o: 845.244.2169
BHHSHUDSONVALLEY.COM | BHHSMILLBROOKREALESTATE.COM upstate HOUSE
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Already the No. 1 Team, because we know who really comes first...You Though we launched less than a year ago, the Clement, Brooks & Safier Team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hudson Valley Properties is proud to already be ranked the No. 1 real estate team in Ulster County.* And that’s just the beginning. How’d we do it? A lot of late nights, early mornings, masks and hand sanitizer, plus 75-plus years of collective experience, for starters. But also, as we constantly hear from clients, because in challenging and uncertain times, delivering top results means not just multiple offers or a record price or winning that dream house, but dealing with experienced and dedicated professionals with a proven track record for delivering calm, honest guidance, not hype. As a team, we put that attitude — and the perspective of 8 professionals, not just one — to work for you, every day. Call or text 845.337.0061 to learn more and get the key to your best move yet. * No. 1 ranking based on total residential sales volume, Jan. 1 through July 31, 2020, as recorded by Hudson Valley Catskill Region MLS.
Visit us at www.greathudsonvalleyhomes.com
Meet the Team. Back row: Hayes Clement, Associate Real Estate Broker; John (Jack) Kralik, Associate Real Estate Broker; Robert Airhart, Real Estate Salesperson; Harris Safier, Associate Real Estate Broker; Stephen D. Clark, Real Estate Salesperson. Front row: Donna Brooks, Associate Real Estate Broker; Jamie L. Corts, Real Estate Salesperson, and Patricia Dantzic, Real Estate Salesperson. Not pictured: New team members Stephan Hengst and Jesse Chason.
Great HudsonValley Homes
$1,750,000 | Port Ewen | Rare Hudson Frontage Rare opportunity to own 250-foot+ frontage on the Hudson River (with no railroad track in sight), with a concrete sea wall that cannot be recreated elsewhere. Ramp, 2 lifts, removable floating dock and deep-water access. Roomy, level grass yard for unforgettable entertaining. River views from every spot in the house. MLS#20193316 Harris Safier | m: 914.388.3351 | o: 845.340.1920
$1,100,000 | Napanoch | A Rare Retreat This magical escape offers fresh mountain air, spring-fed water, mesmerizing views and total seclusion on more than 115 acres, just 2 hours from Manhattan. Lovingly created and owned by the same family since 1969, the main house has original hand-hewn beams plus stunning chef’s kitchen with garden and mountain views. MLS#20202947 John Kralik | m: 845.594.6991 | o: 845.340.1920
$715,000 | Red Hook | Charm Plus Income Live in one and rent the other! Cozy, well-maintained 2-bedroom, 1.5-bath raised ranch paired with a classic 1900 3-unit apt building, creating a unique live-work opportunity on a quiet side street right in the village. Detached 3-car garage/barn increases the possibilities. $4,000/month already generated by building at modest rents. MLS#393280 Patricia Dantzic | m: 845.901.7616 | o: 845.340.1920
$620,000 | Kingston | Flexibility Plus Own a piece of history! This 2-house compound on 2.2 acres fronts NY 28 West, just 1.5 miles from the Exit 19 traffic circle, and could be your next home AND your next career. Offices, retail, dining and hospitality, education or daycare, etc. allowed. Owned and meticulously maintained by one live-work family since 1957. MLS#20202463 Hayes Clement | m: 917.568.5226 | o: 845.340.1920
$499,000 | Kingston | Private With Pool Minutes to uptown Kingston and the NYS Thruway, this well-maintained contemporary on 1.44 parklike acres at the end of a cul-de-sac is close to the action but offers remarkable seclusion and privacy, too. House features 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 40-foot den, cathedral ceilings in living room plus inground pool. MLS#20202885 Hayes Clement | m: 917.568.5226 | o: 845.340.1920
$285,000 | Hurley | Rolling Meadows Modern Set in the idyllic but convenient Rolling Meadows community, this 3-bedroom, 2-bath home has a great Mid-Century modern vibe waiting for some vision and TLC. Recent upgrades include the kitchen cabinets, boiler, carpeting and flooring. Corner homesite with large front and back yards. Wraparound porch surrounds living and dining rooms. MLS#20202749 Donna Brooks | m: 845.337.0061 | o: 845.225.9400
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16 HURLEY AVENUE, KINGSTON, NY 12401
Luxury Homes &
Signature Properties
$2,550,000 | Shandaken | Just in Time for Autumn A legacy estate perfect for hosting family, friends or colleagues, “Twin Creeks” raises the bar for luxury living to a level more typical of Vail, Aspen or Jackson Hole. Beautifully situated behind stone pillars at the very end of woodsy Moonhaw Road, the property is surrounded by thousands of acres of forever-wild state forest, with the main buildings nestled between two babbling branches of the picture-worthy Wittenberg Brook. The main house, designed by architect Murray Arnott, blends the grandeur of ancient Alaskan timbers, some 6 feet+ in circumference, with muted elegance and artisan-crafted finishes at every turn, including the 7 principal bedrooms, each with its own en-suite bathroom. The main public floor features a grand gallery that opens dramatically to a lodge-like living and dining room with cathedral ceilings. That space is centered on an epic double-sided stone fireplace and ringed entirely by a wide bluestone terrace offering mountain and water views. A massive gourmet kitchen is supplemented by a second kitchen in the finished basement plus an additional catering kitchen. The property also features a soaring studio building with loft and front porch, reached by crossing a bridge over the brook. Two hours from Manhattan and convenient to Woodstock and ski resorts. MLS#20201043 Hayes Clement | m: 917.568.5226 | o: 845.340.1920
$1,500,000 | Kingston | The Ultimate in “Live-Work” Get a jump-start on your new life in the Hudson Valley with this turn-key complex of 3 unique, renovated buildings already producing big income in the Kingston Rondout, one of the region’s hottest neighborhoods. Right across the street from sailboats docked on the waterfront, and close to restaurants, shops and boat launches, the quarter-acre corner homesite features a trio of stand-alone brick buildings: a former stable and warehouse for the Hunt Brothers Circus, now transformed into a stunning multi-level home with loft-scale openness and a brand new kitchen; a sunny 3-unit apartment building featuring oversized 2-bedroom layouts plus renovated bathrooms and kitchens; and, finally, a cozy smaller house that, inside, looks and feels more like a luxury hotel suite. The buildings share flexible “RT” zoning, ample off-street parking, a lushly landscaped common yard and an inground saline swimming pool graciously enclosed in a walled courtyard where circus horses once slept. The apartment building and the smaller house boast an impressive track record of bookings and revenue from short-term and extended-stay guests, with clear potential for even more. MLS#20202604 Hayes Clement | m: 917.568.5226 | o: 845.340.1920
$850,000 | Gardiner | A Masterful Reconstruction Meticulously rebuilt, stone-by-stone, this 17th-century French Huguenot stone house features the best of old-world charm and details but with modern infrastructure and systems. Deep-silled windows, wide plank hardwood floors, massive fireplaces and exposed hewn beams are the first of many wonderful details in the living and family rooms, with a gracious screened-in porch and bluestone patio overlooking one of the most beautiful mountain range views and clearwater ponds in the Hudson Valley. At the lower level of the house, a 17-foot brick and masonry tunnel leads into a bright bonus room with sliders opening to a stunning and multi-tiered backyard. There’s also a below-grade 2-car garage, another 2-car detached garage and a separate barn. The 4 acres of gently sloped meadows include an amazing, privately-sited pond with water so clear you can see the pond bottom. It comes with swim decks and an old-fashioned rope swing for aquatic fun and leisure. Flexible zoning might also allow a number of commercial opportunities on part of the acreage. Minutes from New Paltz village, this home promises a stylish and easy transition from big-city life even though New York City is just a 90-minute drive away. MLS#20202970 Donna Brooks | m: 845.337.0061 | o: 845.225.9400
GREATHUDSONVALLEYHOMES.COM
upstate HOUSE
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Hudson Hudson Valley Valley Properties Properties Millbrook Real Millbrook Real Estate Estate 23 Fitch Street
When the outside world gets crazy, our homes are our sanctuary. (Some literally so.)
$1,380,000
Striking 1884 Gothic church overlooking the Rondout Creek, neighboring the historic Rondout...where Kingston’s industrial past mixes with charming houses. Once a weaving factory, it was repurposed as a home/studio for the artist who resurrected it. Large main floor, w/ exposed stone walls and lights from the Russian Tea Room, is a combo kitchen, dining and living space, with adjacent private bedroom suite. Upstairs, the large original nave has gorgeous stained glass, Venetian plaster, and vaulted ceiling. Two rooms can be converted to BRs. The renovation was major. New heating & plumbing, new electric, new windows, and new standing-seam metal roof, custom copper and French gutters...the list goes on. Plenty of parking on a large double lot. A stunning & unique property, filled with possibilities.
❚ Tracy Dober 845.399.6715 ❚ Adelia Geiger 845.216.0218
Hudson Valley Modern $1,495,000
A contemporary masterpiece in Copake. Architect designed. Glass walls open onto hardwood decks with lovely views. 2 spacious, light-filled master suites. 2 more BRs share the third BA, which includes a sauna. The Great Room comprises living room, dining, and kitchen with high-end European appliances and fixtures. A suspended wood-burning fireplace in the living room adds warmth and drama. Wideplank flooring thru main level. Large rec room with cork flooring and ample storage. Meticulously maintained.
❚ Joseph Shirk 917.355.6840
Far View
$2,995,000
A gorgeous property with all the attributes you would expect from an elegant country estate. On 14 acres in Hillsdale looking west with iconic mountain vistas proximate to Hudson and the Berkshires. Architecturally renovated and beautifully sited, the house is reached by a drive framed by original stone walls and perennial plantings. High on a hill the luxurious 3 BR/4 BA home overlooks a pond. Updated to the highest caliber with added chef’s kitchen, open plan dining & living area, and library. Light and sunny views from every window as well as from the garden terrace outside. Other amenities include laundry room with ample storage and separate entries. Surrounding areas offer history, farm markets, skiing, and hiking. It’s simply perfect for a buyer seeking safety, security, and a supremely elegant and comfortable country life.
❚ Pamela Belfor 917.734.7142
Tivoli NY • Hudson NY • Catskill NY Rhinebeck NY • Kingston NY 70
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online at upstatehouse.com
garydimauro.com
$3,499,500 | Hamlet of New Hamburg | Distinguished Manor-Style Home $3,499,500 | Hamlet of New Hamburg | Distinguished Manor-Style Home
This home, reminiscent of a traditional country English house, is set on nearly 5 acres of This home, reminiscent of a traditional country English house, is set on nearly 5 acres of bucolic Hudson River front property with a natural spring-fed pond. Hosting 5 bedrooms bucolic Hudson River front property with a natural spring-fed pond. Hosting 5 bedrooms with 4 full and 2 half baths, this home’s well-designed floor plan allows for each interior with 4 full and 2 half baths, this home’s well-designed floor plan allows for each interior living space to flow seamlessly with its exterior vignettes, blending the over 4000 sq.ft. of living space to flow seamlessly with its exterior vignettes, blending the over 4000 sq.ft. of bluestone patio with the main home showcasing iconic Hudson Valley vistas. Completely bluestone patio with the main home showcasing iconic Hudson Valley vistas. Completely renovated to create the feeling of old-world elegance, this home features a multitude of renovated to create the feeling of old-world elegance, this home features a multitude of modern amenities, including gourmet chef’s kitchen with handcrafted walnut cabinetry, modern amenities, including gourmet chef’s kitchen with handcrafted walnut cabinetry, buried inlays and coffered ceilings, plus a private theater on its own level. Luxuriously buried inlays and coffered ceilings, plus a private theater on its own level. Luxuriously built of fine materials like Old Williamsburg brick, tiled roof and custom millwork, every built of fine materials like Old Williamsburg brick, tiled roof and custom millwork, every detail is of the highest craftsmanship. Natural stone is used throughout, with travertine detail is of the highest craftsmanship. Natural stone is used throughout, with travertine flooring and a custom master bath done in Asian statuary marble and mosaics. The flooring and a custom master bath done in Asian statuary marble and mosaics. The prominent turret entrance greets you with floor-to-ceiling windows and a dramatic view prominent turret entrance greets you with floor-to-ceiling windows and a dramatic view of the courtyard and river seen beyond the cathedral-styled foyer. Each room features a of the courtyard and river seen beyond the cathedral-styled foyer. Each room features a pond or river view. Many points of access from the first floor lead to exterior luxuries such pond or river view. Many points of access from the first floor lead to exterior luxuries such as the outdoor dining room, intimate seating areas and pathways to the covered pavilion as the outdoor dining room, intimate seating areas and pathways to the covered pavilion or lower pool terrace with poolhouse, outdoor shower and half bath. The fire circle, wine or lower pool terrace with poolhouse, outdoor shower and half bath. The fire circle, wine nook and finished lower level with 3-car garage area are added surprises. Surrounded by nook and finished lower level with 3-car garage area are added surprises. Surrounded by lush landscaping, this estate is nestled in between densely wooded areas and accessible lush landscaping, this estate is nestled in between densely wooded areas and accessible from the gated entry and long winding driveway, just over 90 minutes from NYC and from the gated entry and long winding driveway, just over 90 minutes from NYC and minutes from the New Hamburg train. Your perfect place to escape! MLS#391228. To minutes from the New Hamburg train. Your perfect place to escape! MLS#391228. To view this property, go to my.matterport.com/show/?m=CRTURWmetDo&mls=1 view this property, go to my.matterport.com/show/?m=CRTURWmetDo&mls=1
Angela Angela Ingham Ingham Real Estate Salesperson Real Estate Salesperson M: 845.416.3845 | O: 845.244.2107 M: 845.416.3845 | O: 845.244.2107 892 Main St, Fishkill, NY 892 Main St, Fishkill, NY aingham@bhhshudsonvalley.com aingham@bhhshudsonvalley.com
WWW.ANGELAINGHAM.COM WWW.ANGELAINGHAM.COM
Sharon Sharon Breslau Breslau Associate Real Estate Broker Associate Real Estate Broker M: 845.901.6978 | O: 845.679.0006 M: 845.901.6978 | O: 845.679.0006 24 Mill Hill Rd, Woodstock, NY 24 Mill Hill Rd, Woodstock, NY sbreslau@bhhshudsonvalley.com sbreslau@bhhshudsonvalley.com Check out my Zillow reviews! Check out my Zillow reviews!
What’s your house worth? What’s your house worth? Know the answer — it’s one of your biggest assets! Know the answer — it’s one of your biggest assets! Let me give you a realistic price opinion in today’s market. Let me give you a realistic price opinion in today’s market. I’ve been a top producer in Ulster County for years (#6 of almost I’ve been a top producer in Ulster County for years (#6 of almost 900 agents in 2019). And, if you are buying, I can guide you 900 agents in 2019). And, if you are buying, I can guide you through the process painlessly and quickly — and we’ll even have through the process painlessly and quickly — and we’ll even have some fun along the way. Call me today at 845.901.6978! some fun along the way. Call me today at 845.901.6978!
Sharon’s Sharon’s Market Market Snapshot Snapshot Glasco Turnpike, Glasco Turnpike, Saugerties, NY Saugerties, NY
Krumville Road Krumville Road Olivebridge, NY Olivebridge, NY
“The Barn on the Pond” “The Barn on the Pond” Unique Airbnb, wedding Unique Airbnb, wedding venue, family getaway. venue, family getaway.
Classic Country Classic Country Farmhouse Farmhouse Newly renovated. Newly renovated.
Multiple offers! Multiple offers! Sold for $1,040,000 Sold for $1,040,000
Multiple offers! Multiple offers! Sold for $468,000 Sold for $468,000
Rose Mtn. Road Rose Mtn. Road Big Indian, NY Big Indian, NY
MacDaniel Road MacDaniel Road Woodstock, NY Woodstock, NY
Astounding Catskill Astounding Catskill Mountain Views Mountain Views Near skiing. Near skiing.
Exquisite Country Exquisite Country Cottage Cottage 4 minutes to V/Woodstock. 4 minutes to V/Woodstock. www.youtube.com/ www.youtube.com/ watch?v=WkiuH2aq-SU watch?v=WkiuH2aq-SU
Multiple offers! Multiple offers! Sold for $580,000 Sold for $580,000
Multiple offers! Multiple offers! Sold for $695,000 Sold for $695,000
WWW.SHARONBRESLAUCREATIVELIVING.COM WWW.SHARONBRESLAUCREATIVELIVING.COM upstate HOUSE
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the
LOCAL EXPERTS
ROMANTIC GRANDEUR
Call/Text Bruce Stalnaker 845-532-7845 Upstate, meet Old-World. This stone gothic revival known by locals as “The House of Seven Gables” is surrounded by Farm Hub farmlands. Just under 5000 square feet of majesty without crossing the pond. Kingston $668,000
DEVELOP WINDHAM
Call/Text Paul Hennessy 201-445-3217 59 unit shovel-ready townhome community on 11.57 acres w/plans & approvals in place. Set between Windham Mtn & Windham Country Club, it’s a rare opportunity to deliver significant inventory where there’s low supply & intense demand. Windham $4,950,000
CATSKILLS A-FRAME
This a-frame & its 6+ acre setting is so perfect, so “Catskills”, it makes our hearts ache. Over 700ft of Coxing Kill Creek frontage, meadows, forest, & stunning views of Mohonk Mtn. Close to Minnewaska for all of your favorite outdoor activities in Upstate, NY. High Falls $349,000
#1
in Homes Sold 2011-2019 *
SET UP YOUR VILLAGE SHOP PRIVATE, TRANQUIL, UNIQUE Call/Text Eric Amaral 845-430-8452 or Lindsay E. Quayle at 845-681-3964 Perched on a stream in the village of Woodstock, this 2360 sqft rustic beauty has a long history of business success (80 years!) 6-10 private offstreet parking spots & in sight of 2 municipal lots. Woodstock $639,000
FEELS LIKE HOME...
Call/Text Angela Lanuto 973-229-6875 It feels like home - this craftsman calls for home-cooked meals, warm conversation, & a whole lot of “togetherness”. 3BD/3BA, renovated kitchen & baths, large den, laundry room, a rocking chair front porch, & a big backyard. 2hrs from NYC. Catskill $335,000
Call/Text Anne Hilton Purvis 845-372-2618 Expansive 360° views & a breathtaking 35 acre property are just the beginning: rolling meadows, swimming pond, & a secret garden. A stunning design brings together the Hudson Valley barn vernacular & a sleek, modern aesthetic. New Paltz $1,900,000
HISTORIC 200 ACRE FARM
Proudly poised on 210 unrestricted acres, this 10BD farmhouse w/original barn, breathtaking views, & 2 ponds, is bordered by the Catskill Preserve. Wedding Venue? Farm? Equestrian center? Catskills B&B? W/no land restrictions, the possibilities here are endless. Windham $999,997
EASY LIVING ON THE HUDSON MOUNTAIN FARMHOUSE Call/Text Allison Morelle 315-335-9809 The gated community of Hudson Pointe is known for its panoramic views of the Hudson & amenities: clubhouse, pool, fitness center, & trails. W/low-tono maintenance, this home is perfect for those looking for an easy, laid-back lifestyle. Poughkeepsie $369,000
Call/Text Lisa Jaeger 518-755-2573 In the midst of the Catskills, is a fresh, modern farmhouse w/6BDs, a custom kitchen, stone fireplace, 2-car garage, sprawling country porch, & a deck w/ impressive Hunter Mtn vistas. To be sold fully furnished w/an outstanding shortterm rental history. Hunter $599,000
LAKEFRONT LIVING
Call/Text Angela Lanuto 973-229-6875 Welcome to Sleepy Hollow Lake, one of the best lakefront communities in the Catskills! Just 2hrs from NYC, this 3BD/2BA home offers great lake frontage w/a dock, & fun community amenities: pools, a beach, tennis courts w/club, campground, nature trails, & more. Coxsackie $269,000
A BUILDER’S DREAM
Call/Text Paul Hennessy 201-445-3217 Surrounded by spectacular mountain views, & just 2 hours from NYC, is this 10 lot single-family subdivision on 5+ acres w/all plans & approvals in place. Housing demand is at a PEAK in Windham. The buyers are here, just waiting for you to build it. Windham $1,850,000
SPACE & PRIVACY, CHECK!
Call/Text Allison Morelle 315-335-9809 Natural privacy & room for all at this airy 2548sqft home. Home highlights include a chef’s dream kitchen, a huge basement, energy efficient siding/ windows, & a large deck overlooking the back yard. 95 mins to Manhattan. Pleasant Valley $370,000
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Catskill 518-625-3360 Kingston 845-331-5357 New Paltz 845-255-0615 Rhinebeck 845-876-4535 Windham 518-734-4200 Woodstock 845-679-2255 *According to the Hudson Valley Catskill Region MLS and Columbia Greene Northern Dutchess MLS. ©2016 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act. Each Office Is Independently Owned And Operated. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker Logo are registered service marks owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.
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VILLAGE GREEN REALTY
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THIS FABULOUS COUNTRY RETREAT
is surrounded by 20 acres. Here are wonderful waterfall views,
WALKABLE TO RHINBECK VILLAGE,
this 3900 SF, 5 BR Greek Revival Farmhouse is exceptional. There are
this 5 BR, 4 bath 1865 Colonial faces south for wonderful light, is
FPL, 3 rm. MBR suite, 2 offices, a huge porch, new paint in & out, &
There’s a library w/FPL, granite K, MBR suite, 2 bay windows, DR,
gigantic bluestone patios, a studio, workshop, & garage w/loft. Inside
front & back stairways, wood floors in every rm., 4 bay windows, a brick
soaring ceilings, & walls of glass. $549,900.
new mechanicals. An architectural gem! $799,000.
is a wonderful mix of old & new w/a granite K, WB floors, 2 FPLS,
ON 2.2 ACRES IN RHINEBECK VILLAGE,
surrounded by huge trees for shade, & has level lawns all around. mud room, & a grand stairway. Special! $1,050,000.
PAUL H A LLENBE CK R E A L E S TAT E , I N C . IN PHASE 3 @ THE GARDENS,
this stylish 2334 SF, 2 BR, 2.5 bath w/den Rhinebeck condo is the
ultimate in care free living. Here are 9 & 10 ft. ceilings a first floor
6 3 7 0 M I LL S T R E E T • R H I N E B E C K , N EW YO R K • 1 2 5 7 2 P H O N E : 8 4 5 - 8 7 6 - 1 6 6 0 • FAX : 8 4 5 - 8 7 6 - 5 9 5 1
MBR suite, fabulous K w/a granite covered island, CA, a FPL, &
wood & ceramic floors. Pool, clubhouse, walking trails, too! $599,000.
9 ACRES W/A POND
IN RHINBECK VILLAGE, one block from the village center, this 4 BR, 1.5 bath, Circa 1858 two story has a large LR & DR w/9 ft. ceilings, a wood burning FPL, an EIK & office down, 4 BRs up + there’s a staircase to the stand-up attic. 2 porches, redone wood floors, exceptional CHARM! $665,000.
PERFECT FOR A LARGE FAMILY, TOTALLY REDONE & PERFECTION, this 5 BR, 2.5 bath Red Hook colonial has this 6 BR, 4.5 bath Contemporary has special spaces for everyone in your family w/ polished wood floors up & down, CA, a FPL, formal DR, LR, & FR, plus there’s a glassed vaulted ceilings, a huge chef ’s K, multiple sunroom. The shaded deck, covered porch, 2 MBR suites, CA, a FPL, + there’s a huge decks, level yard, & 2 car garage complete this 3 car garage w/an unfinished loft above. wonderful picture. $499,900. Dead-end street where it’s quiet. $765,000.
& a location on a dead-end street make this 3 BR, 2 bath home a find. It is especially beautiful, quiet, & private here making for the perfect retreat. CA, a wood burning FPL, a MBR suite, & wood floors, make this immaculate home perfect. Huge bonus rm. you can finish. $429,900.
IN PERFECT CONDITION, LAND OVERLOOKING THE HUDSON PLANNING ON BUILDING? is hard to find. This 12.98 acre parcel is such a unique, stylish, & modern smaller home? this 3 BR, 2.5 bath, 2744 SF Rhinebeck colonial is a rarity. Here are dramatic River & Catskill Close to Rhinebeck Village & on a side road in absolute perfection. Oak floors up & down shine, views. Choose your home site & create the the country, this 1.10 acre parcel is BOHA, is the arts & crafts K has granite counter, there’s mud perfect retreat close to Amtrak & not far level & useable, & is priced to sell. Now may room, formal DR, FR, huge MBR suite w/a walk-in from Rhinebeck Village or hold the land as a be the perfect time to move to the country & closet. On a quiet cul-de-sac, this a perfect place to wonderful investment. $838,000. Rhinebeck is the place to be. $69,900. call home. $595,000.
A GORGEOUS MODERN HOME, this 3 BR, 3 bath Red Hook Contemporary has a completely open K/
DR/LR w/a brand new K w/a quartz covered island. 2 new baths have stylish tile, glass showers, & heated floors. There’s CA, a huge FR, 1300 SF of decking, & a 900 SF garage/studio. WOW! $495,000.
THIS HILLTOP SETTING in Red Hook, 6.2 BOHA acres, is the ultimate in seclusion & is very special because of far reaching views. What a marvelous place to build your new home. The driveway is already here & this setting is QUIET & very beautiful & special. $179,900.
A ONE OF A KIND HOME, this 6 BR, 6.5 bath colonial in Rhinecliff on Hudson is walkable to Amtrak. Here 24 acres ensures total privacy. There’s a guest house, gigantic heated pool, travertine patios, a 900 SF MBR suite, + there’s a very special chef ’s K & wine cellar. $1,495,000.
ARCHITECT DESIGNED, this wonderful Contemporary lake house is sited back on 1.9 private acres & features a full floor Primary bedroom w/ office/studio & bath. There’s a huge K, DR, LR, Den, + a 18 x 23 screened porch. Walk to the lake for fishing, swimming, & boating. What a retreat! $379,900.
w w w. h a l l e n b e c k r e a l e s t a t e . c o m • i n f o @ h a l l e n b e c k r e a l e s t a t e . c o m
WHERE EXPERIENCE AND HARD WORK MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE
upstate HOUSE
| FALL 2020 • 7 3
Savannah Miceli 845-275-9259
David Stokrocki 845-706-4753
Andrew Centrone 585-203-4746
The Barbara Carter Team
Dominick Martorana 914-474-7028
Barbara Carter 845-505-3160
Your resource for residential and commercial Hudson Valley Real Estate
BarbaraCarterTeam.com BarbaraCarterTeam@gmail.com
CENTURY 21 ALLIANCE REALTY GROUP Fine Homes and Estates and Commercial 1136 Route 9, Wappingers Falls, NY | 203 Main Street, New Paltz, NY 74
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PANORAMIC CATSKILL VIEWS WITH SPORTMAN’S CABIN Rare opportunity to own a 40-acre private property with one of the most extraordinary panoramic views of the entire Catskill Mountain range from an attractive offthe-grid solar sportsman’s cabin surrounded by hundreds of wooded acres and accessed by a half-mile artfully curved private road. There are multiple locations where an exceptional residence can be built with views of a lifetime, unhindered by modern intrusions, centered in idyllic Hillsdale, Columbia County… $765,000
VAN RENSSELAER LOWER MANOR HOUSE Descendents from this historic family have owned this remarkable house for over 300 years. Built in stages, the rear stone section was built c. 1685-1715, while the front dates from the late 18th century. Two front parlors have finely carved mantels and other period details abound. Currently a three-family residence, with an 1825 barn, there is great potential for restoration or income, just five minutes to Hudson. On the National Register; tax credits available. On 1.3 acres… $395,000; or with 62 acres… $525,000 76
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GALLERIST’S PLACE Elegant gallery space with twofloor residence above, built in 1892 with oriel windows overlooking Warren Street in the heart of Hudson. Queen Anne architectural beauty has original details, open live/work spaces, four bedrooms and lush rear garden… $1,250,000
18TH CENTURY DUTCH BRICK CENTER HALL Built in 1792 by revolutionary leader Rev. Johannes Schuneman, the unspoiled primitive farmhouse retains original details and character: wide-board flooring, wall paneling, enclosed stairs, fireplaces, wide center hallways on two floors, two parlors, country kitchen, three bedrooms, and two baths. A stone barn was built as a workshop to display and sell antiques for owners Kathleen and Philip Seibel, renowned country antiques dealers. Set on 1.9 acres in Greene County… $395,000
ELEGANT BRICK FEDERAL ON WARREN In the heart of Hudson, this elegant side-hall brick townhouse has spacious bright rooms offering great versatility as a live-in and work space. Ideal for gallery, shop, restaurant, or professional offices plus studio apartment on the ground floor with large charming apartment above.plus spectacular unfinished third floor. Or the whole building can be restored to a beautiful single family residence. Enclosed, private garden and offstreet parking complete this fine property… $995,000
HANDSOME COUNTRY GREEK REVIVAL Once the home of a wealthy family, this 3700 sf center hall house has spacious rooms, high ceilings, Greek moldings, and wide board floors. Fluted Doric columns on wide front porch overlook verdant farmland. Elegant stair hall has plaster medallion, parlors on either side; rear section has keeping room and later kitchen. Upstairs large rooms lend potential for three beautiful suites. Sixacre property includes a four-bay garage and large barn. Needs renovation but has great potential… $345,000
upstate HOUSE
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INDEX O F ADVERT IS ERS INDEX O F A DVERTI S E R S Ace Hardware of Ellenville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Conklin Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Maria Ferguson - River Realty Services, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Adirondack Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Coolabah Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Mid Hudson Home Inspectors LLC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Alexander Gorlin Architects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Corcoran Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Murray Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Alfandre Architecture, PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Country House Realty & Red Cottage Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Ogawa-Depardon Architects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Andre Tchelistcheff Architects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48, 49
CWB Architects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Paul Hallenbeck Real Estate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Architecture + Construction, PLLC / A+C . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Edward Tuck Architect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Art Forms Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Exposures Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Aryeh Siegel Architect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Foster Flooring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Atlantic Custom Homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .back cover
Freestyle Restyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Augustine Landscaping & Nursery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Gary DiMauro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Balzer and Tuck Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Glenn’s Wood Sheds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Barbara Carter Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Halstead Hudson Valley LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Bare Furniture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Halter Associates Realty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Barker Hudson Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside back cover
Herrington’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Beaver Mountain Log Homes, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Hudson Valley Home Source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Peggy Lampman Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Phinney Design Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Richard Miller, AIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Roger Greenwald, AIA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Roman Professional Engineering / Roman Driveways . . .12 S3 Architecture LLC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Shay Builders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Slade Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46, 60 Stevens Property Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Stone Ridge Electric Co., Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Belgrove Appliance, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Janson Scuro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices
Jeff Wilkinson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Sunflower Natural Food Market. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Hudson Valley Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61, 67-69, 71
KD Environmental Consulting Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Thomas Cooper Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Cabinet Designers, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Kimlin Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Tradition at Red Hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Central Hudson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
L Browe Asphalt Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Wagner Hodgson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
CG Stone Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Larson Architecture Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
William Wallace Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Christopher Blair Design+Planning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
LEDspin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Williams Lumber &
Coldwell Banker Village Green Realty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Lynn Gaffney Architect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Home Center. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside front cover, 30, 31
Pittsfield Kinderhook Coxsackie Windham
Chatham
Cairo
GREENE
MA Stockbridge
Hudson
Catskill
COLUMBIA
Hunter
DELAWARE
Lenox
Ghent
MASSACHUSETTS
Fleishmanns Livingston Margaretville
Shandaken Phoenicia
Sheffield
Saugerties Woodstock
Ashokan
Red Hook Millerton Kingston
Rhinebeck
ULSTER
CONNECTICUT
Sharon
Stone Ridge
Liberty
Millbrook
Hyde Park Fallsburg
DUTCHESS
New Paltz
Ellenville
SULLIVAN
Highland
Monticello
Salisbury
Kent
Poughkeepsie
CT
LaGrange
Thompson
Wappingers Falls Pawling Beacon
Newburgh Middletown
Cornwall-on-Hudson
PUTNAM
ORANGE Harriman
Peekskill
Warwick Stony Point New City
M A P O F TH E REG I ON 78
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ROCKLAND Nyack
Yorktown Heights
Croton-on-Hudson
WESTCHESTER Ossining Tarrytown
Danbury
HUDSON VALLEY, BERKSHIRES, CATSKILLS
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| FALL 2020 • 7 9
B AC K PO RCH
Fahari Wambura, owner and founder of Fahari Bazaar. Photo by @foragerco
H
ungering for travel, or at least a touch of the exotic? You may not be able to hop on a plane to Dar es Salaam right now, but thanks to Fahari Wambura, an enterprising importer in Chatham, we in the Hudson Valley can immerse ourselves in the look and feel of fine things from Tanzania, made by some of the very same people you might meet if you could get to the Kitumbini fabric market—that is, if only you had an insider’s knowledge of how to find them once you got there. Wambura developed that knowledge during her time as a writer and editor for Tanzania’s Daily News. “I wrote about a lot of marginalized people, so I was able to build on those relationships,” she says. “One of the wonderful things about doing what I do now is how those relationships have grown. We know each other’s families, we hang out.” The tangible fruits of Wambura’s connections can be found at the boutique Fahari Bazaar in Chatham. For the home, there are fine Kanga and Kitenge prints made in Tanzanian factories and purchased in small batches from the women entrepreneurs of the Kitumbini market; hand-printed and -dyed Batiki; handwoven Iringa basket; hand-sewn cushion covers from the Sasik Women’s Collective in Zanzibar; and vintage rugs sourced at the markets of Marrakech—along with a full line of vibrant, handmade women’s clothing and bags. Wambura emigrated to Manhattan in 2011 with her husband and small child, and a mind filled with ideas of American life gleaned from the movies; then, she says, she “spent the next three years just trying to figure out how to start over. I didn’t know what to do or where to start. I was pregnant with our second child. It was crazy difficult for a while there.”
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Some of the men and women Wambura has been working with since 2015. “All of them are people I knew before starting this business, and our relationship is that of friendship and family more than it is a work one,” says Wambura.
Heading upstate to Columbia County, first for camping trips and then as a permanent move in 2014, Wambura recalls, felt like a return to sanity. “A smaller town, trees, farmers’ markets, animals—it felt a lot more familiar,” she says. “I started to feel like I could find a direction.” During her first autumn in Chatham, her husband and mother-in-law each gave her a sewing machine. “I took it as a sign,” she says. “I kept the one from my mother-in-law and, finally, [the following] January, I watched a video of how to make a tote bag and figured out how to use it.” The tote bags were soon taking over her bedroom; thankfully, they turned out to be very popular at the Hawthorne Valley Farm Store, where she tested their sale, and the flea markets and craft shows she began attending. The next year, she made a buying trip home and returned with the beginnings of Fahari Bazaar firmly in hand. The shop opened in May 2016 and was an immediate hit. “It’s been great,” she says. “I started without high expectations, grand ideas or a lot of capital, just a sewing machine and fabric. I just wanted to carry out a dream I had had for a long time, just follow where it was taking me, and every step is filled with gratitude.” Handpainted Tribal Textiles cushion covers (measuring 18 by 18 inches) are $55. Iringa baskets, woven of sustainably harvested grasses and great for laundry, toys, or storage, start at $80. And you definitely need a pair or two of Kitenge fabric Lazy Pants ($65). —Anne Pyburn Craig FAHARIBAZAAR.COM
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Architectural Masterpiece Clinton Corners | 24 acres | 3+bedrooms, 4 baths | expansive views | landscaped pool | $2.9m
Impeccably Designed Modern Compound
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Woodstock | 4 bedrooms, 4 baths | separate studio | guest house | free standing work space solar; organic garden; generator | $2.25m
Greenville | 22 acres | pastoral, private setting swim pond | 2 bedrooms, 2 baths | $749k
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Historic House with Waterfall
Woodstock | 3 bedrooms, 2 baths quick stroll to village of Woodstock | $750k
Desirable Enclave with Exclusive Access to Wallkill River $849k
Woodstock | 5,000+ sq. ft. | 5.7 Acres 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths | $1.5m
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