Overlooking the expanse of Lake Champlain and located in the 19th-century town of Essex, this 1,200-square-foot house for a writer is sited on a former nail factory foundation. (The owner has gathered over the years a collection of square-head 19th-century nails from the site.)
Inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, the house’s windows correspond to the 24 chapters of that epic poem and are organized to project “Fingers of Light” into the interior volume. The main northeast wall has 14 windows and the southeast and southwest walls contain five windows, while the northwest wall has none.
The largely open interior ascends counter-clockwise through a series of spaces pierced by the light of the windows. A “prow” thrust toward Lake Champlain completes this upward spiral of space. White plaster walls, hickory floors, and cartridge brass siding nailed in pattern over a wood frame create a tactile weathering for this structure—a poetic reinterpretation of the industrial history of the site and of the pre-Civil War architecture of Essex.
Steven Holl (design architect)
Stephen O'Dell (project architect)
