Decades later, Modern Cape escape gets touches designer intended
“For all intents and purposes, this was not buildable land,” says architect Joy Cuming, standing in a house perched atop a bluff on a tiny lot overlooking Wellfleet Harbor and Cape Cod Bay beyond. Design New England tours.
“For all intents and purposes, this was not buildable land,” says architect Joy Cuming, standing in a house perched atop a bluff on a tiny lot overlooking Wellfleet Harbor and Cape Cod Bay beyond. Twenty-two years ago, while working for Modernist architect Alan Dodge, she had drawn the preliminary plans for the house, which because of its location was restricted to a 900-square-foot base. The program stipulated a structure that parallels the slope of the coastal bank using a series of cantilevered roof volumes, tapered and battered walls, and lots of complex angles. Although the aesthetic raised eyebrows at the time, great care was taken to ensure the building fit in with its natural surroundings.
However, the original client never fully realized the interior plans for the 2,570-square-foot house, which spans multiple levels, and a subsequent owner made changes that further departed from the initial design. The current owners, a husband and wife, both lawyers, fell in love with the stunning location and purchased the house six years ago. The couple, whose primary residence is in Chevy Chase, Maryland, had for years rented homes on the Cape, where they vacationed with their two children, who are now in their 20s. They knew the house would need an overhaul if it was going to be the getaway they envisioned.
The couple’s research into local craftspeople and the history of the house led them to Cuming, who opened her own practice in 1997, now called Aline Architecture, in Orleans, Massachusetts. She relished the opportunity to revisit the project and amend what she calls the “design compromises” that had been made over the years. “A lot of love went into it,” says Cuming, who remained close with Dodge until his death in October 2017. “It was really nice to be asked to come back and work on it.”
The couple also brought in senior designer and sales manager Rosemary Porto and her team at Poggenpohl Boston to reconfigure the kitchen and install new cabinetry and appliances around tricky multiple wall surfaces. They cleverly fit a microwave and wall oven under a set of stairs that lead to a loft and brought in new honed black granite countertops with a leather finish.
Above the kitchen, the loft — originally a catwalk-like artist’s studio — went from 210 square feet to 297 by extending the floor. The narrow, rickety stairs that led up to the space were replaced with a sturdy, twisting staircase. The space, which the owners use as an office, is enclosed by a half wall and a full-size glass door, which means it still has views to the living area below, where white structural columns, which taper at the top, seem like trees in a forest.
Horizontal and vertical lines cut throughout the interior, playing with solids and voids to create a series of interlocking shapes. Windows placed at unexpected heights and meeting at several corners let in what Cuming calls “bands of light.” Everywhere, sightlines lead to the extraordinary seascapes and vegetation outside. Although the house sits close to the street, there is a pronounced sense of privacy.
“You have this feeling of being in the forest looking in one direction,” says the wife, “and being on a boat in the other.” With tidal changes, views are altered constantly and dramatically. “There’s not another site like this,” says Cuming.
In the living area, original cerused-oak built-in sofas flank a tinted-green concrete fireplace surround installed by Wellfleet sculptor Derek Oliver during an earlier renovation. Too-bright white walls were repainted a less glossy, more relaxed shade of white.
Overhauling concrete floors in the kitchen, living areas, and master bedroom was an essential but difficult undertaking. Because the floors were imprinted with a geometric pattern integral to the original design, all agreed they needed to stay. But shortly after the house was built, Cuming and colleagues were called back to change them from terra cotta to black. With no commercial options available at the time, their creative solution was to use shoe polish and wax.
The resulting stain was partly effective, but the current owners wanted a more sophisticated look. To “tackle this monster of a floor,” says Todd LaBarge of TA LaBarge Inc. in Wellfleet, engineer and builder on the project, his team ground down the surface one-eighth of an inch, then used Elite Crete black stain to polish and finish the floors.
A short flight of stairs leads from the living area down to a reconfigured laundry and half bath. A few more steps lead down to the master suite, where LaBarge fashioned a built-in bed, side tables, and chests of drawers, all fitted around the existing angles. “The idea of built-in furniture was very much part of the original house,” says Cuming. The result is modern, subtle, and practical.
“This was really designed to be like a prow of a ship,” says the architect, looking up from the master suite into the living area, which imparts the sense of peering up at a boat’s bridge. Turning to gaze out the window furthers the perception of floating on water. An 8-by-8-foot screened porch off the master suite offers a perch with bird’s-eye views.
A frosted-glass door and partial-height wall separate the master bedroom from the master bath. The doorway was moved to accommodate a linen closet, add breathing room, and use “every square inch without losing the geometry,” says Cuming.
On the lower level, two bedrooms, a bath, and a bonus room were upgraded with built-in furniture and new flooring. Plywood around a staircase was replaced with steel rod balusters for an open look. They enlarged the bathroom and installed a new tub and separate shower, a custom teak vanity, and aqua-tone tiles.
Although elements of the initial 1990s project were changed, Cuming feels that previous design concessions have been corrected and that the house is finally complete, which is also a tribute to her former boss and friend, Alan Dodge.
“This was a great opportunity to fine-tune the structure,” says Cuming. “It’s actually more true to the original design now.”
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