A finely detailed dogtrot provides indoor/outdoor access to all parts of this Hudson Valley compound. Swinging barn doors open up both ends of the breezeway to flanking courtyards, but the space also provides sheltered entry into the main house and guest wing. Architect John Tittmann devised this passageway as the home's focal point because of its crucial location and the experience it offers. “The house embraces the arrival court and conceals the view of the Catskills beyond,” he says. “But when you arrive at the entry tower, two sets of double doors create a sense of opening up through a portal to views of the mountains.”

Tittmann speced red board-and-batten siding and placed a guest bedroom above the breezeway to create the attention-getting entry tower. The barn look is continued inside, where raw wood floors and painted wainscot generate the atmosphere of an upscale stable. Wrought iron hardware, rustic light fixtures, and a half wall topped by steel rods to mimic a stall door propagate the theme. Such consistency of quiet detailing garnered high praise from the judges, one of whom said the space was simply “lovely.”
—Shelley D. Hutchins

Entrant/Architect: Albert, Righter & Tittmann Architects, Boston; Builder: Clifton, Nelson & Sons, Ghent, N.Y.; Project size: 252 square feet; Construction cost: Withheld; Photographer: Robert Benson.

Product Resources
Fireplace: Rumford; Geothermal systems: George Merrmann; Solar systems: Solar Works.