The Slow Reveal

Understatement is the key to a house in the Berkshires.

text by: Nancy A. Ruhling

June 1, 2006

On the drive up to the house, along the long, winding just-big-enough-for-one-car road, the American Shingle–style manor, set atop a verdant hill in the Berkshires, plays peek-a-boo. The emerald canopy of maples, oaks and evergreens allows a bit of red cedar shake here, a sliver of soaring roofline there—just enough to entice visitors.

Top: Hidden within the greenery of the Berkshires is a family’s Shingle-style getaway built b Gorman Richardson Architects and designed by Mark Christofi. A side elevation features a screen porch that leads to the pool, surrounded by outdoor furniture from DelGreco & Co. Bottom: Vintage barn boards and antique rugs set the tone in the entrance hall, as does an 18th-century weathervane that reflects the owners’ love of horses. (Click images to enlarge)

But the whole compound never reveals itself from the road, where the crisp crunch of tires on crushed stone is all that announces your arrival. It is only when you are right on top of it that you see it in all its grandeur, and that is just the way the owners planned their secluded weekend retreat. "This house definitely is off the beaten path," says interior designer Mark Christofi, who is based in North Reading, Mass. "And it fits in beautifully in this wonderful, picturesque old New England town. Nobody even knows that it is here—it really belongs in this wilderness."

Top: A recess in the foyer leading to the master bedroom holds an antique oil painting and a 19th-century American Aesthetic Movement ebonized cabinet. Bottom: In keeping with the house’s Americana roots, the designer incorporated an 18th-century-style games table into an area of the living room, where the couple assembles their custom jigsaw puzzles. At rear is a dining area and built-in cabinetry. (Click images to enlarge)

That the 8,500-square-foot home, along with its guesthouse, poolhouse and cabana, is all but invisible does not mean that it is solitary. "They are gracious people," Christofi says of the owners, who are retired and have two grown sons. "Their motto is, ‘The more the merrier,’ and this is where they come when they want to be with family and friends. This is definitely a house for entertaining. They are munificent benefactors of Tanglewood [Music Center], so they do everything from holding small, casual dinner parties for eight to black-tie cocktails for hundreds."

Top: Christofi designed the painted-pine, American-pinwheel-theme table in the breakfast room to complement a Richard Mulligan chandelier and new spindle-back chairs. Bottom: Cedar shake walls and rattan furniture allow for a pared-down feel in the screened porch, used for dining and relaxation. Accents such as the fireplace’s antique iron horse from a local shop reference the equestrian lifestyle that the owners enjoy at their other home outside Boston. (Click images to enlarge)

But what they like to do most is get away from it all. While they might take in a concert at Tanglewood, which is a stone’s throw away, or meander through the town on a Sunday afternoon, they are happy sitting by the fireside putting together jigsaw puzzles, snuggling up in a window seat with a good book or lounging poolside. When they have company, after drinks at the bar, which overlooks the pool, the couple and their guests are likely to end up in the billiards room, which is appointed with an elaborate mid-19th-century pool table, or they may decide to take in a movie in their home theater, whose lounge chairs seat 14. "One of their favorite spots is the fountain behind the poolhouse," Christofi says. "It is so serene to hear the water trickling through the rocks that you can spend hours there."

Top: Authentic billiards cloth envelops the billiards room, which plays host to a mid-19th-century carved pool table. Middle: The home theater seats 14. Adorning the reclining chairs is a cloth covered in stars—a common motif on American quilts. Bottom: A casual yet luxurious theme runs through the living room, where a distressed leather sofa is paired with a Rose Tarlow coffee table that extends to hold books. Christofi, who designed the rug for Stark Carpet, added whimsical touches such as a wing chair and a seating group covered in a plaid. (Click images to enlarge)

Christofi translated his mandate—to make the three-story manor comfortable, practical and easy to live in—by designing spaces that have a "clean Arts and Crafts approach with touches of Americana and that speak to who the owners are."

The woodwork is quarter-sawn oak, the living room floors are made of vintage barn planks, complete with old nail and burn holes, and the two fireplaces are made of fieldstone. Stained-glass windows are themed around nature. Horse motifs—including the 18th-century weathervane in the entrance hall, the iron mare that prances across the sunroom’s fireplace, on the fabric that covers the library footstool and window seat and the embroidery that decorates the terrycloth skirt of a bathroom slipper chair—pay homage to the stables the couple maintains on their more formal American Colonial estate in suburban Boston.

Mark Christofi
978.664.8354
www.christofiinteriors.com

Gorman Richardson Architects
508.497.2590
www.gra.net



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