The water side of the home is decidedly more modern than its traditional Georgian front facade would let on.
A motor court circles a fountain and drops you off in front of a stately house. Columns and sidelights flank a front door that beckons you into a world steeped in the meticulous details of more romantic times. But as you enter, a series of comfortable and spacious rooms make clear that this home’s story is one of the present.
Once upon a time near Annapolis, there was a wooded six-acre site with jaw-dropping views of the South River. The land was discovered and purchased by Bob and Cindy Riera. Bob, a retired Navy pilot, now works as a defense contractor and Cindy teaches fifth grade. Cindy grew up in a military family before marrying an officer, so the concept of owning a house that she would not ever have to leave was a new experience. “I’ve moved 24 times,” says Cindy, “on the average of once every two and a half years.”
As the Rieras moved, Cindy clipped images out of magazines and catalogs hoping that one day they would be used to design a house from the ground, up. Many years later, her wish was granted. Selecting the site led to choosing a builder and an architect, which led to Marta Hansen, then president of Allbright+Hansen Architects but now practicing as Hansen Architects in Annapolis.
While the interior of the home reflects its traditional Georgian style, it does so with an updated view of functionality.
Hansen’s architectural approach leans to the modern, so when the Rieras came in with their clippings, she was faced with a challenge. “It was ironic because it was one of the first new homes we ever designed,” says Hansen “and all the images she brought me were from restoration magazines.”
The Rieras preferred a traditional style, and because the site was close to the water, environmental restrictions called for a home with a relatively small footprint. The neighborhood caused more complications than anybody anticipated. “We had to design around an eagle’s nest,” says Hansen, “we couldn’t plan any construction for the breeding and nesting season”
The task of executing Hansen’s and Riera’s plans fell to builder Steve Lacey of West River Builders. In order to construct the staircase within inches of an outside wall, Lacey and his crew had to be a little creative. “It was a matter of sequencing,” says Lacey, “we had to open a window to trim the staircase.”Design meetings began in the summer of 1999 and went on for almost two years. The Rieras would sit with Hansen on Saturday mornings while she drew plans, erased them, traced over them, and then drew some more. What eventually emerged was an updated Georgian-style home„a rendition of the “Five Part Colonial” with stylistic antecedents in traditional Maryland houses.
A popular housing configuration in the 1770s, the style is typically broken down into a main house, a detached kitchen and parlor connected by two “hyphens” or breezeways. In colonial times, the kitchen was separated in case of fire and the breezeways helped cool interior spaces.
A stair hall at the front of the home provides more formal connections between spaces.
The design team riffed on the basic model, producing a two-story main house complete with an entry hall, formal dining room, and kitchen. The single-story living room occupies one wing with a breezeway leading towards the guesthouse. The master suite is in another wing with a second hyphen leading towards the garage. By breaking the four-bedroom, five-bathroom, 7,000-square-foot house into interconnected parts, massing was kept to a minimum while green space was maximized.
The wood siding used on the wings complements the brick walls of the main house. Exterior facades were purposely mixed up, creating the effect of an old house that was tastefully added on to over the years. The architect and builder cleverly created this illusion by recreating authentic nuances found in 200-year-old building techniques.
“We used a Flemish-bond brick coursing for the main house that you can find on houses in historical Annapolis,” says Hansen. The basement door was not hidden away but placed right in plain view on the front of the house, because that’s where it would have been in the 18th century. The presumption was that most guests would be arriving by water, so putting the utilitarian door on the street side would make more sense.
The construction lasted two and a half years as the builders worked around the resident eagles and waited for the right stonemason to become available. The homeowners’ lease expired on their rental house, forcing them to move again, this time bunking with Cindy’s parents. But their patience and hardship eventually paid off.
From the foyer, it’s a short walk to the living room where views lead outside to the pool and beyond to the river. “That room is very comfortable,” says Riera, “it’s not real large and it’s not a formal home, we didn’t want it to be formal.”
The living room is separated from the kitchen by a half wall that keeps things open and a column, which keeps real the illusion of an old Georgian-style home.Since the kitchen was designed around the river view, the exterior wall is mostly windows and appliances are arranged along the interior of the room. Upper cabinets were reduced to a minimum to increase window space so natural light could flood the room. To complement the historic style but still be functional for today, the design includes a central kitchen island- stainless steel was used sparingly and traditional colors and decor make it all work.
From the family room, a view through the waterside of the house moves from kitchen to dining room to living room.
One of Cindy’s favorite spaces in the home is a “cutting room” nestled in a rounded corner of the master suite. The cutting room serves as an indoor potting shed, an area where she can indulge in her passion for plants. “It’s my room,” says Cindy, “I love gardening and it gives me a place to work with windows that look out towards the center of the yard.”
Landscape architect Heike Nolker of Annapolis was called in to integrate the new house into the site and make it look like it had always been there. Nolker, who began the job while working for Graham Landscape Architecture and has done subsequent design work for the Rieras after launching her own firm, notes that the job was made more difficult by ancient inhabitants of the land. “In the soil there were layers and layers and layers of oyster shells mixed with clay,” says Nolker, “we think it was an old Indian campground.” Nolker mixed boxwoods, vinca, and other native species including crepe myrtle to create a timeless look that can be seen from every angle of the grounds.
Climbing the stairs in the main house reveals another special design touch-a staircase that cuts across the corner of a window. The effect can be read as another one of those special details that make the house feel older. One aspect of Georgian architecture was often that “geometry and symmetry took precedence over interior function, so we didn’t alter the syncopation of the windows,” says Hansen. In other words, that’s how they would of done it back in the day.
The task of executing Hansen and Riera’s plans fell to builder Steve Lacey of West River Builders. In order to construct the staircase within inches of an outside wall, Lacey and his crew had to be a little creative. “It was a matter of sequencing,” says Lacey, “we had to open a window to trim the staircase.”
The upstairs of the main house holds two bedrooms and a decidedly masculine space-Bob’s study is itself a study in “retired pilot.” “That room should feel like the flight deck,” says Hansen. “It’s in the dead center of the house with a commanding view of the South River.”
The Rieras have two grown children and, like many empty nesters, decided to build their dream home after the kids flew the coop. But the new yet old looking house still sees plenty of gatherings. “It’s open,” says Cindy, “we’ve made it accessible to so many people. There have been meetings, church groups, and entire soccer teams. We like sharing it with other people, that’s what it was meant for.”
Scott Sowers is a frequent conributor to ChesapeakeHome.
Contacts:
Graham Landscape Architecture: grandlandarch.com or 410-269-5886
Hansen Architects, LLC: hansenarchitects.net or 410-349-2202
Heike Nolker: heikenolker.com or 410-267-0701
West River Builders: westriverbuilders.com or 410-867-7494
