Homestead visions
A working farm looks more like this, spare and pragmatic. The screened porch becomes a dining room in the summer heat. Notice outbuildings have been built on piers, ready to move if necessary.
The remarkable qualities of Mike Connor's new houses are apparent at every scale and down to the smallest detail. His intention has been to follow historic precedent and benefit from the wisdom of generations.
Farmhouses often have a strong presence to lay claim to the land, and many face the south sun. New ones, today, are designed so the garages and outbuildings contrast, or appear to be later additions.
An attached garage would not fit the image of a pre-1910 farmhouse. Often a "carriage house" like this is built close to the house with a breezeway connection.
Cupola on car barn is a key feature to identify the type and accentuate vertical proportions. Since the cupola is a nonessential element, it can be vulnerable to budget-cuts. Resist the temptation.
This new farm was built all at once, but appears to have evolved. Story line is the stone cottage came first, next the 5 bay house with hyphen to stone cottage, and last, addition to the right. This provided enough interior space while retaining the scale of its historic model.
The five bay centerpiece is the most elegant portion of house and was intended to reflect the most prosperous era of farming where the house is located.
We sense the interior of this house as an extension of the land, rising as the contours do outside.
Restorations and additions to an 18th c. farm show the beauty of working within a historic building tradition. Everything fits and ages well together.
This new "farmhouse style" design is intended to recall California, ca. 1900, with board and batten siding, 4-lite windows, plank shutters, corrugated steel roofing and exposed rafter tails.
Here, the accessory buildings have been placed to create a coherent grouping. The barn closes a long vista--our eyes are drawn to it by the ramp and tall doors.
A closer view of the barn shows the arc of a stone wall that encloses the horse paddock and gives shape to outdoor space.
New outbuildings rise with the slope behind a historic farmhouse, and become a compound. They form a series of steps to an early stone barn.
Stone barn was given a new board and batten addition, improving its utility while visually connecting it to the other additions.
Stewardship of the natural world is a value born of experience. Wow! This is where eggs come from.
Q