Angel’s Welcome

Three steep gables face the street, two set back and one projecting forward over a wing that includes a garage (with doors facing one side as opposed to toward the street), an entry porch, and a guest suite. The entry porch is off-center, accommodating the plan needs and creating an informal break to the symmetry of the triple gables. Other than flat representational columns marking the entry, the facade is simple and unadorned, meeting the clients wishes for a welcoming but modest looking public presentation. The front wing meets the main body of the house at a narrow connection point that contains a stair hall open to both ground and second floor levels. Natural light floods the space from two sides and creates a vertical core for the house that is brightly lit by natural light despite its central location in plan.

From the water the house has a very different character than from the street. The multiple gables form of the street facade is replaced by a singular form more focused on hunkering down than pointing skyward. The roof descends seaward and groundward from a large center hip-roofed mass, over low side wings, and then flares out as it approaches the end walls. Three bay windows sit under an overhanging second floor, its mass bearing down on them as if they were massive columns (or stout legs?). Two round windows placed symmetrically on the facade imply port holes (or eyes?). Sea creatures come to mind (a resting octopus, a swimming stingray?).