Equestrian Estate, Connecticut, Part 1

The Devoted Classicist was raised in a family of horsemen, so he was thrilled at the prospect of making improvements to an equestrian estate in the beautiful rolling hills of the northwest corner of Connecticut, near the village of West Cornwall, Litchfield County.  The first phase of the project had already been completed by the immensely talented interior designer John Saladino who created a New England version of a Palladian stable block, adding-to and altering a complex of barns and sheds.  However, the owners decided to go in another decorative direction before continuing with the rest of the project of improvements for their weekend country house.  They switched to Bunny Williams, noted for her casual but chic expertise in this very type of project, and Bunny brought me in for the architecture to compliment her comprehensive new schemes for the interior design.  Collaborating with Bunny, I designed the the renovation and improvements to the main house and two guest houses, as well as a new swimming pool and adjacent shelter.  The garden design was provided by Nancy McCabe, who lives in the area near Bunny's own country house.  More of this project will be shown in future posts.

My contributions to the stable block complex involved creating staff quarters within the southern shed which also contained the garage and storage for landscape related equipment.  There was very little change to the existing exterior scheme, just a little tweaking with the addition of millwork detailing such as the pilasters framing the arched opening as shown added in the two photos above.  The granite trough, cobblestone  paving, and the distant dovecote were existing prior to my participation.

All these photos by Peter Aaron/Esto were originally published in the New York Times Magazine with later collage additions to the first two views by John Tackett Design.  The third view is a reverse of reality, however, for those trying to get their bearings.