A few years ago I was lucky to have several visits to Skylands, a large home built on Mount Desert Island, Maine. Origianlly built by Edsel Ford in the 1920's and now owned by Martha Stewart, it is the epitome of excellent design using local materials, well planned siting and charming landscape. Although Ms. Stewart has done much with the house, including the creation of original garden elements that had never been built, most of the accolades go to architect Duncan Chandler and landscape designer Jens Jensen. The most striking effect (at least to me) is that the house wasn't placed at the highest point on it's sixty acres. Instead it was placed into the hillside by blasting ledge to accommodate the house, while at the same time helping supply the granite that forms the shell. Had the home been placed at the top, approximately thirty feet higher than it's present site, it would afford a better view, however, it also would have been visible from many vantage points in town or from the water. It would have marred the bucolic element that has made the area so famous. This was, it appears, a conscience decision to sacrifice the better ocean view for a greater aesthetic.
The nestling of the house into the carved hillside allows for a coziness that would normally be hard to achive for such a large house. It's seldom that I can't find something to critique, but as I look over all of my photos from those visits I'm still stymied to find a shortcoming. Granted there was a great deal of capital used to produce this elegant edifice, but it's more about what we can take away to find use in our own more modest circumstances.
Entry
View from the highest point looking out over Skylands
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