REMARKABLE – AUGUST 2008

By Joshua Bodwell

Photography Trent Bell

An austere seaside beauty is restored on Goose Rocks Beach

Kennebunkport’s Goose Rocks Beach is a rare three-mile stretch of multiple white-sand crescents. Each curve of the beach feels like its own private sanctuary, an encapsulated microcosm of summer. Salt scents the breeze, along with a touch of sea rose, and gulls float in the light wind, coasting in place before swooping down to snatch bits of bread tossed by a child.

This is the land of leisure.

In the early 1880s, goes neighborhood lore, a few local farmers built a row of humble summer cottages right on the edge of Goose Rocks Beach that later came to be known as the “Three Sisters.” When a devastating forest fire swept through Kennebunk and Kennebunkport in 1947, it destroyed countless homes—but not the three cottages. Last year, one lucky sister got an extensive facelift.

On a stretch of the coast where even a postage-stamp-size lot is coveted, the cottage’s slim profile makes the modest property feel spacious. “It can be fairly cheek by jowl along the beach,” says architect Stephen Blatt of Stephen Blatt Architects in Portland. “But the profile of this home is so captivating that there appears to be no one else around. There is an undecorated singularity to it.”

Blatt remembers the original cottage as “stark” and “extraordinary simple,” before he settles on the perfect adjective: austere. His renovation design has enhanced that Yankee austerity. “Preserving the view of the home from the road was crucial to the homeowner,” says Blatt. While the house was raised three feet to conform with zoning regulations, the move only added to the dwelling’s regal appearance.

Blatt’s intentional use of only a few fine materials keeps attention focused on the home’s exterior lines and the ocean view beyond. Already aging toward gray, the weathered cedar shingles resemble the jumble of granite piled in the front yard to keep the tides at bay. The white trim blends into the porch’s bright-white beadboard ceiling and pairs beautifully with the 550 square feet of ipê decking, made of an extremely dense Brazilian hardwood that takes on a lustrous, silvery patina as it ages.

Inside, the home’s small footprint—just 1,650 square feet—feels cozy and practical. The kitchen is inviting, and the main living spaces, such as the living/dining room and master bedroom, showcase the home’s raison d’etre: the beach. Everything—from design to layout to furnishing to color—feels just right. “We try to make all of our buildings—whether they are homes, offices, or schools—feel legible,” says Blatt, “by which I mean, they feel right and they tell you how to use them…they lead you through.”

With wide-pine floors and extensive horizontal wood boarding on the walls, the interior is seaside-cottage-meets-farmhouse. Interior designer Patricia Fortunato, of Falmouth’s Simply Home, brought a reserved but creative touch to the project. “I started with the soft, natural palette,” says Fortunato, who then added details such as sand-colored granite kitchen counters to echo the beach, which were balanced with sturdy, farm-inspired light fixtures over the sink.

Perhaps Fortunato’s most inspired addition involved softening the home’s only remotely modern feature: a large triangle of windows on the third floor. “That shape in this setting prompted me to research sails,” say Fortunato, who then designed and fashioned elaborate curtains from sailcloth. “With the nautical theme in mind, it just made sense,” she says. “The sails bring the contemporary window shape back to the beach.”

“That attic is now like the gem at the end of the climb,” says Blatt. “But a huge amount of this project’s success lies with the contractor; the quality of the work throughout the home is fastidious.”

With offices just down the road from the cottage, Shoreline Builders calls Goose Rocks Beach it’s backyard. The family-run business has been tackling projects up and down the Southern Maine coastline since 1989. “I joke that we’re rebuilding this whole beach one house at a time,” says Jonathan Trudo, son of the company’s founder, Fred Trudo. While the elder Trudo started in the business at age 17, his children did not get such a late start. “I was on the roof with him at 2 years old,” laughs Jonathan.

Over the past two decades, Shoreline has remodeled several Goose Rocks homes more than once. Years ago, Jonathan executed foundation and roof work on this same cottage for a previous owner.

While the home’s interior shares the restraint of the exterior, the craftsmanship raises the level of sophistication. The details—such as the hidden television cabinet over the fireplace and the lighthouse newel post designed by Fortunato—have been executed with a fine touch, yet all have a timeless solidity to them.

Outside, the silky ipê decking required extra care and patience when Shoreline Builders installed it, but the luxurious results speak from themselves.

From the porch, a sliver of Timber Island can be seen rising up on the left. To the right, the view encompasses Cape Porpoise and the Kennebunkport coastline. The only thing straight ahead is the blue, undulating expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. The waves are ceaseless, each one washing away life’s anxieties as you stare out from an Adirondack chair on the porch. When an unexpected summer fog blows in and obscures the picture, you can still hear the waves lapping at the shore and the intermittent drone of the Goat Island Light horn carrying across the water. And summer gathers in the air.

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