When you know, you know. That was certainly the case a few years ago for a Portsmouth, New Hampshire–based couple looking for a place on the water, ideally something with more of a community feel than their home at the time. They weren’t sure if it might end up being a weekend place, an income property, or a new full-time home, but they wanted to see what was available. A friend suggested they look at a waterfront property in Kittery even though the home was probably a teardown. The husband was out of town on a fishing trip, but the wife decided to check it out since it wasn’t far away. “I got here, and I just couldn’t leave,” she says. “The property and the views were stunning; it just spoke to me.”

The original Cape-style cottage was indeed in bad shape. Still, the deepwater dock set directly on the Piscataqua River, with spectacular views of Portsmouth and three nearby bridges spanning the river, made purchasing the property a no-brainer. The Piscataqua, which has an 8- to 11-foot tidal shift each day, has one of the fastest currents on the Eastern Seaboard (up to 12 knots) and is one of the ten fastest rivers in the United States. It also serves as the Maine–New Hampshire border near the coast. A few weeks later, in the fall of 2021, the property was theirs.

The couple quickly decided to move there full-time, and they contacted Tyler Jackson, the founder and owner of Portsmouth-based Haven Hill Builders, with whom they had worked on a couple of recent home projects. “Tyler is very meticulous. His attention to detail is incredible. He’s really an artist,” says the husband.

Initially, they hoped they might be able to work with the existing cottage, but there were too many structural issues. So they began what ultimately became a yearlong design and permitting process, as they zeroed in on plans for their new home. “I told my wife, ‘You take care of the house—I just want the back to be all windows. I’ll take care of the dock and waterfront,’” recounts the husband. In the meantime, Jackson brought in a frequent collaborator, Amy Dutton, an architectural and interior designer and owner of Amy Dutton Home, who helped develop the floor plans and secure the necessary permits. She also created 3D drawings of the home.

According to the town’s building code, they could expand the footprint of the original cottage by 30 percent in terms of its width, with a maximum height of 42 feet. But they couldn’t move the house closer to the water. After suggesting several different options that attempted to incorporate the homeowners’ requirements within the available space, Jackson and Dutton finally landed on a modern/transitional-style 3,200-square-foot, three-story home with a full basement guest space, something the owners wanted for visiting grandchildren. Reconciling the couple’s list of desires with the local zoning laws and space limitations was one of the biggest challenges Jackson and Dutton faced. “It was all about figuring out how to make the most of the height,” says Dutton.

Originally, as a nod to the couple’s request for a modern design, Jackson and Dutton proposed three walls of gabled glass curtain wall for the third floor, but privacy and cost concerns ultimately led to a single curtain wall of water-facing windows in what is now the husband’s office. “Those windows really are the house,” says Dutton.

While Dutton and the wife worked on finalizing the permits and the home’s design, Jackson and the husband focused on updating the existing dock and bait house, which were also grandfathered in as long as they maintained their existing footprint. The property’s previous owner, a commercial fisherman, had installed a 1,100-square-foot pier, a 40-foot boat float, and a 600-square-foot ice house that he used to store bait and fish. The husband, a boat owner and avid fisherman who also loves to cook, worked with Jackson to design a large outdoor kitchen with a gas grill and hibachi on the dock and to create a sitting area, bar, and bathroom (with an electric composting toilet) inside the cottage. “It’s a really sweet little place to hang out,” says Jackson. “We built custom doors on the cottage that open up so when the weather is nice you can sit in the shade, looking out at the river.”

Once the permits were approved, excavation began for the new home’s basement. But they quickly hit a rock ledge, adding about three weeks and significant cost to the project. As a result, the footings of the foundation wall now sit directly on bedrock. Because the house has so many windows—especially on the south-facing waterfront side—the substructure needed to be all steel, which was ultimately topped with wood framing. “We wanted to design a house that is very high performance, so the whole home has triple-glazed windows and doors,” says Jackson. They also used ZIP System sheathing, which provides a continuous layer of insulation around the exterior, and taped all the seams to prevent outside air from getting in. According to Jackson, the HVAC system was designed to meet a 100-year energy model and includes a 98 percent efficient propane-fired hydro-air heating and cooling system for all but the third floor. The third floor is heated with a separate heat pump.

Inside, the homeowners wanted a clean, modern aesthetic with as much open space as possible, in addition to a full basement. In the end, the interiors of the three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath home lean modern with traditional touches, such as Shaker cabinets and doors. “We wanted the house to be dramatic but not extreme,” explains the wife, who chose black cabinets in the kitchen, for example. “Amy was extremely easy to work with, professional, and fun. She didn’t say yes to everything, but she listened, and she would give us options.”

“I design very functionally,” says Dutton. “I try to think about what people need in order to live in New England, things like mudrooms.” Here, the mudroom is conveniently located adjacent to a powder room, just inside the main entrance. The closets and cabinetry were all custom-built by Haven Hill, and they used white oak—known for its sleek, contemporary appearance—through- out the home, including in the pantry and primary bathroom. The floors are stained white oak.

The original freestanding garage was moved a bit farther from the water and expanded slightly, per zoning restrictions. While the lower level still functions as a garage, they added an upper level which became the wife’s studio, with its own wall of floor-to-ceiling water-facing windows that echoes the third floor of the main residence. “It’s just magical,” she says, explaining that she uses the space to “get away, knit, watch TV, and talk on the phone.”

As promised, the husband oversaw the outdoor areas’ transformation, adding gardens, a granite patio, and a firepit overlooking the water. “I’m landscape crazy,” he says. “We put in a very coastal garden, with lots of hydrangeas that go down the hill to the water.” The couple is looking forward to perfecting those gardens over the next several seasons, especially now that the house is finished.

They moved into the finished home around Halloween 2023, and they’re still mesmerized by the stunning views and constantly changing scenery along the water. From the spectacular sunrises and sunsets to the tugboats and container ships that go up and down the river and the seals and birds that populate the area, to the quieter evening atmosphere and lights of Portsmouth shimmering in the distance, they agree that they’ll never get bored. And it doesn’t hurt that they have so many different vantage points from which to appreciate the setting. “Sometimes we say we could probably bar-hop just on our property,” says the wife. “A drink down on the pier, have dinner, then go on a boat ride with wine and watch the sunset.” Adds the husband, “It’s really all about the whole living experience here, inside and outside.”