The property on what is now known as Blue Hill Neck has been in the owner’s family since his loyalist ancestors settled there in 1770. Today, the parcel is part of a family trust comprising 25 acres and nine houses owned by various family members. The homeowners shared one of those homes, the waterfront HamDun Lodge—the first home on the property, built by the husband’s great-grandparents in 1908 for around $500—with the husband’s adult siblings and their families. For many years, the couple used either that home or another nearby cottage as their residence each summer. But there was an adjacent two-acre wooded waterfront lot that was also one of their family’s deeded properties. After many discussions, the couple worked with the family to create a long-term stewardship plan for the property, which included building their dream retirement home. As the husband, who’s spent every summer of his life on the property, explains, “This is a place that’s deeply special to us. It’s a place for family, and we consider ourselves stewards for future generations.”

The homeowners first met with Corey Papadopoli of Elliott Architects in the summer of 2017 and began sketching their plans soon after. They brought on the builders, Hewes and Company, at roughly the same time to streamline the project and related costs, and finally began clearing the waterfront property in 2018. Once the trees came down and the brush had been cleared, they discovered that the lot was actually a peninsula, surrounded by water on three sides. 

From the beginning, the couple insisted that the exterior of the new home needed to relate to the other, very traditional homes in the compound, but they wanted the interior spaces to be open and airy. Although Papadopoli and Elliott Architects are known for creating more contemporary spaces, the architect was up for the challenge. The end result is a home that looks like a traditional Maine shingle-style cottage on the main entrance side of the house, and a much more modern home—albeit with the same architectural vocabulary—from the water. 

All the design meetings happened in person, before COVID, but the home was built in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. Despite a few COVID- and supply-chain-related slowdowns, the home was finally completed in late August of 2021. At 4,588 square feet, the interior includes five bedrooms and four-and-a-half baths. A 1,300-square-foot wraparound porch with an outdoor fireplace and retractable screens for bug protection offers additional living and dining space. “The porch evolved throughout the process,” says Papadopoli. “It ended up taking this large volume [the home] and cutting it in half visually. It also created these outdoor spaces that connect to the gardens in the front, the lawn on the side, and the water on the back.”

Inside, the couple opted for a comfortable and inviting coastal chic sensibility. “We wanted the design to stand the test of time; we didn’t want something that looked like it was built in 2020,” says the wife. They also wanted the opposite of their cozy, colorful Connecticut home base, which is made up of many separate rooms. By contrast, they kept the first floor of the new home mostly open, incorporating a two-story living area with dormer windows for ventilation and light, a giant fireplace, and oak timber framing. The only television in the main house is hidden in the media room, off the kitchen. “Physical access to the water was important, as well as visual access,” says Papadopoli. “We wanted to draw the water visually into the house as much as we could. The dining room, for example, projects out there and gets that view on three sides.

“The kitchen is definitely the hub,” continues Papadopoli. “It has a large island in the middle, and everything revolves around that.” The builder handled all the millwork and built all of the cabinetry—as well as the expandable dining room table, which is ideal for large family gatherings—in their cabinet shop. The two staircases were also a specific request: the back stairs get a lot of use from anyone using the upstairs guest suite as well as from the husband and wife, since it sits directly outside their bedroom. A large oak barn door can also close off those stairs and the back portion of the house.

Upstairs, the primary bedroom features a large walk-in closet, an office area, and an en suite bath. The owners’ two daughters’ identical bedrooms share a Jack-and-Jill bath. The guest suite includes two bedrooms, which also share a bath. “All the primary bedrooms—the husband and wife’s room, and their daughters’—are on the water side,” says Papadopoli. “They all have semi-private balconies that overlook the water as well.” 

The couple originally hired interior designer Lora Gray, a friend from Connecticut, who had designed other projects for them. She did a lot of work on the original plans and visited the property several times, but sadly she passed away unexpectedly in March 2021. The homeowners hired Emily Fuhrman of Sage and Ginger to complete the home and also oversee the design of the barn, all working remotely. “Emily did a beautiful job, jumping in and taking over where Lora left off. She was able to make it all happen, seamlessly,” says the wife.

“It feels like a warm, relaxing home, especially around the big fireplace in the living room,” says the husband. “My family has a long history of cocktail hour down at the shore. We’ll light a big fire and people come over, hang out, and catch up after the day. Then everyone goes off to their own homes to have their family dinners. That moment of family dinner with the fire roaring and the food cooking is what I always really look forward to.”

Two of the homeowners’ must-haves: a huge lawn where their 11- and 14-year-old daughters and their cousins can play and a big dock where they can moor their boat. The lawn recalls the one surrounding HamDun Lodge and features a few iconic trees that were preserved when the property was cleared. It’s also surrounded by native foliage and plants that flower in late summer, when the family is there. A series of paths for walking, running, biking, and driving golf carts crisscross the property, leading to the water, nearby houses, and beaches in the family compound. The 275-foot dock, built over the natural stone ledge in front of the house, required significant marine engineering, complete with crane barges. “I’m at my happiest sitting at the end of that dock,” says the husband.

As landscape architect Todd Richardson of Richardson and Associates explains, the house sits at the bottom of a hill, so the grading and drainage of this particular lot had some nuances, and managing the water properly was a big part of it. One solution was the stone wall “threshold” he created to separate the driveway, parking area, and barn from the lawn and garden of the house. “One of the successes of the project is that it was site-inspired, responding to not only the clients’ needs and interests but the site itself,” he adds.

The 2,008-square-foot barn was finished in the summer of 2022 and features a large, open storage space and workshop downstairs. Upstairs, the six-bed bunk room and media/game room with cathedral ceilings and exposed beams was inspired by the interior of the main house. It’s a perfect area for the kids and their cousins to spend time, with hanging pods for seating and a hidden TV that emerges from the woodwork. “On the ground level, there are large barn doors that open on two sides,” says Papadopoli, “and they can play table tennis in there, and hang out under the covered porch.”

For now, the home is mostly used during the summer months, though the family also enjoys celebrating Thanksgiving there. But the hope is that it will ultimately be used more in the future. “This house was built as a gift to future generations, but also as a gift to our retirement,” says the husband. “It’s a place where we’ll spend more and more time as our kids get older and we have more time to enjoy it.” The couple is also thinking ahead to when their daughters are grown. “We want them to come back and bring their families,” says the wife. “Each one will get two bedrooms linked by a bath. We’ve told them, ‘You decorate the way you want now, and then later, you can come back and redecorate with your own families.’”