Beacon Hill Apartment

The tower, a vertical foil to the one-story cabin, was inspired by the mountain fire towers of the region.

The door of this landmark building, when built in 1891, featured a fan light and side lights with elaborate leaded glass, which were removed in the 1960’s. Our project was to reconstruct the original leaded glass pattern, based on photographs found in the Harvard University Archives.

This small house with a large presence draws from sources far and near: ancient Greek Doric temples, Palladio’s ‘Redentore’ and Villa Barbaro, Peter Harrison’s Redwood Library, Jefferson’s Monticello, Asher Benjamin’s carpenter pattern books, and local Greek Revival building traditions of Concord.

The house responds to the Greek Revival traditions of the neighborhood on the exterior with a wholly unexpected interior.  The house is organized around two courts:  first, an arrival court on the public side, and second, a garden court on the quiet private side.