Back Bay condo is prime viewing

What’s most striking about this Back Bay penthouse condo at 40 Hereford St. is the view from the big windows in the kitchen.

Through this set of square, nearly upright skylights are scenes that could fool you into thinking you were suddenly transported to France: the gargoyles, spires and pointed turrets of the chateauesque Burrage building across the street.

In fact, it was this very view that sold Kyle Jachney — who’s now looking to sell the home for $1.375 million — when he moved into the two-bedroom place 13 years ago.

“It was the building next door that drew us to it,” said Jachney, who builds custom sailing boats.

“I had (already) looked at over 40 places in the Back Bay ... I drove my agent nuts,” he said.

But the condo has more to offer than the 130-yearold landmark out the window. Set in a building created by the prolific 19th century firm Shaw & Hunnewell, the condo has been converted into a bright and open home that’s more or less a hodgepodge of styles from various eras.

The exposed brick and atrium-like skylight ceiling of the second-level living area feel contemporary, especially with bamboo floors, and so does the connected kitchen with granite countertops, white cabinetry and electric range. Then there’s the rustic wood-burning stove in the living room that feels like it belongs in a cabin, and the nautical decorations scattered throughout that were inspired by Jachney’s boat-building.

But step into the bedrooms and you enter traditional Back Bay form, especially in the master bedroom, with its fireplace flanked by fluted pilasters and ceiling corners lined with ornate moldings — ornamentation that echoes the grand, common-area lobby that’s covered in high wainscoting panels and other period details.

Yet everything in the condo is tied together with the metal spiral staircase that twists up from the first level master bedroom and bathroom to the second level living area and bedroom and the rooftop deck.

Much of what’s in the 1,264-square-foot home, he said, was redone over the past decade, and most of the work was completed not by bringing materials up the old square staircase, but through the skylights.

“It all came in through those kitchen windows,” said Jachney, proving they offer more than just a pretty view.

HERALD PHOTOS BY JIM MICHAUD LIGHTING UP: A set of square, nearly upright skylights, rear, provide an abundance of natural light to guests in this 1,264-square-foot condo on Hereford Street in the Back Bay. The brick walls and bamboo flooring provide a contemporary look in the...